Christopher Strom, AIA, describes the home as a “landscape sculpture” serving as a counterpoint to the rolling prairie all around it. Its name, “Valdres,” translates in Norwegian to “valley of pastures in the forest,” nodding to the way its singular design connects with its surroundings. 

“We pushed and pulled on the roof forms and where the glass openings were,” Strom said. In this way, he landed on a design that balances the “elegant proportions of Scandinavian minimalism with something a bit more rugged.” A black standing-seam metal roof wraps down some of the walls creating a striking shell that highlights the white poly-ash siding on opposing walls. Softening the color contrast is a charcoal-hued thermally treated wood siding. With its strong horizontal lines, it both counters the verticality of the other materials and accentuates the low-slung massing of the home. Borrowing from Mid-Century style, the shape is punctuated by large openings including clerestory windows and some almost panoramic corner windows from the E-Series product line. 

Most of the openings are concentrated toward the back of the home, which is nearly 4,000 square feet with the main floor and finished lower level. A combination of void and punched openings work together to bathe the mostly open-concept main floor in natural light. Because the space is so deep, Strom used the clerestory windows to ensure light would penetrate the interior no matter the angle of the sun. The floor-to-ceiling windows lining the back wall of the home preserve privacy while orienting views toward a wetland. “The wetland changes quite a bit over the course of the year, so we used views of it to anchor the house,” he said.