A modern statement in a tranquil meadow

The owners of the 4,300-square-foot home in Lodi Township, Mich., are Wilson, 57, and her husband, Joe McElroy, 53, an electrical engineer. They are shown here in the home's interior hallway, which runs the length of the home.

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The couple started looking for another home around 2002 when Wilson, an avid gardener, ran out of gardening space at their small midcentury home downtown. After not finding anything they liked on the market, they decided to build and bought the lot in 2005 for $80,000.

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The couple interviewed a half-dozen local architects before a friend introduced them to Armster, who built more than a dozen models and presented several to the couple. The model of their current home "just really jumped out," McElroy said. The ends of the building are dug into the ground and anchored by hidden basements; massive steel H-beams support its floating length.

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The home was completed in 2007 for less than $500,000. It won a design award in 2011 from the New England chapters of the American Institute of Architects and one in 2009 from the Connecticut chapter (Armster is based in Connecticut.)

"We kind of like the extreme nature of it," said Karl Daubmann, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who brought 100 students to see the home.

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Wilson and McElroy had the spruce-clad ceilings lowered more than a foot, to a little over 8 feet, to create a sense of coziness. Bedrooms and baths are small, to encourage use of the living areas.

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There is a photo-filled meditation room for the couple, practicing Buddhists, and Wilson converted a small greenhouse at the south end of the home into a temporary chicken coop to protect her 20 or so chickens from hawks. Some of the furniture is from Ikea, which also was the source of the royal-blue kitchen. "We spent all the money on the architecture, not on fancy fixtures," Wilson said.

While some neighbors in the wooded area, where homes tend toward the traditional, worry that the home will hurt property values, others don't mind it. Lauralyn Bottom said it helps her guide first-time visitors to her house, purchased across the street three years ago.

"I'm from Berkeley; it's fine," she said.

A recent paint job that darkened the building's exterior is a modest improvement, neighbor Kurt Hagemeister said recently. "It blends in slightly better."

• Video: Modern minimalism meets luxury

• On our blog, 'Listed': Space-age home rotates

Design center Get ideas for your home with our inspirational rooms and direct access to real products. Click here to begin exploring.