The home's modern side is most fully expressed in the interior. A lowered ceiling at the entry and adjacent dining room makes for a slow reveal. “The view is withheld from you when you come in the front door because it has no glass,” Johnson said. It’s only when you enter the open-concept space that its impact is fully felt.
Here, you come face to face with a long stretch of rolling prairie visible through a 9 1/2’ tall by 20’ wide Folding Outswing Door, which takes up the entire north wall of the space and is complemented by a bank of windows above. “The vista is the most important part of the living room,” Johnson said.
On the opposite dining room wall is another expanse of glass letting in southern light through a wall of E-Series Hinged Patio Doors and floor-to-ceiling E-Series Picture Windows. Also on this wall is a bank of windows that’s cleverly disguised as a dormer window on the exterior.
These voids on both the north and south walls ensure an abundance of natural light at all times of day. The dark window frames “dissolve away,” letting the landscape dominate. The outward orientation of the interior establishes a decidedly modern aesthetic that makes the most of the stunning site.
“We wanted to amplify the reasons why they built here,” Johnson said. The home is in the White Oaks Savanna development, which is set on acres of restored prairie and wetland outside Minnesota’s Twin Cities metro area.