This 8,000 square foot vacation home for a retired business executive and his artist wife realizes their wish for a warm, comfortable, and modern environment, where children and grandchildren could visit, while still ensuring the couple’s privacy.
This 8,000 square foot vacation home for a retired business executive and his artist wife realizes their wish for a warm, comfortable, and modern environment, where children and grandchildren could visit, while still ensuring the couple’s privacy. Located on the east end of Long Island, the house sits on a 3.5-acre site on the banks of a wetland creek, which flows out to the ocean nearby.
The home’s two rectangular volumes form an outdoor landscaped court with a swimming pool as the focus. The main wing includes the couple’s sleeping quarters on the upper level with the living, dining, and kitchen and screened porch on the ground level. The smaller volume contains guest bedrooms and a with a small living and kitchen facilities.
A two-story glazed entrance separates the two wings, providing privacy for both the owners and their guests. The narrow, linear plan maximizes the amount of natural light and ventilation entering each room, all of which have two exposures. The projecting second floor balconies and the louvered wood sunshades control the amount of direct southern sun entering the house. A post and beam structural system made of Brazilian hardwood, Demarrera Greenheart, maximizes the clear spans and allows interior walls to be used solely for partitioning space. The exposed framing and infill panels modulate and order the interiors. Demarrera Greenheart was also used as the exterior cladding because of its natural beauty and its ability to weather well in the harsh salt air environment.
Awards and Publications:2001 New American Houses 2, Edizione L’ Archivolto2001 The Perfect Room, Rockport Publishers