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"   Photo: John Reed Forsman There aren&amp;#039;t many lots left in Deephaven, Minnesota. Early in the 20th century, the rolling farmland began to surrender to vacation estates. The growing mercantile class, attracted by the area&amp;#039;s proximity to Lake Minnetonka, had adopted it as a summer retreat. A century later, Deephaven hosts a smorgasbord of architectural styles, from the original old farmhouses to amiable cottages and sprawling &amp;#039;70s ranches. Hardly a style is unrepresented, and the locals seem to like the eccentricity this eclecticism bestows. There was one awkward little lot. It was heavily wooded and sloping, a sliver of land caught between two marshes. Kevin Streeter and his two brothers, all partners in Streeter and Associates, a highend construction company in Minneapolis, purchased the land as part of a larger package in 2003. One brother built a home on an adjacent site; another portion is undeveloped. The marshy little lot? &amp;quot;No one thought we could build on it,&amp;quot; says Streeter. But he knew better. He also knew both David Salmela, an architect based in Duluth who is known for simple but elegant forms and &amp;quot;commonsense&amp;quot; solutions, and a cutting-edge landscape architect who often partners with Salmela, Shane Coen of Coen + Partners, based in Minneapolis and New York. Streeter was ready for the next evolution in his string of self-built homes, and this would be the place. Click here to view the resources for this article.     Photo: John Reed Forsman The creative triumvirate went to work with minimalism as their mandate. Ultimately, Salmela created a warehouse-like space punctuated by elegant geometries. Interior partitions are made with vertical basswood strips, a Salmela signature, which are local and affordable and can create both solid and translucent walls. Coen arranged the landscape and the home&amp;#039;s unique visual access to it. The project was a happy and productive collaboration. Salmela calls Streeter an &amp;quot;exceptional peer client,&amp;quot; noting that &amp;quot;Kevin cares about design and that makes all the difference. We kept asking, &amp;#039;How do we simplify?&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Project architect Carly Coulson explains that they did not pre-wire or place ducts in the block walls. &amp;quot;This was one of those things that Kevin felt was too constraining on design development to determine at the beginning of construction,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;The sensitive decisions he made concerning construction sequence had a very positive impact on the design process and the final aesthetic.&amp;quot; Clearly, process is Streeter&amp;#039;s passion. Even with 20-plus years as a builder, he keeps challenging himself. &amp;quot;One of Michael Graves&amp;#039;s project architects once said, &amp;#039;Make everything look like you thought about it,&amp;#039;&amp;quot; he says, thoughtfully. &amp;quot;We do that for our clients, and here I could practice that for myself.&amp;quot; At the time the house was built, Streeter&amp;#039;s son, Ryan, was still at home. Streeter wanted separate but not quite identical bedrooms for the two of them. The solution was two white boxes resting on the black block base. His room is slightly larger than his son&amp;#039;s, but each has an en suite bathroom and private staircase. For his collection of motorcycles, Streeter wanted a garage that was as streamlined as the rest of the home, with minimal visual &amp;quot;pollution.&amp;quot; So there are no light switches (only a sensor) or tracks for the garage doors (because they open manually).    What the Pros Know With seven notches in his tool belt\u2014and that counts only the homes he&amp;#039;s built for himself\u2014Streeter&amp;#039;s management persona emerges when advising a client. &amp;#039;Get a builder on board early. Many clients work for a year with an architect, have a set of plans and then shop for a builder, as if construction can start tomorrow. It can&amp;#039;t.&amp;quot; Now, Streeter is not one to rain on anyone&amp;#039;s artistic parade. He is passionate about the conceptual stage and takes it a step further. &amp;#039;A client should really assemble the whole team up front, including the landscape architect and interior designer. Get selections made as early as possible. Things like lighting, plumbing and flooring can hold up a project and challenge budgets.&amp;quot; He also recommends that clients consider the real cost of quality. &amp;#039;Analyze how long a product will last. Higher quality products will almost always cost less in the long run.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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