Recent Projects

Wilkomm House

LOCATION: Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, USA

DATE OF COMPLETION: ----

The Willkomm House began with plans for an in-law wing and an extensive renovation. But as we developed the design with the homeowners and builders, rebuilding most of the house emerged as the more practical approach. That decision opened up new possibilities—and brought its own challenges. We designed around the existing garage and cherished entryway, protected the established gardens and pond, and balanced private living quarters with spaces the whole family could share. The finished home reflects both the family’s plans for the future and their personality, from handmade Moroccan tile to carefully chosen details throughout. Explore the story, photos and 3D tour below.

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Designing for Multiple Generations

The Willkomm House began with a request for a very large addition. It ultimately became something much more interesting: a largely new multigenerational home built around the parts of the original property that mattered most.

The homeowners had purchased the Pleasant Prairie house from family. It was a well-built home set back far from the street on 10 wooded acres, with a beautifully landscaped lawn around the home. Making the lot even more desirable was the bike path that backed up to the home. Needless to say, this was the perfect, secluded lot.

The home had already evolved through previous additions and renovations. When the clients were younger and had a growing family, they renovated and added on to the home. However, with a limited budget, they made concessions. After living through the new iteration, they appreciated parts of it, while other areas no longer worked well for the way they wanted to live. Their goal was to address those shortcomings while creating a home that could continue serving the family for generations.

The original vision called for a 3,000-square-foot addition to an already sizable home. The homeowners imagined a separate wing that could initially accommodate aging parents or in-laws. Later, they could move into the wing themselves and allow their children to use the main portion of the house.

Early concepts explored two living rooms, two kitchens and even two garages. As the design developed, the family realized they did not need to duplicate everything. The plan evolved into comfortable private living quarters with a separate living area and bar, while the household could share the primary kitchen, laundry room and garage.

The result was still a true in-law wing, but one that felt connected to the rest of the home and made better use of the available space.

When a Major Renovation Became a Rebuild

The project initially combined the new wing with an extensive renovation of the existing first floor. As builders evaluated the plans, however, they identified a more practical path.

Connecting a large addition to the existing structure sounds practical. However, this meant reworking and rebuilding the existing house while adding multiple additions. After a construction analysis, the builders determined that this would be extremely labor-intensive. The added labor would also add time to the construction schedule; this was a non-starter. The clients had an ambitious construction target of 10 months (not easy, but doable).

Tearing down the house and rebuilding would likely reduce labor costs and allow the builder to construct the new home in 10 months. Tearing down the home was a bit of a shock. However, we kept two sections of the existing home and rebuilt everything else! We were able to preserve the front entry and the three-car garage. The rest of the home was completely removed and rebuilt.

The project ultimately extended another two to three months as the homeowners refined details through change orders and selected imported materials with longer lead times.

Although the homeowners had never set out to build a new house, the reasoning made sense. The renovation of the existing house was so extensive that we weren’t keeping much at the end of the day. This new approach not only streamlined the project, it was a better investment for the clients; they ended up with a brand-new home.

That pivot allowed the design team to correct issues that would have been difficult to resolve through renovation alone, including awkward room placement and floor-height inconsistencies created by an earlier radiant-heating installation and additions. New engineered floor joists allowed the heating ducts to be concealed, which largely eliminated dropped ceilings or soffits in the new finished basement. The only downside was the added architectural work to revise the drawings for the new approach. Ultimately, this was a minor trade-off.

Preserving the Landscape and the Property’s History

The house sits on a wooded 10-acre property that was a major reason the homeowners chose to invest so significantly in the project. The family had also spent years developing gardens and landscaping around the home, including a small pond. These were the most important site constraints.

Protecting those features became an important design constraint. In several areas, construction could not come within 15 feet of the existing landscaping. Rather than clearing the site and starting over, the new home was carefully planned around the established pond, gardens and surrounding landscape. The silver lining: once the home was done, it wasn’t just a new house surrounded by freshly graded dirt. The house already felt established, surrounded by the amazing landscaping and trees that were maintained.

A Home Shaped Around Its Owners

As construction progressed, the homeowners became closely involved in selecting the finishes and details that would make the house feel distinctly their own. Handmade tile from Morocco, a light fixture from Israel and other carefully chosen pieces brought their personality into the finished spaces. One of our favorite features was the stairway to the basement. What would have been a large blank wall in the stairwell was wallpapered with a colorful 15-foot bird! It was a bold design choice that works perfectly; you can’t see the wallpaper until you turn the corner and descend the stairs to the basement. It’s such a surprise, it makes you smile every time.

What began as a large addition became a collaborative reimagining of the entire home. Through close coordination among the homeowners, architect and builder, the project evolved without losing sight of its original purpose: creating a highly personal legacy home that is poised to be a family heirloom.

Want to see it for yourself? Take the 3D tour and explore the full home, room by room.

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