X Marks the Spot: Two architects went searching for their hearts desire, and found it in a friend’s backyard.

Sometimes architecture starts with a material. Sometimes it starts with a landscape. And sometimes it starts with a paddle stroke. Architects Mimi Hoang and Eric Bunge have been navigating the same Dutchess County lake for over a decade: They’ve paddled along the same wooded shoreline, dived into the same deep water, and watched the same woods unfurl and shed through the seasons. The husband-and-wife cofounders of nArchitects regularly take on site-responsive projects across the globe. But no matter how far-flung the architectural commission, they always found their way back to the same fresh-water Hudson Valley microcosm to swim, kayak, or just relax with their children. “There’s just something magical about this lake,” explains Hoang. “It’s quiet, it’s peaceful—and it always felt like home long before it actually was.”

The couple did briefly consider buying property after starting their Brooklyn-based firm in 1999. “We looked at several lots in the area but at the time concluded that we couldn’t afford it,” explains Bunge. After friends bought a shareable second home outside of Rhinebeck, they gave up their search to focus on growing both their firm and their family, content to visit the borrowed lake home regularly. “Since 2013 we estimate we’ve spent at least four months total in that house,” says Bunge. “We’d hike, explore the water, or visit our favorite restaurants and dream of eventually having a place of our own.”