Tour the new Montauk house by Oza Sabbeth

timber Ditch Plains house exterior Montauk House — (Image credit: Conor Harrigan)

Architects Oza Sabbeth harnessed the power of wood in a Montauk house they designed for a client seeking a full-time home that would also act as a 'restorative retreat'. The new house is an expanded, elevated version of the region's typical 'sea shack' (Montauk is famed for its beach escapes), using swathes of wood surfaces and textures and a simple yet generous, L-shaped footprint.

Montauk House by Oza Sabbeth

The architects were interested in 'having a place that could facilitate their shared and near-daily surfing habit, lots of protection from direct sunlight, efficient home office space, ample guest rooms for hosting their vibrant social life, and a sense of retreat from the busy road nearby,' the architects write.

The result is an elegant, unassuming residence with a long façade towards the vistas and a discreet presence on the street. The composition features two volumes, one with a shed-like lower roof and one with a barn-like higher one.

The main living area is a lofty, open space under the taller roof, uniting seating, dining and kitchen areas. Everything is wrapped in natural timber, a material well known for its positive effect on wellness, as well as glazing that opens the interior up to the green outdoors.

Timber features everywhere, the team explains: there's 'structural lumber for the exposed beams; plywood for the ceiling; and rough-hewn maple for the columns. That decision was partially driven by aesthetics – the clients thought of the place as a beach house – and partially by emotions, as they wanted the home to have the cosy feeling of a warm cabin.'

kitchen inside wooden Ditch Plains house

ozasabbeth.com

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).