Modern Minnesota home reimagines Wright’s Y-shaped design

A Frank Lloyd Wright design from the 1940s has inspired a new home on Minnesota’s Square Lake, though not as a direct copy. Instead, it became the foundation for an 1,818-square-foot residence with a Y-shaped floor plan, constructed by Imprint Architecture and Design on land next to a Wright-inspired property called Bear Run.

The project traces back to Cottage C, a house Wright sketched in 1948 for his sister but never built. Years later, two individuals acquired the original plans and constructed Bear Run in 2007, adopting Wright’s geometric principles—a three-sided roof with sharp limestone angles and deep overhangs. The bold lines of that design became the starting point for kYodai, which translates to “brothers” in Japanese, referencing both the owners’ dogs and the two houses’ shared architectural vocabulary.

The Y-Shape Served Practical Purposes

The architects did not simply mimic Bear Run’s roof. Instead, they analyzed its structural logic and inverted Wright’s triangular form, creating three wings that radiate in different directions. Each wing faces a distinct part of the wooded property, ensuring rooms receive sunlight from multiple directions. The design also establishes separate garden spaces, minimizing visual overlap between the neighboring homes. From the lawn, the house appears as a series of low, connected sections, with the roof shifting direction where the wings meet—preserving Wright’s emphasis on horizontal lines while adapting them to contemporary living.

A Roof That Pushes Boundaries

Like Bear Run, kYodai features six-to-seven-foot roof overhangs that create shaded outdoor terraces and shelter for large glass doors. The underside of the roof is lined with wood, which emphasizes the distance between walls and the roof’s edge, a detail that makes the overhangs appear lighter than their actual size.

The extended roof serves both practical and aesthetic purposes. While Bear Run’s overhangs are sharp and angular, kYodai’s are more gradual, merging with the environment. This creates a sense of continuity, as both homes share a language of deep eaves and sheltering roofs without appearing identical.

Inside, the roof’s angles influence the interior design. Hemlock ceilings follow the same slopes, while the kitchen’s nine-foot-high ceiling highlights how the building’s geometry extends upward. The dining area is positioned between large windows and glass doors, with views into the surrounding trees.

The bedrooms continue this pattern, with polished concrete floors featuring radiant heating, fireplaces for warmth, and full-height windows that blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces. One bedroom even includes its own fireplace, positioned to frame an exterior garden.

The relationship between the two houses extends beyond their shapes. Both were built around distinctive geometric forms, but kYodai’s three-wing arrangement addresses modern needs, privacy, natural ventilation, and seamless indoor-outdoor transitions, without abandoning Wright’s original vision.

Each wing includes a covered patio, sheltered by the deep roof overhangs and framed by the same wood-lined underside seen inside. These terraces extend living areas outward, creating shaded retreats where the home’s geometric lines flow into the environment. This ensures that even during Minnesota’s cooler seasons, the connection to nature remains strong, while the overhangs protect against rain or snow.

Materials Aligned with the Design

The interior materials were selected to complement the home’s geometric form and functional requirements. Hemlock ceilings, chosen for their natural grain and warm tone, follow the roof’s slopes, reinforcing the building’s structural logic. Polished concrete floors, laid in wide planks, provide a durable and thermally efficient base for the radiant heating system, distributing warmth evenly across the space. In the living areas, the concrete’s smooth surface contrasts with the textured masonry fireplace walls, adding depth to rooms that rely on large windows for visual interest.