Big Lake, Alaska
Situated on a 20-acre plot at the edge of a small town surrounded by small lakes and meadows, this 2,450-square-foot house is in an ideal place to take dogs for a run into the untouched wilderness of interior Alaska. The client is a professional dog musher and a four-time champion of the Iditarod, a 1,161-mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome.
Design concept and solution: The musher, and his family of four, desired a “not so big house” and a view of nearby Mt. McKinley—the highest peak in North America—from every room. The architect designed the house to meet his client’s needs, and made the house stand out in strong contrast to its environment. Organized in an L-shape with a common space centered on the view toward the Alaskan mountain range, with Mt. McKinley as a focal point, the 2,450-square-foot house is complimented by a large outdoor courtyard and an accessible roof terrace. The courtyard’s concrete wall and surfaces provide relief from the overwhelmingly expansive natural setting, creating a wind-sheltered space. The roof terrace offers uninterrupted views of the spectacular landscape and a show of the Northern Hemisphere sky at night with frequent displays of the Aurora Borealis. Materials and furnishings are simple and durable: local Alaskan yellow cedar cladding—which is an aromatic wood as well as being very durable—lines the interior of the main volume in the house. Charred wood siding for the exterior cladding was chosen for its low-maintenance qualities as well as a reference to the area’s frequent wildfires. Sustainable considerations include a heat recovery ventilation system, triple pane glazing, and double furring in the exterior walls.
