The Camouflage Green Home sits on a steep lake bluff, its narrow, linear volume nestled into the hillside, Camouflage Green Home design by Johnsen Schmaling Architects in Green Lake, Wisconsin. The Camouflage Green Home at Context, Organization, Interior, Energy Efficiency. Informed by early conceptual studies of the most striking features of the context, the home’s complex system of façade layers, contrasting the geometric discipline of the building mass, expresses its ambition to assimilate with its surroundings. The inside of the green house, while unapologetically contemporary, continues Wisconsin’s long history of lake cottage architecture design, which has traditionally featured exposed timber construction, interior wood siding, combined living and dining halls centered around a fireplace, and a limited palette of natural materials. The green home was designed to minimize energy consumption. The efficient spatial layout of the program ensured a smaller building volume than expected.

simple plan, restraint use of materials

Echoing the trees’ arresting verticality

the small clearing of the entry court

foldable glass door system separating

The narrow footprint allows daylight to penetrate the building throughout the day, thereby virtually eliminating the need for artificial illumination. The building is wrapped with a rainscreen system consisting of furring strips and vertical cedar to ensure proper ventilation behind the skin. The building envelope is wrapped in high-performance expanding foam insulation with an R-value of 24. In addition, the Prodema panels, fastened to a vented system of vertical wood furring, effectively reduce the direct solar impact on the building skin by shading portions of the actual building enclosure.