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SKY-HIGH STYLE
For architect Michael Roehr and his family, one of the best things about living in Mexico was their home's upper-level patio.
They were on an 18-month sabbatical in the town of San Miguel de Allande, where they spent most of their days on the roof, feeling the warm breezes and watching the clouds roll in over the foothills.
"We lived outdoors and felt a strong connection to the sky," said his wife, Elisa Bernick, who was writing a book at the time. "When we came back to Minnesota and our dark little house, the sky felt very far away."
Roehr and Bernick had moved into "that dark little house" in 1986 to help care for Bernick's elderly grandfather. When he passed away, they bought the 1926 bungalow in St. Paul's Macalaster-Groveland neighborhood. And although they had updated it over the years, it was still a one-story, two-bedroom stucco home with less than 1,000 square feet of space.
Their 2002 trip to Mexico inspired them to look for a bigger house that would allow their children, Asher and Cleome, to have their own bedrooms. They found plenty of roomy residences in their neighborhood, but they all needed work.
So instead of buying a different house, they decided to remodel their own. Roehr was set to launch an architecture firm with his partner Chris Schmitt and the project would help promote their business.
"Our plan was to establish the firm as a presence in modern residential architecture," said Roehr, co-owner of RoehrSchmitt Architecture in Minneapolis. "My home would demonstrate that it was doable in an urban area."
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Home of the month
'Daring option' becomes reality
Husband-and-wife architects took a novel approach to the modern addition on their traditional creekside home.
AIA home of the month
Hybrid cabin
Architect Christian Dean's modern interpretation of a traditional log cabin features a high-tech green roof, rusted steel accents and glass walls.
More from this series:
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Bigger, better, greener
A St. Paul couple redesigned a traditional home for their family to make it more modern, more livable and more energy-efficient. -
Farmhouse revival
Rural retreat captures the simple spirit of the farm with an eye on modern sustainability. -
Back to nature
When they were kids, Jennifer and Pascal Dalseth spent lazy days canoeing, fishing and building bonfires on separate lakes in the Twin Cities. As adults, they wanted their kids to have the same kind of experience. -
Creating a cottage
A well-planned redesign transforms a blah bungalow into a charming cottage with room for a family of five. -
A+ CABIN
Architect Marcelo Valdes' compact cabin melds an efficient use of space and resources with finely crafted interior details. -
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AIA Home of the Month, July 2009: A+ cabin
Architect Marcelo Valdes’ compact cabin melds an efficient use of space and resources with finely crafted interior details. -
Streamlined design within reach
A European couple brings their love for functional modernism to Minnetonka. -
Prairie restoration
Design professionals David Heide and Michael Crull updated their Prairie-style home for the future while keeping an eye on the past. -
Island time
A unique Madeline Island getaway becomes a full-time retreat. -
"Just right"
A back-of-the-house bump-out created enough space to give this St. Paul family a new bathroom, kitchen and bedroom. -
Curved appeal
A shapely screened porch connects the two halves of this breezy weekend house in Wisconsin. -
January 2009: The not-so-wee House
Architect Geoffrey Warner hopes to make factory-built housing more popular by focusing on sustainability and smart design with his modular weeHouses. -
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December/ AIA Home of the Month
A St. Paul rambler was a blank canvas for a family that wanted a better connection to the outdoors. -
Photo gallery:
AIA Home of the Month/ February 2008
Here’s how architect Scott Wende revived his 600-square-foot house in South Minneapolis. -
Barn meets loft
Emmet Klocker wanted an edgy, urban space, but didn't want to leave his rural roots. The solution? A 2,300-square-foot house with a rural shape and modern interior. -
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AIA Home of the Month: July 2008
This RIver Falls, Wis. home with walls of glass has many points of discovery. -
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August 2008: AIA Home of the Month
A new house in Minnetrista honors its pastoral setting. "We wanted a house that looked like it had been there from the beginning." -
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AIA Home of the Month: June 2008
This modern interpretation of an old English cottage in Edina brings light and the outdoors inside. -
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September Home of the Month
September Home of the Month -
Empty nest, open arms
This riverside residence was built for empty-nesters, but it was designed with family members and friends in mind. -
A divine design
This month's Home of the Month selection is a study in simple forms and creative design solutions. -
Towering achievement
Architect Wayne Branum faced a difficult challenge: Designing a house for himself that connects him to the land and his art. -
Modern love
Minneapolis architect Mark Larson's clients were smitten with this unusual North Oaks house, rumored to be built for a bachelor doctor who was a fan of modern design. -
Urban edge in the country
Leanne Stremchas roots in Northfield, Minn., run deep. Her great-grandparents homesteaded there, shes lived there most of her life and shes been a Northfield Master Gardener for more than a decade. -
Attic inspiration
Outgrown your house, but don't want to move? This month's Home of the Month selection shows you how to revamp a wasted attic space and an outdated kitchen on a budget. -
A new angle
How do you build a house that doesn't turn its back on the landscape? The latest Home of the Month selection shows you how. -
Milled for retirees
This riverfront condominium with a bird's-eye view is a lesson in universal design. -
Homes of the Month for May 2006 - April 2007
Home of the Month program, a partnership between the Star Tribune and AIA Minnesota, begins its fourth year on May 6 with a new round of 12 projects selected by a jury that included Brian MacKay-Lyons, MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Ltd.; John Cuningham, Cuningham Group Architecture, Renee Cheng, College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota. Here's a tentative line-up of those projects, watch for them on the first Saturday of every month. -
New room for living
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Home of the month: Light and angles
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Like-new house fits an old block in Minneapolis
A Minneapolis family faced a familiar problem: Reinvest in their cramped and boring house, or move to a bigger, better house. -
'Superior Split lives up to name
Cracked down the middle and twisted about by a Lake Superior squall? No, built by a father for his daughter and her family, this North Shore getaway proves that two halves really do make a whole. -
A roomier rambler
After a first-time home buyer yearned for more light in his 1960s St. Paul rambler, a whole-house transformation gave him that and more without adding expensive square footage. -
Updating the dated
Our latest Home of the Month selection demonstrates how a new center island can carry an outdated St. Paul house into the 21st century, and why it doesn't always make sense to make the new part of the house match the old. -
Up on the farm
Architect Wayne Branum's instructions were to design an economical house for a 155-acre site in rural Wisconsin, one sympathetic to its agrarian setting, but with a modern twist. Here are five lessons from that project. -
The transformation
The Transformation: How architect Mark Larson improved the function of this boxy, multi-level house without adding an inch of space to its layout.
