Cascading Hither Hills house by NY architect Robert Young

Hither Hills by Robert Young with its dark geometric forms peeking through foliage

(Image credit: Michael Moran)

Hither Hills in Montauk sits at the furthest end of Long Island, blissfully removed from the stresses of urban life and open towards the calming expanses of the ocean. It is here, in an idyllic, sloped site facing the water, that New York architect Robert Young was called upon to create a holiday home for a family living in the city. The result is a unmistakably contemporary, but open and relaxing retreat that appears to cascade into its green surrounds.

Hither Hills by Robert Young and the steps leading to its entrance

A Hither Hills house embedded in its context

Embedding the structure into the site, the architects worked with charred Shou-Sugi-Ban timber exteriors, broken down in smaller, rectangular volumes to better fit into their natural surroundings. This way, the home's generous size, spanning three levels, is cleverly concealed from the street frontage – where the Hither Hills house presents as a fairly low-slung, single-storey pavilion. At the same time, with this material palette, the team nods to the wider region's local vernacular of timber structures – and a green roof helps it all merge further into the landscape.

Hither Hills by Robert Young, as seen from the street

Young, whose practice has offices in New York and nearby Montauk, worked with design specialist Meyer Davis on the interiors. The relationship between inside and outside is emphasised through the journey into the retreat by clean surfaces and large openings that draw the eye towards the green vistas and the blue waters beyond. The facade's Delta Millworks darkened natural cedar cladding is swapped for minimalist white walls inside, complemented by dark accents and contemporary furniture throughout in this welcoming and site-specific year-round family getaway.

interior with long sea views of Hither Hills by Robert Young

Hither Hills by Robert Young and its living space's double height interiors

Hither Hills by Robert Young and its bedroom with long views through open window and terrace

Hither Hills by Robert Young, seen from the air, cascading down its sloped site

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).