Modern love: Driven by passion for architecture, 'city rat' couple finds joy in a glass-wrapped getaway

Chicago Tribune (MCT) - It's not as if they were in the market for a second home. They already had one of those in sunny Hilton Head, S.C. So when Jim Coffou pulled the car over to ask his wife, "What would you think about selling the place in Hilton Head and building in Michigan City (Ind.)?" Sara Coffou was confused. "Why would I want a second home an hour away from where I live, in a climate identical to the one where I live, in the-middle-of-nowhere Indiana?" she asked.

Jim explained. This wasn't so much about vacation living as it was the chance to finally build the Modern house they had dreamed about forever. The Coffous' passion for everything Modern was ignited at the same time as their passion for each other, about 22 years ago. "It started when we got married," Jim says. "We were collecting midcentury paintings and photography. That was the genesis."

Their collecting prowess soon evolved into furnishings, and eventually _ after trips to Barcelona, California and Plano, Ill., put them in front of houses by Mies van der Rohe, Richard Neutra and Philip Johnson _ the Coffous found themselves full-blown architecture buffs. "Modern architecture to me evokes peace, calm," Sara says. "It just speaks to me."

The Modern house of their dreams was some modest version of the works they had admired in their travels and in magazines such as Metropolis _ a simple, all-glass, prairie-nestled box _ something along the lines of Mies' rectangular Farnsworth House.

Such a structure would never work within the concrete confines of Chicago, their home base, nor would it be possible in the more traditional resort setting of coastal South Carolina. "Hilton Head codes would never allow this type of architecture," Jim says.

But now, a new opportunity was in front of them. Friends of the couple were offering to sell them a parcel of their woodsy acreage along Indiana's lakeshore. Though not completely convinced, Sara understood the appeal and decided to go with it. From that point on, she says, "it was all about the house. Indiana became irrelevant."

'ALL ABOUT THAT VIEW'

With their big-picture vision long established, the Coffous turned to architect Brad Lynch of Chicago's Brininstool + Lynch to translate it into something real. Brininstool + Lynch's award-winning Midwest-Modern portfolio is known for its simple, sustainable, environmentally aware homes, making it just the firm for the Coffou project. Lynch mapped out a three-bedroom, 3½-bath, 2,700-square-foot structure made up of two main pieces, a "living volume" and a "sleeping volume."

The west-facing living volume, the biggest piece of the house, consists of a 36-by-26-foot combined living room and kitchen, plus a 26-by-16-foot enclosed porch.

The east-facing sleeping volume houses the bedrooms and baths. Connecting the two volumes is a small "core," in which live some of the home's more practical components (bath, laundry and storage facilities).

"It's easy-living in the sense that there aren't a bunch of separate, small rooms competing for your attention," Lynch says. "Most of the daytime living occurs where the view is, in the living volume. It's all about that view."

That view. An uninterrupted, panoramic expanse of wooded prairie populated by a mix of towering black oaks, medium-size maples, and a carpet of native grasses. Wanting the scene to envelop the house _ and the owners' consciousness _ Lynch wrapped the building in glass on all sides. Only the north-facing front wears a different outfit, a dramatic cedar screen meant to buffer the house from chilly lake winds.

A GETAWAY'S GETAWAY

Even the interior details defer to the outdoor stage. A palette of cedar, concrete, slate, limestone and aluminum in shades of mostly gray keep the feeling calm and the maintenance low. The one extravagance, if it can be called that, is a tiny cove in the house's core that features a fireplace and built-in sofa. "They wanted a fireplace," Lynch says. "To me, it seemed a fireplace in the middle of the living room would be a distraction from the real focal point, the view. We had a discussion about their reasons for wanting a fireplace; Sara said she wanted to curl up in front of the fire with a book. So we ended up with this space where she can enjoy the fireplace without it taking over the whole house."

Now nearly a year settled into the house, Sara loves her warm-and-cozy nook, and she is ecstatic she went with her husband's house-building whim. They have the Modernist home they always wanted, and wouldn't you know it, Michigan City turned out to be a fine escape.

The two spend long summer weekends biking and golfing, and short winter weekends cooking, entertaining and watching deer congregate around the house. "This area is great for cross-country skiing too," Sara says. "One of these times, we'll get around to that."

The house will not ever be more than an occasional respite; the Coffous and their two daughters are "city rats" at heart. "We'll never do full-time here," Sara says.

But they cherish the sporadic times they do spend there and hope to one day leave the house to their daughters, Julia, 17, and Anna, 20. "I love that you can be 65 miles from the city, yet when you pull into this driveway, you leave all of that behind," Jim says. "It's extremely isolated. No one sees you. You see no one.

"If it hadn't been for this property," Jim says, "I doubt the house would exist."

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© 2009, Chicago Tribune.