Residential Studies
Designs for an East Hampton summerhouse overlooking a Nature Preserve and the Atlantic Ocean. . .
Site plan overlooking the Amagansett Dunes with views to the Atlantic ocean.
East Hampton, NY
Build Statistics
3,500 Sq Ft - New Construction
$775,000 Est.
.75 Acres
Sited along Bluff Road, overlooking the dunes to the Amagansett National Wildlife Refuge, just moments from Indian Wells, and Atlantic Avenue Beaches, this summer house makes full use of its natural blessings through its carefully planned site orientation. Following passive solar guidelines, the tilt of the home ensures year round sun exposure, rooms arranged around solar and oceanfront viewsheds, and expansive porches encourage a more windows-open approach to summer.
West facing Elevation for a new Shingle Style home in East Hampton, NY.
While the home was weatherized for year-round living, as a summer house, it features spacious and flexible rooms for informal, and formal entertaining, deeply shaded porches for outdoor living, balconies, and a max head-count for 16, should the clients wish to rent the house for the weekend, or seasonally.
Ground Floor
Key Plan
Porch
Outdoor Dining
Entry Foyer
W.C.
Flower / Laundry Room
Kitchen
Dining Room
Living Room
Sun Room
This design study completed for an Investment Trust creates a 3,500 sqft new build summer house on .75 acres in the Amagansett ‘Lanes’ neighborhood of East Hampton; using architectural elements, and typologies common to the first houses of the summer colony. Sited near the historic main street district, the home was designed to conform to zoning set-backs, height limits, and makes rigorous use of exceptions for open air porches, balconies, and bay windows, providing an expansive sense of space within a limited site and budget. Scale and proportion is deliberately low-slung, and respectful of neighbor’s privacy; its massing and proportions intended to look as if the house had “always been there” - decidedly anti-McMansion.
The interiors are designed to be classic, yet easy to update with simple touches intended throughout the life of this historically inspired summer rental and family getaway.
South facing garden elevation with views to the Amagansett Dunes.
Additions to a Hudson Valley family’s historic farmstead . . .
Millbrook, NY
Build Statistics
5,500 Sq Ft - New Construction
$855,000 Est.
89 Acres
Set amidst 90 acres of bucolic farm fields, gardens, woodlands, and meadows, this substantial family home consists of over 5,500 Sq Ft of adaptable and livable rooms. As the one of a small handful of other family homes on this expansive property, this home was designed to match the historic character of the property’s other homes, outbuildings, and ancillary structures.
Using historically minded principles of sustainability, the house is sited at a 30/60 axis, its deep 2 storey Greek revival portico facing south to take in long hours of natural sunlight, yet shading the upper bedrooms in the summer. The relative height, and narrow depth of the home creates offset to heating and cooling through its passive solar design; ensuring ample ventilation in the summer, and warm sunlit rooms in the winter. At the interior, the house is arranged formally along a lateral central axis which connects each of the principle public rooms, yet can be flexibly closed depending upon the requirements for each formal and informal gathering.
South Portico elevation to maximizes the views to the property’s pond, dock, and Main House beyond.
Providing a home that is both formal to meet the needs of the family’s extended gatherings and love of parties, the home features a large kitchen, as well as space enough for dedicated catering, as well as a potting and flower room adjacent to the home’s mature gardens which had been lain out in advance of the home. The clients request to model this new family guest-house on ‘Edgewater’, a historic Hudson river valley home, provided a special challenge; faithfully re-creating a historic home without ‘copying’ it entirely; providing a unique new home which aligns the client’s family and entertaining needs.
While the house features formal living and dining rooms and space enough for private catering, the home was intentionally designed to also remain livable and informal; providing useful and multi-functional spaces, such as with the speakeasy and home bar, to the kitchen’s shared use as an informal family and media room with a ‘study-mezzanine’. Designed to meet the needs of the family, as well as their frequent guests, the house features 4 dedicated bedrooms, a master suite, as well as adaptable studies, and semi-private rooms which can increase overnight occupancy from 5 to 14.
Porch 2. Portico 3. Flower Room 4. Entry Hall 5. Study 6. Morning Room 7. Living Room 8. Dining Room 9. Catering Room / Speakeasy 10. Powder 11. Closet 12. Family Room 13. Kitchen
Design for a sustainable, adaptable Massachusetts farmhouse sited in a historic district . . .
Concord, MA
Build Statistics
3,200 Sq Ft - New Construction
$595,000 Est.
3.2 Acres /
This study for a 3,200 sqft house was designed to adapt over time for a young family having recently relocated to a 3.2 acre farmstead in Concord, MA. Conforming to the town’s strict historic guidelines, the interior of the house remains modern and flexible, expanding from an initial build out of 3 bedrooms, to 5 bedrooms as necessary.
Sustainability was key, as the house is designed as a skin-load dominated building, using passive heating and cooling methods common to traditional Massachusetts farmhouses through its south facing ‘Hot House’ (for the owner’s prize orchid and bonzai collection), which produces a 'Stack effect’ to cool the building in the summer, and relies on a narrow building depth and ample windows and mass to gain heat in winter; further reducing the family’s ecological footprint.
Janus faced elevation (shows both the front and the rear elevation in one); Hot house at right.
Key Plan
5. Kitchen
6. Laundry
7. Bathroom
8. Dining Porch
1. Solarium
2. Stair Hall
3. Dining Room
4. Family Room
Additions to an historic 18th Century cottage and artist’s retreat . . .
Westport, CT
Build Statistics
1,870 Sq Ft - New Construction
930 Sq Ft - Renovation
$595,000 Est.
.32 Acres /
This study for renovations, and additions to an artist’s historic retreat and studio in Westport, Connecticut, greatly increased the size of the home, while still remaining historically proportional to the site’s existing 1780’s cottage. Located in the Harvest Commons neighborhood just north of Westport’s attractive downtown, with access to beaches to the south, this design created more room for the client to entertain guests, family, grandchildren, as well as giving more functional room to the artist’s studio.
The initial iterations (above) maximized allowable height, setbacks, and square footage;
later paired down for a more modest massing shown (below).
This more modest massing also incorporated a side porch overlooking North Ave, with louvered screens to reduce noise
and create a greater sense of privacy for the homeowner on this unique lot.
Porch 2. Living Room 3. Dining / Keeping Room 4. Kitchen 5. Mud Room 6. Painter’s Utility 7. Artist’s Studio 8. Sunroom / Portraiture Stage