OLD MISSION COTTAGE

What could be more enticing than a cottage in the woods? This modest house on the western shore of Old Mission Peninsula in Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay reinterprets the aged cabins the owners were fond of visiting during summer holidays. It reflects a simple and relaxed life of long, warm summer days, of quiet, cool evenings with a fire, and of sailing, reading, and baking fruit pies. The quintessential cottage shape, with a simple, steeply pitched roof sheltering the living space below, brings forth feelings that almost everyone has for cottages sitting amid the trees, their protruding roofs offering protection from the elements. By enlarging the roof beyond usual cottage dimensions, Peter Bohlin magnifies the cottage image and at the same time makes way for a much more expansive interior. The series of doors on the front evokes something familiar— perhaps a camp dining hall where people gather for meals and conversation. The posts and beams are rugged, yet artful. The llaring, exaggerated brackets attached to the posts seem fanciful and light-hearted—a fitting emotion for a getaway place.

Approach closer and what next commands attention is the capacious steps—broader than the house itself. They extend outward in three directions in a welcoming gesture. Some might see them as a kind of waterfall in wood. At the same time, they bring to mind gregarious spots like amphitheaters and the steps of college buildings, where people relax while looking outward. The components of this house seem familiar, yet the ensemble is fresh and pleasurably surprising.