Lakeside Retreat / GLUCK+

Architects: GLUCK+
Area: 37,200 ft² (3,456 m²)
Year: 2010
Photography: Paul Warchol
Design Team: Kees Brinkman, Holly Chacon, Kathy Chang, Steven Chen, Christopher Farnum, Peter L. Gluck, Charles Greenwald, Bethia Liu, Adam Manrique, Joseph Morin, Eric Schaefer
Structural Engineering: Robert Silman Associates
Civil Engineering: Jarrett-Martin Engineers
Lighting Design: Lux Populi
Glazing: Front Inc.
MEP Engineering: IBC Engineering Services Inc.
Geotechnical Engineering: Dente Engineering
Interior Furnishings: Holmes Newman and Partners
Acoustical Consultant: Paul Scarbrough
Audio/Visual: HEDSouth
Location: Adirondack Mountains, New York
Country: United States

Lakeside Retreat, designed by GLUCK+, is a 37,200-square-foot family compound completed in 2010 on a wooded lakefront property in the Adirondack region of Upstate New York. Inspired by the tradition of Adirondack Great Camps, the project distributes residential and recreational functions across multiple buildings, establishing a close relationship between architecture and the surrounding landscape. The compound includes a private family residence, a separate recreation building, and guest cabins positioned among the trees. Substantial portions of the larger structures are embedded within the sloping terrain, reducing their visible mass while creating direct connections between interior levels and outdoor spaces. Sliding glass panels, recessed courtyards, timber screens, and accessible green roofs extend living areas into the natural setting. The family residence accommodates private living spaces, while the recreation building provides shared facilities for leisure and gatherings. Through its integrated approach to topography, circulation, and building enclosure, the project balances an extensive residential program with a restrained presence along the lakefront.

Lakeside Retreat by GLUCK+ explores how a large residential development can become part of the terrain rather than stand apart from it. The architects use the site’s changing elevations to establish an unusual relationship between exposed construction and spaces concealed beneath the landscape. This contrast produces an architectural experience in which seemingly modest structures contain an extensive arrangement of rooms, terraces, and outdoor gathering areas.

The design takes its organizational cues from the historic Adirondack Great Camps, where residential and recreational activities were traditionally accommodated in separate buildings across wooded properties. GLUCK+ reinterprets this approach through contemporary architecture, allowing the forest, lake, and natural contours to influence the placement and character of each structure. Instead of concentrating the entire program within a single building, the compound encourages movement through the landscape as part of daily life.

The architects describe the partially buried structures as “non-buildings,” emphasizing their integration with the sloping site. By positioning substantial built volumes below the surrounding ground, the design limits their apparent scale and creates multiple levels that open directly outdoors. Full-height sliding glass panels allow bedrooms to become sleeping porches, while sunken courtyards serve as outdoor living rooms. These transitions establish continuous connections between enclosed spaces and the surrounding environment.

The family house provides the more private accommodation, containing the primary suite, guest bedrooms, living and dining areas, kitchen, and an open art gallery. Circulation remains relatively informal, allowing occupants to move through the residence without following a rigidly defined route. In contrast, the recreation building functions as the principal gathering place for guests arriving from the cabins distributed through the woods.

Recreational facilities include a lap pool, spa, gym, steam room, changing rooms, kitchens, open living spaces, and a formal dining room. The dining area can open into a screened porch, extending communal activities toward the outdoors. Movement between these facilities and the other buildings creates opportunities to experience the landscape from different elevations and perspectives. Along the lake-facing façades, timber screens interrupt the reflections of large glass surfaces while providing privacy and softening incoming daylight. Their material character helps moderate the visual scale of the buildings, allowing them to blend with the surrounding trees. Viewed from the water, the structures remain partially concealed by vegetation and wood screening.

Accessible green roofs further integrate the architecture with the terrain by creating additional usable ground above the embedded spaces. These surfaces accommodate recreational areas, outdoor dining terraces, and lookout points, extending the functional landscape beyond its original contours. The strategy of burying portions of the buildings also contributes to energy efficiency while reducing their visual impact. Aboveground construction maintains a clear architectural expression, contrasting with the more intricate spatial arrangements below. Through this relationship between built form and topography, Lakeside Retreat transforms a heavily wooded, sloping property into a sequence of connected residential and recreational environments that make extensive use of the site’s natural characteristics.