Ohio
Custom Ohio Lodge
A completed custom lodge in Ohio, designed outward from an existing cabin so its fireplace and living room stay at the heart of a much larger wooded home.
The project
This custom lodge in Ohio began with a decision to keep the old cabin on the site. Its fireplace and original living room became the core of the plan, and the new house, including a dedicated schoolhouse, grew outward from them.
Keeping the original cabin as the core
The cabin could have been cleared or reduced to a room on the way to somewhere else. Instead, its fireplace and living room remain, physically and architecturally, the center of the new house. The lodge is organized outward from that core, so the older structure is not preserved as a relic. It is the spine of the new one.
That decision shapes how the house feels at full size. However many rooms are added, the familiar ones are still the place everyone returns to, and the new work has a clear point to organize around.
The cabin remains the center.
The newer rooms gather around it.
A schoolhouse beside the shared rooms
The program adds a dedicated schoolhouse alongside the main living areas, a purpose-built space rather than a spare bedroom put to a second use. Expansive shared rooms, open-plan areas supported by exposed structural framing, and vaulted volumes give the lodge space to gather.
Multiple outdoor access points let daily life move easily between inside and out. Broad glazing keeps the wooded site in view from the main rooms.
Stone, dark siding, and warm millwork
The exterior pairs stone walls with dark siding, geometric wood cladding, leaded windows, and deep roof overhangs. The elevation shows gabled roofs, paired chimneys, and a three-car garage. On the wooded side, stacked balconies, a rear terrace, and a screened porch step down toward the trees.
Inside, warm millwork carries the design. Integrated wood cabinetry, an arched passage from the kitchen, an oak sink cabinet with lit display niches, and a wood-lined scullery with a deep stone sink give the everyday rooms the same care as the main spaces. Carefully framed transitions join the original cabin to the new volumes so the house reads as one place.
One model for framing, systems, and millwork
Joining an existing structure to a large addition leaves little room for guesswork. Arcfluence coordinated the architectural model, framing strategy, building systems, and custom millwork in full BIM, and planned a phased construction sequence around it. That coordination kept architectural details, millwork, and field execution aligned through completion.
Little of that work is visible in an image. It is why the old cabin and the new lodge could be built as one house: the questions about how they meet were answered in the model before they reached the site.
Terraces, gardens, and a central courtyard
Inspired Spaces Landscape and Design developed the landscape package in coordination with the architecture. Native planting, irrigation, and hardscape extend the design into the wooded site. Terraced gardens, a central courtyard, and exterior lighting connect the indoor living areas to the landscape and settle the larger house among the trees.
