The Walloon lake house is situated on, and named after, the beautiful azure blue lake in northwestern Michigan that Ernest Hemingway frequently summered on. It is a 3,800 square foot cottage that completely re-envisioned a small 1960’s structure. The original home, a beloved family nexus, was honored through the extensive use of quarter swan douglas fir, intimate proportioning of private spaces, and a conscientious connection to the landscape. Diagrammatically the home is one elongated and one vertical fir box sitting atop a stone plinth. Textured natural materials and the complexities of internal spaces warm the crispness of this diagram. Architecturally the structure references vernacular materiality and combines this with a crispness of form.