Cabin in a Box

The Hart family hideaway warms the modern soul

Michael and Angela Hart’s rectangular dwelling is a far cry from the North Woodsy cabins synonymous with lake country.

Image credit: Sara Rubinstein

Recommended by the Editor

Merriam Park Modern

Feature: Kids, Toys and Soapstone Countertops

By: Chris Clayton |   January 2012   |  From the print edition

The drive to Michael and Angela Hart’s Wisconsin cabin makes a strong case for the old “journey not the destination” adage. Particularly handsome is the span on Highway 64, where sleepy outposts like Forest and Connorsville promise coffee and live bait, and fat cows on rolling hills encourage pastoral fantasy (“I could trade city life for this,” you might find yourself thinking). The state’s charm offensive gets out of hand when you hit the homestretch, a rustic backstreet snaking through pristine stands of old-growth red oak.

But just when you think Journey’s got this thing in the bag, Destination appears in the form of a box in the woods. It’s a surprising and dramatic win. Surprising, because the rectangular dwelling is a far cry from the North Woodsy cabins synonymous with lake country. Dramatic, because it sits atop steel posts, giving it the illusion, from certain vantages, that it’s floating.

The view of Long Lake—a 900-acre glacial sinkhole just down the hill from the Hart compound—is a bit of a drama queen, too. Your first glimpse of its blueberry-colored waters comes on a large deck off the entry. “The original concept started with an outdoor living space,” says Minneapolis-based architect Charles Lazor of the cabin he created for his longtime friends. “From there, I filled it in with private spaces—beds, bathrooms and service spaces. The areas in between would be shared.”

Sounds easy until you talk to the homeowner. “I gave Charlie an impossible task,” explains Michael Hart, who first hired Lazor to design the Uptown headquarters of mono, an ad and branding shop he co-founded in 2004. “I said, ‘It needs to sleep 16, it can’t be huge and I want it to be modern, simple and award-winning.’”

Lazor is four for five so far, and we’re willing to bet that the awards are coming.

So how do you host a 16-person sleepover in just 2,400 square feet? With a bunkhouse and four tiny bedrooms or “cocoons,” as Lazor calls them, each outfitted with a platform bed boasting built-in storage. Skimping on private space allowed for larger shared areas, which explains the easy, open flow from kitchen to living room to dining room. Lazor’s niftiest trick, though, is seamlessly blending clean lines and floor-to-ceiling windows with rougher, more organic features like the aqua granite fireplace and plywood ceilings. The resulting retreat feels both modern and cabin-y.  

But don’t equate simple design and materials with lack of aesthetic intrigue. Inventive details abound: square-peg doorknobs, thoughtful fixtures (see the farmer’s sink in the kitchen; you could bathe a toddler in that thing), unexpected spaces like the breezeway/outdoor shower that connects the bunkhouse with the main cabin. Our favorite design treat? The deep, boxy bedroom window frames that jut out from the side of the house. Peering through these sleeves from inside the cabin, you feel as if you’re snapping a photo with a large-format lens. And what lovely images these window-cameras capture: To the north of the cabin sits a sweet little ridge that dives down to the lake, to the south peaceful deciduous forest.

The Harts bought the 3.5-acre lot partly for its secluded beauty, but also because of its attention to preservation. Situated on a former 200-acre Girl Scout camp, it’s now part of an association that worked with the West Wisconsin Land Trust to purchase the camp from a developer that had plans to divide the acreage into 150 lots, 60 of which would sit on the lake’s virgin shoreline. Thanks to an easement with the Land Trust, only 10 lots were developed, each subject to building restrictions that minimize wear and tear on Mother Nature.

“Angela and I live in a 1920s bungalow in south Minneapolis, but we love modern architecture and have long dreamed of having a modern cabin,” says Michael. “But ultimately what sold us on the property was the opportunity to preserve some wonderful land.”

Viewing the cabin from the outside, it’s clear that much thought was given to reducing both its visual and physical impact on the site. The cypress siding subtly blends into the woodland setting. The steel posts erased the need to flatten the site’s uneven topography. It could be the quietest 2,400 square feet you’ve ever seen. “Michael and I both like quiet work,” says Lazor. “Which made collaborating on this a lot of fun. We share a similar vision.”

Asked if this vision supports real-world capacity issues, Michael laughs. “We haven’t had 16 up there yet, but there have been some big crowds, and it’s worked out great. My two kids love it. My mom loves it—she and her husband are Episcopal priests, and they refer to the small sink in the front bathroom as the ‘prayer sink.’”

So there you have it: a warm, functional, crowd-pleasing cabin in a box. Score one for Destination. 

The Vitals

Architectural Style: Modern cabin
Year Built: 2011
Architect: Charles Lazor*
Contractor: Brian Mast of Mast Construction
Lot size:  3.5 acres, surrounded by 60 shared acres
Main materials used: Steel, cypress and glass
Bedrooms: 4
Baths: 3 full, plus one shared sink area.
Total sq. footage: 2,406 (including the deck)
Total cost: Under $200 per square foot.
Nearby: Ice Age Trail; the town of New Auburn.

+ Charles Lazor is the founder of Flatpak, a firm specializing in modern prefab dwellings. He would love to help you dream up your own box in the woods. To see more images of his work, visit flatpakhouse.com.