Cascade Modern
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Architect/Designer | J. Visser Design
Builder | New Urban Home Builders LLC
Landscape Architect/Designer | Rooks Landscaping
Interior Designer | Rock Kauffman Design
Photographer | gs Studios
The goal was to showcase how excellence in design and craftsmanship are possible when an architect, builder, and interior designer are given freedom to collaborate with few restrictions. This architectural home functions as the builder’s family residence, as a design and technology demonstration space for clients, and as a venue for professional gatherings.
A design challenge was to make the home’s three modular sections feel larger from the inside than they look from the outside. It was met by defining interior spaces throughout the home with an interplay of coziness and spaciousness via juxtaposed 8- and 16-foot ceilings, and opening the home to its wooded setting through liberal use of large, double-hung windows.
Though modern, the home is warmed with Douglas fir trim, wood floors, and eclectic, high-gloss, wood-grained laminate in the kitchen. Key features include home automation and a design motif carried in from the exterior siding to similarly sided interior accent walls, a custom stair railing, and a hidden soundproofing door in the basement.
