Mightaswell Lake House

A New Nebraska Farmhouse

  • Type House,
  • Location Otoe County, Nebraska
  • Area 10,800 s.f. (total gross area)
  • Status Construction
  • Date 2024

A simple gabled house shape extruded to extreme lengths, but folded upon itself, creates a wide variety of interior places and connections to the large property. The house is situated between a county road and a private reservoir lake. Recalling both the typical farm shed and the common ranch house, this revisioned farm compound supports recreational use and the utilitarian functions of land stewardship. The material palette is deliberately reduced to focus on the abstracted form – white fiber cement siding with a standing seam metal roof is all one finds on the exterior. The interior walls and ceilings alternate between plywood and white drywall while radiant concrete floors extend throughout.

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1 house resembles 3 cottages on the lake

Early schematic model

Beginning with a simple concept merging two qualities of interior space – areas of clearly defined function (bathrooms, kitchen) separated by loosely defined, multi-functional in-between spaces – the long house design bends to accommodate access, views, topography, and protected outdoor spaces. While the defined areas maintain their rectangular layout and have flat ceilings in the final configuration, the in-between spaces are oddly shaped and have high ceilings exposing the complex forms at roof intersections.

Buildings within a building

Where the exterior is monolithic in color and form, the interior of the house is a reverse hierarchy of texture, material, and color. The large social and multifunctional spaces are defined by complex volumes and simple white surfaces, plain-sawn plywood clads the “buildings within the building”, and bright color highlights secondary spaces such as the stair as counterpoints to the overall logic of the house.

Main Floor Plan / Site Plan

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