Gathering Daylight

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Photo Courtesy of Woodruff and Brown Photography

There’s a distinct quality about the light in northern Minnesota. It seems brighter and more crisp; the landscape takes a sharper focus. Some say it’s because nearby Lake Superior acts as a vast reflecting pool beneath the sky. To others, it’s simply the magic of the Northland.

In any case, it was a driving force behind this distinct home on the outskirts of Duluth. With a high, swooping roof profile, the home appears to be spreading its wings. “It’s perched on the edge of a wetland,” says designer Cheryl Fosdick, principal of Duluth-based CF Design, Ltd. “It looks like it’s going to take off.”

The home was carefully sited to take advantage of natural light; those unusual soaring rooflines and the floor-to-ceiling windows beneath are key components of the design. Three roofs lift toward the south, west, and east as if to gather the day; broad cantilevered soffits reflect the light downward into the interior. The result is bright rooms that have an almost unlimited feeling, as though the woods and wetlands outside are part of the space. Even rooms at the center of the 2,900-square foot floor plan benefit, borrowing daylight from adjacent spaces thanks to use of interior windows and sloping ceilings.

At night, the soffits are splashed with light from the interior. “It is very inviting at night as you come over the hill and you see these roofs hovering over the house,” Fosdick says.

When planning a home, Fosdick says it’s important to consider not just the two-dimensional list of rooms, but dimensions of space and time. How will you use both indoor and outdoor areas? At what time of day? Your answers will give a designer or architect important insight as to how to orient your home for daylight and sun exposure, reducing the demand for heat and electric light. Your discussion will also provide opportunities to visually and spiritually blend inside and outside spaces to reduce the actual size of the built heated and cooled enclosure. “Talk about the scale and types of views to and from the spaces,” Fosdick says. “If you’re thinking about the plan only in that two-dimensional realm, you’re missing opportunities right out of the gate.”

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