Interlachen, meaning between lakes in German appropriately describes the land where this existing home sits in Edina, Minnesota. The natural beauty of the greater land with its nearby lakes, oak trees and vistas makes it a unique landscape within the typical horizontal plains of the Metropolitan area. The home was purchased by an active family of five who saw an opportunity in the large lot to shape a space for each member’s passion for specific sport activities: swimming, volleyball, basketball, and hockey.

Organizing these activities into specific modern garden zones affords developed rooms and experiences, while quietly maintaining specific functional requirements for each sport. A raised entry plaza manages topography, so the lower drive can be graded flat for basketball games. A pristine lawn lined in steel and formal plantings are the exact proportion for backyard volleyball games. Three steps up lead to a crisp modern pool sitting upon a plinth of natural stone quietly enclosed by a mild steel fence supporting vines. A simple material pallet of white concrete, lilac bluestone, rusted mild steel and white oak timber shape a rustic, but modern landscape that negotiates between the family’s preference for modern design and the traditional home.

Architectural entries were renovated to mediate between house and landscape. The front porch is remodeled to reflect a simpler aesthetic of rugged modernism unifying the property and establishing a tone for the overall project. Dry set walls of natural stone appear to wrap up from the landscape, to the porch and onto the home. In the backyard, a new deck for parties and outdoor cooking was constructed. It accepts the architecture of the house and infuses simple modern details. Typical lap siding combined with heavy timber railings reconciles the modern materials of the landscape with the suburban qualities of the home. Grand cedar stairs create fluidity between the zones of the house and the pool-scape.