City Homes, a woman-owned and -led team, has custom-built many Twin Cities dream homes, including several featured in the Artisan Home Tour by Parade of Homes, a semiannual showcase of the region’s most architecturally compelling residences. With a collaborative approach, City Homes’ individually tailored projects create luxurious spaces with intentional design and personalized details.
Artisan Home No. 1 on the Fall 2023 Tour is City Homes’ first project featuring Kolbe windows and doors, which are used exclusively and entirely throughout the house. Located near Holy Name Lake in Medina, Minnesota, Artisan Home No. 1 is approximately a 45-minute drive to downtown Minneapolis.
“Surrounded by a forest of pine trees, this brand-new home takes advantage of its secluded setting to create a peaceful, family-oriented abode, combining Asian influence with modern comfort,” says Rebecca Remick, president and owner of City Homes. “When I first visited the site, it felt like you were in Yellowstone. It’s a 7-acre site and extremely secluded. It’s very unusual to find an undeveloped site like this so close to the city.”
She describes the homeowners as “a couple who are empty-nesters with three huge dogs. They were seeking their forever home, where they could age in place and host their friends and family.” Remick continues, “When our clients approached us, they shared their preferences for different home styles. After having a discussion with them, we found that the most important features they wanted were the sleek and clean lines of a modern home, with subtle influences from Asian-inspired homes.”
The project’s resulting architectural style presents as a Modern Prairie design instilled with Asian influences. The home prioritizes its natural setting using large window views and daylighting. The strong lines and crisp corners of Kolbe’s windows and doors emphasize the desired appearance and complement the home’s overall design.
After visiting the Kolbe Gallery Twin Cities for inspiration and information, City Homes and its clients selected VistaLuxe AL LINE triple-glazed products plus an Ultra Series front door for the home. Kolbe custom-crafted more than 100 casement and direct set windows plus the front entry door, lift and slide door, and swinging and sliding side doors. Each VistaLuxe AL LINE product features thermally broken, all-aluminum construction finished in onyx with matching performance divided lite (PDL) bars and black hardware. The doors are 8 to 9 feet tall. Most of the windows are 6 or 7 feet high and several span more than 12 feet wide.
“Whether outside looking in or inside gazing out, you stay connected to the home and its setting through its windows,” observes Remick. Arriving at the Medina home, she says, “You can see through the front entrance, into the home and all the way out the opposite windows to the treetops on the other side. Every view is pretty spectacular.”
You can see through the front entrance, into the home and all the way out the opposite windows to the treetops on the other side. Every view is pretty spectacular.
During the Artisan Home Tour, Remick proudly reports, “Everybody was shocked at how big those windows are. Except in commercial spaces, you really don’t see windows so large. Kolbe is able to get that immense span, while keeping the clean lines and high performance. Those windows blew people away.”
The Asian-inspired design elements are also integral to the project’s allure. Remick points to the shallower roofline across the whole house, the wood accents both inside and outside the home, and the custom chandelier and light sconces. She notes, “On the exterior, the Asian influence is subtle in many ways, like the white HardiePanel and the black millboard. It adds details that feel good together.”
Window details also accentuate the Asian-influenced Modern Prairie aesthetic with a complementary PDL pattern. For the PDL glazing system of Kolbe’s VistaLuxe AL LINE, the aluminum divided lite bars are adhered to the exterior and interior of the insulating glass. To help create the illusion of true divided lites without sacrificing energy efficiency on the triple-glazed windows, Kolbe installed the spacer bars within the insulating glass units before applying the decorative grille bars.
The custom PDL pattern positions the square-profile bars toward the windows’ perimeter as a decorative, double-lined border. Because the PDL bars are placed away from the center of the glass, the window openings remain largely unobstructed, maximizing the views.
“The homeowners liked the PDL pattern so much that they custom-made their own garage doors themselves to match,” shares Remick.
Remick continued, “The large windows of the two-story-tall main living space invite views in and through the home, as well as bring in ample natural light in the cooler months, while large overhangs provide shading during the warmer months. This creates a grand space that is suitable for just the homeowners to enjoy or to host large gatherings.”
She adds, “At City Homes, we collaborate with our clients to create a home that suits their family and lifestyle, no matter their unique requirements. We prioritize the concept of ‘right-size living’ and are fully accredited through the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB’s) comprehensive Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) program.”
Beyond CAPS, City Homes’ aging-in-place projects adhere to universal design principles. This helps ensure that products, features and amenities are aesthetically pleasing and enhance safety and well-being for the broadest range of people. Remick explains, “For older adults, it can make a huge difference in whether they have to move out of their homes or continue to live independently. Aging-in-place design will afford you many more years to live safely and comfortably in your home and in your community.”
For the Medina home, she emphasizes, “Aging-in-place was a priority during this build. To address this, we placed the primary suite on the main level, reduced the number of steps into the house, and designed the stairway to accommodate a future elevator. The unfinished lower level provides the flexibility to expand the space as needed, allowing for future needs to be met.”
Above-grade, the house has two tiers. The 2,500-square-foot main level includes the great room with 20-foot-high ceilings. There’s an additional 950 square feet upstairs, which has two guest bedrooms, a bathroom and the home office.
“Looking up from the great room, you can see into the office through interior windows,” describes Remick. “These are the same triple-glazed windows by Kolbe used on the exterior that provide excellent energy performance. Installed on the interior, they also offer exceptional acoustic performance for a really quiet workspace.”
Daylight passes through the 18-foot-wide window span into the upper interior, and views extend in all directions. “It’s more important to have a space that you enjoy working in at home now more than ever,” suggests Remick. “The homeowners not only can look from their office over the beautiful great room below, but also can see outside through the main level’s windows.”
Looking up from the great room, you can see into the office through interior windows... These are the same triple-glazed windows by Kolbe used on the exterior that provide excellent energy performance.
The main level’s interior color palette contrasts light neutral tones and natural materials with black ceilings and white walls and black-framed glass openings. “Those big Kolbe windows allow all that light through to the interior. The well-lit black ceilings would show any flaw; they had to be just perfect,” observes Remick.
She compliments Randolph Interior Design for its work on the project, too. “They understood how to carry the blended Asian and Modern design throughout the entire home, while working within the universal design approach to aging-in-place.”
Built-in sitting nooks are strategically placed near windows. The owners’ bathroom suite includes a spacious bathroom with side-by-side sinks, a soaking tub, and a separate shower with zero-threshold entry, accessible fixtures, thick porcelain tile and glass walls.
“The home has really good circulation – from the zero-threshold front entry to the wide walkways around the two-sided fireplace – and could accommodate a wheelchair, if it was ever needed,” says Remick. “The open plan flows so nicely from the owners’ suite to the piano room to the great room to the kitchen. The open-concept floorplan for the main living spaces is perfect for hosting guests or family fun. Each room flows seamlessly into the next, providing ample space for any social gathering.”
The homeowners and their dogs enjoy the three-season porch off the kitchen. The surrounding forest offers ever-changing scenery enhanced by the smell of pine. “It is easily accessible and provides beautiful views for easy indoor-outdoor living,” highlights Remick. “Bringing the outside in, we chose a lift and slide door from Kolbe to open up a wider area. There is no screen on the door as it goes into the screened porch. Spanning more than 12 feet long and 9 feet high, the door is more dramatic than a typical sliding or swinging door and gives a wider opening.”
Regardless of the home’s generously sized windows and doors, Remick confirms, “The home is very well sealed, and Kolbe’s triple-glazed windows are very high performing.” Kolbe’s triple-glazed units have solar low-e coating for optimal performance. City Homes is also considered an industry leader in energy-efficient residential home construction; it has signed partnership agreements with Energy Star and Zero Energy Ready Homes and is Green Path Certified.
The home is very well sealed, and Kolbe’s triple-glazed windows are very high performing.
“High-performance, high-quality windows were very important to the client,” continues Remick. “One of the homeowners previously had a bad experience with their windows on a different house. He wanted to make sure he didn’t feel the cold through the windows on his forever home. We did extensive analysis to help our client compare different two- and three-pane windows. The Kolbe Gallery does a really good job explaining the difference and the many options available.”
Remick always prefers to be involved as early as possible in the clients’ design process. “We want to understand and ensure our clients’ home matches their style, personality and budget. As the builder, we’re the ones who are pricing things on a weekly basis. We understand the current costs, timelines, construction realities and repercussions. If I can be a part of the discussion from the beginning, we can avoid later problems, often when they’re more expensive and time-consuming to correct.”
From the planning stages to the final touches, City Homes works with expert craftspeople like Kolbe who share Remick’s unwavering commitment to quality. She praises the collaborative effort on the Medina home. “We appreciate the partnership with Kolbe. We had never built a home before that put in Kolbe windows and doors. They have their own installers. Throughout the build, we worked with different specialized subcontractors on the house. It’s a team approach. Together, we were able to complete the project in 11 months. The homeowners have moved in, gotten settled and are very happy with it.”
Related Links: VistaLuxe AL LINE
