A 5.5-acre plot in rural Bridgehampton on which to build a home opens up a wealth of opportunities. Luckily the husband-and-wife client who approached Roger Ferris + Partners knew what they didn’t want their single-family residence to be. They had previously lived in a Tribeca loft, says architect Roger Ferris, and ‘found that although the open layout was ideal for entertaining guests, their children were easily awakened’.
The Connecticut-based architecture firm, renowned for its harmonious and distinctly modern design signature, therefore devised a solution that maximized privacy while maintaining functionality. They created a cluster of smaller structures, ‘each with a specific purpose'.
One volume is for public living, one is a private family wing and a third volume houses an artist’s studio and garage. A glass breezeway delicately connects two of the volumes, while the third stands alone in the lush landscape. ‘The placement of this building on the site responds to the challenge of adhering to environmental regulations while orienting the volumes to take full advantage of the scenic views,' says Ferris.
To complement the pastoral surrounds of the property, each gable-shaped volume was covered with Garapa, a Brazilian rainscreen hardwood. Installed from the upper level walls to the roof, it gives the buildings a sculptural quality that balances traditional and modern, a sense enhanced by not simply nailing down the wood, but fastening the panels from the back. ‘Over time, the material will gradually weather and the volumes will fade into their natural surroundings,' says Ferris.
Abundant use of glass on the lower ground level results in a dual benefit. From outside, it ‘lightens and refines the buildings to be one with surrounding landscape,’ but also creates a light-filled interior in which that surrounding landscape is framed. Inside, a simple and neutral setting with American white oak floors (supplied by Hudson Company, owned by the wife’s brother) establishes a perfectly balanced dialogue between the natural Hamptons grasslands and the softly contemporary aesthetic of this built environment.
INFORMATION
-
All hail the arrival of true autonomy? On Tesla’s proposed Robotaxi and techno-insecurityTesla’s new marketing push predicts a future of robot cabs, automated buses and autonomous home androids. We already want to get off
-
Discothèque perfumes evoke the scent of Tokyo in the year 2000As Discothèque gets ready to launch its first perfume collection, Mary Cleary catches up with the brand’s founders
-
This unassuming London house is a radical rethinking of the suburban homeStation Lodge by architect Andrei Saltykov in South West London offers a radical subversion to regional residential architecture
-
Gardens & Villas offers the unexpected through ‘deconstructed’ desert living in CaliforniaGardens & Villas, a home in La Quinta, California, brings contemporary luxury to its desert setting through a collaboration between architects Andrew McClure and Christopher McLean
-
First look inside 62 Reade Street, a clock factory turned family home62 Reade Street, a boutique New York residential project by architects ODA, unveils its first apartment interior, styled courtesy of Hovey Design
-
Paul Rudolph at The Met: ‘from Christmas lights to megastructures’‘Materialized Space: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph’ opens at the Met in New York, exploring the modernist master's work through a feast of an exhibition
-
Jewel Box is a Californian project of small scale and big impactJewel Box by Red Dot Studio is the reimagining of a Californian 20th-century gem through a creative addition
-
Germane Barnes exhibition explores notions of classical architecture and identityGermane Barnes exhibition 'Columnar Disorder' opens at the Art Institute of Chicago
-
Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum's newest addition effortlessly complements the institution’s existing complexThe third addition to Joslyn Art Museum is designed by Snøhetta, which opted for voluminous common spaces and illuminating atriums
-
Morning Dove in Twentynine Palms combines earth construction and otherworldly desert viewsMorning Dove by Homestead Modern in Twentynine Palms offers a striking landscape and rammed-earth construction for idyllic desert escapes
-
Larry Booth's 'House of Light' showcases an impeccable slice of postmodernist heritageA 1980s Larry Booth-designed Chicago townhouse on a narrow plot is a striking example of his author's work, set alongside the city’s postmodernist archive
