This striking contemporary woodland retreat, set deep within the rolling woods of the Catskills, about 100 miles north-west of Manhattan, is an extensive renovation that transformed an original house on site. Something Out of Nothing Architecture Studio (SOON) took on the project with an eye to overhauling the finishes and layout, a brief that saw a radically reorganised façade that makes better use of the site.
The Rowley House: a contemporary woodland retreat
The Rowley House is set within a forest clearing, a striking, black-painted presence that is integrated directly into the landscape. The architects describe the house as having ‘good bones’, structurally sound but not making any engagement to the forest on its doorstep.
‘The finishes on the building were in bad shape. The basement was completely unused. And the house sat within a beautiful forested lot but showed no interest in connecting with its surroundings,’ says SOON principal Chad Murphy. By rearranging the fenestration across all four façades, the house becomes open to the pine, oak, and maple trees that surround it.
A new main living space sits on the upper floor, with the ceilings raised up to meet the pitch of the traditional roof. Modern creature comforts have been added, including a sauna, a fitness room and a guest suite on the ground floor, previously a dark and disused basement area.
The upper levels are reached via a staircase that leads to a large deck up at tree level. This opens off the double-height kitchen, dining and living space, spectacularly lit by large frameless square windows. An additional two bedrooms also share this floor, with their own bespoke views. ‘We relocated and enlarged the windows,’ Murphy explains, ‘playfully locating them to frame different views in the surrounding forest.’ At the very top of the house is a family room, set under the peak of the sloping roof, clad entirely in wood and with treetop views.
The house is clad in traditional lap siding made from local white pine, coated in blackened pine tar to create a strong silhouette that is both contemporary-feeling and a nod to the region’s vernacular, with a cabin-like aesthetic. ‘It’s a real success,’ Murphy says. ‘Visitors from all walks of life really like it; visitors from the city tend to like it for its novelty and dark colour, while locals tend to like the fact that a modern renovation uses a familiar wood finish in a respectful way.’
The effect is particularly striking at dawn and dusk, when the silhouette looms out of the woods, framing a cascade of ‘golden shapes’, according to Murphy.
Something Out Of Nothing (SOON) Architecture Studio is based in Brooklyn and upstate NY. Specialising in restoration and renewal, the firm places an emphasis on craft and context.
-
Focal launches Diva Utopia, wireless speakers for aesthetically minded audiophilesFocal’s felt-clad Diva Utopia speakers bring high-fidelity wireless sound to a huge range of audio applications
-
Watch: Jamie Dornan takes a bath in Le Courbusier’s villa for Loewe PerfumesJamie Dornan stars alongside Sophie Wilde in the new Loewe Perfumes 2024 campaign, shot by David Sims in Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye
-
One to watch: Casey Zablocki’s Rocky Mountain surroundings feed into his vast sculptural workMontana-based artist Casey Zablocki uses one of America’s largest kilns to create monumental ceramic, functional sculptures
-
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
-
In a hidden Beverly Hills garden courtyard, fashion, art and architecture meetJohnston Marklee transforms a Beverly Hills storefront into a shared space for the Michael Werner art gallery and fashion institution Mameg, connected through a leafy courtyard
-
Transamerica Pyramid: a San Francisco icon, remasteredThe Transamerica Pyramid, a landmark in the San Francisco cityscape, has been redesigned to 21st-century standards by Foster + Partners
-
Hill House Montecito is a flowing home 'for the twenty-first century'Hill House Montecito by Donaldson + Partners brings together a client's vision with architectural drama and a site-specific approach for a California family home
