Project Name: Lakeside Residence

Location: Birmingham, United States

Design Team: Disbrow Iannuzzi Architects

Total Floor Area: 4,000 ft²

Completion: 2025

Photography: Rafael Gamo

Design Features: Architecture firm Disbrow Iannuzzi has completed a 4,000-square-foot Y-shaped Lakeside Residence in Birmingham, a northern suburb of Detroit, where black slate and white ash create a compelling dialogue between exterior enclosure and interior warmth. Located on a parklike site traversed by the River Rouge, the home serves as both a frame for an elaborate landscape cultivated over four decades and a repository for the client's collection of Asian art and handcrafted objects. A former curator of Asian art and gallery owner, the homeowner wanted to incorporate her unique collection of handcrafted objects into the residence, which is further inspired by her family's heritage in the lumber industry.

The project's most distinctive feature lies in its material exploration. Buckingham slate from a single quarry has been deployed in five distinct applications: split into roof shingles, cleft and cut for wall cladding, slabbed and honed for horizontal surfaces, crushed and compacted for the driveway, and collected as scraps in gabions for retaining walls. This comprehensive use transforms the stone from mere building material into an architectural language that shifts throughout the day as sunlight reveals varying textures, veining, and dramatic surface character. At some points in the day, the veining and variation within the stone are immediately obvious. When the sun is stronger and direct, the light and shadow across the surface of the wall accentuate the texture and dramatic character of the slate.

In deliberate contrast, white ash establishes a serene interior atmosphere. Selected for consistent linear grain, the wood flows continuously across ceilings, walls, and floors in a 4-inch pattern, with subtle transitions from quarter-sawn to plain-cut marking key spatial thresholds, exuding a quiet warmth. To display a series of bronze castings in the client's collection, a long bench was created from a fifteen-foot plank of ash with dramatic contrasting cathedral grain, featuring a different inherent character from the same species of white ash.

The architectural concept functions like "cutting into an apple," as lead architect Jonathan Disbrow describes it. Every opening carved into the slate exterior reveals the warm wooden core within. Each opening is set into the building so as to shield the interior from the sun during the warmer months. The south-facing front entrance tracks that solar path, allowing the sun to fill the space in winter, while providing shade when needed. From the interior, glass walls span floor to ceiling and wall to wall, allowing unobstructed views of the dramatic topography discovered through every window. The quiet, warm interior volumes frame the curated scenes outside, not unlike the Japanese woodblock printing that the client has in her collection. As the landscaping is intentionally designed to be experienced from within the home, the layered plantings, surfaces, and sculptural works become the focal points of each room. The landscape not only inspires the interiors but becomes part of it, forging a connection between the built and the natural worlds that infuses and enhances the day-to-day life of the residents.

Design Team: Founded by principals Jonathan Disbrow and David Iannuzzi, Disbrow Iannuzzi Architects is an award-winning design studio based in Ferndale, Michigan, operating at the intersection of architecture, interior design, and design-build delivery. Under the continued leadership of founding partners Disbrow and Iannuzzi, alongside a skilled team including Jumana Abdullah, Maureen Doyle, Jeffrey Hall, Nadine Martens, and Larissa McCoy, the practice has established a national reputation for compositional rigor, technical dexterity, and conceptually driven design.

The firm's portfolio spans multiple typologies, encompassing custom residential architecture, multi-family housing, restaurant design, cultural institutions, and contemporary commercial environments. Their design approach emphasizes innovative solutions informed by extensive research, meticulous craft, and commitment to environmental sustainability. This methodology fosters authentic, enduring architecture that serves both clients and community.

Recognition has followed this consistent excellence. In 2024, Forbes named Disbrow Iannuzzi among America's Top 200 Residential Architects. Additional honors include multiple American Institute of Architects awards from Michigan, Chicago, and Detroit chapters, the UNESCO Prix Versailles, and the Architizer A+ Award. The studio's work has garnered international attention through publications including Dezeen, Azure, Grand Designs UK, Metal Architecture, and Robb Report. The practice maintains a culture of mutual respect and collaborative leadership, cultivating the next generation of architects through mentorship while delivering sophisticated design solutions across metro Detroit and beyond.