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138 Main Street
Apple Bank Building
Second Floor
Sag Harbor, NY 11963
(use for courier delivery)
P.O Box 510
Sag Harbor, NY 11963
(use for USPS delivery)
T 631.725.0229
F 631.725.0230
Profile
Bates Masi + Architects LLC, a full-service architectural firm with roots in New York City and the East End of Long Island for over 45 years, responds to each project with extensive research in related architectural fields, material, craft and environment for unique solutions as varied as the individuals or groups for whom they are designed. The focus is neither the size nor the type of project but the opportunity to enrich lives and enhance the environment. The attention to all elements of design has been a constant in the firm’s philosophy. Projects include urban and suburban residences, schools, offices, hotels, restaurants, retail and furniture in the United States, Central America and the Caribbean. The firm has received 43 design awards since 2003 and has been featured in national and international publications including The New York Times, New York Magazine, Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, Metropolitan Home, and Dwell. Residential Architect Magazine selected Bates Masi one of their 50 Architect’s We Love. A gallery exhibition in May 2010 featured the firm’s earlier work from 1960-70.
Paul Masi spent childhood summers in Montauk and currently resides in Amagansett. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from Catholic University and a Masters of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He worked at Richard Meier & Partners before joining this firm in 1998.
Harry Bates, a resident of East Hampton, received a Bachelor of Architecture from North Carolina State University. After ten years with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, he was in private practice in New York City for 17 years before moving the firm to Southampton on the East End in 1980. Our offices are currently located in Sag Harbor with plans to relocate to a new LEED Certified office building of our own design in East Hampton.



















North Main
Lot size: 0.45 acres
Building size: 4,670 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Office & Retail
Many contemporary commercial structures are planned with inherent disposability, minimizing initial cost at the expense of fortitude and long-term usefulness. This owner-occupied project challenges the conventional approach, enhancing the property’s value with durable material systems, adaptable spatial organization, and flexible building surfaces.
Insulated precast fly-ash concrete panels envelop the building’s two large uninterrupted spaces. This long-span sturdy shell will long outlast the typical tenant’s occupancy and accommodate an array of future uses. It is sheltered from the brunt of the elements by a skin of recycled modular wooden shingles held in place by custom stainless steel clips. In the same way that a car’s tires are prolonged by rotation, the panels are transferred from severe- to moderate- weathering facades and individually flipped front-to-back to maximize the material’s utility without using toxic, high-maintenance protective paints and stains. Inside, the same clips hold finished ceiling surfaces and light fixtures to the structural concrete planks. Rearranging and modifying these elements permits future users to adapt the spaces’ lighting, reflectance, acoustics, and technology without disturbing the permanent structure.
Similarly, air conditioning, voice, data, and electrical systems are modified by lifting the modular panels of a proprietary raised floor set atop the subfloor. Each panel accepts a replaceable finish layer fitted for grip, reflectance, sound attenuation, and wear-resistance.
In addition to enhancing the building’s value, the qualities of durability and flexibility also lay the foundation for its LEED Certification. Unlike many “green” buildings, this project attends to basic construction elements instead of relying on auxiliary technologies to achieve LEED credits. For instance, while the precast concrete panels are essential to the structure and envelope, they also contain an integrated insulation layer to outperform cast-in-place concrete in energy efficiency. These panels are spaced apart and pierced to introduce light wells and clerestories that reduce reliance on mechanical ventilation and artificial lighting. The wooden siding panels, once weathered to obsolescence, comprise a completely biodegradable product free of synthetic adhesives, fasteners, chemical coatings, or finishes. On the roof an array of modular planting trays insulates the building and diverts roof run-off water from the storm drains. Similarly sized photovoltaic panels may later replace some or all of these planting tray modules.
By simplifying the structure’s configuration, minimizing building technologies, facilitating future adaptation and superceding current regulations with LEED Certification criteria, the project acquires the attributes of “timelessness”; it will outlast its contemporaries and extend our natural resources.
North Main
Lot size: 0.45 acres
Building size: 4,670 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Office & Retail
Many contemporary commercial structures are planned with inherent disposability, minimizing initial cost at the expense of fortitude and long-term usefulness. This owner-occupied project challenges the conventional approach, enhancing the property’s value with durable material systems, adaptable spatial organization, and flexible building surfaces.
Insulated precast fly-ash concrete panels envelop the building’s two large uninterrupted spaces. This long-span sturdy shell will long outlast the typical tenant’s occupancy and accommodate an array of future uses. It is sheltered from the brunt of the elements by a skin of recycled modular wooden shingles held in place by custom stainless steel clips. In the same way that a car’s tires are prolonged by rotation, the panels are transferred from severe- to moderate- weathering facades and individually flipped front-to-back to maximize the material’s utility without using toxic, high-maintenance protective paints and stains. Inside, the same clips hold finished ceiling surfaces and light fixtures to the structural concrete planks. Rearranging and modifying these elements permits future users to adapt the spaces’ lighting, reflectance, acoustics, and technology without disturbing the permanent structure.
Similarly, air conditioning, voice, data, and electrical systems are modified by lifting the modular panels of a proprietary raised floor set atop the subfloor. Each panel accepts a replaceable finish layer fitted for grip, reflectance, sound attenuation, and wear-resistance.
In addition to enhancing the building’s value, the qualities of durability and flexibility also lay the foundation for its LEED Certification. Unlike many “green” buildings, this project attends to basic construction elements instead of relying on auxiliary technologies to achieve LEED credits. For instance, while the precast concrete panels are essential to the structure and envelope, they also contain an integrated insulation layer to outperform cast-in-place concrete in energy efficiency. These panels are spaced apart and pierced to introduce light wells and clerestories that reduce reliance on mechanical ventilation and artificial lighting. The wooden siding panels, once weathered to obsolescence, comprise a completely biodegradable product free of synthetic adhesives, fasteners, chemical coatings, or finishes. On the roof an array of modular planting trays insulates the building and diverts roof run-off water from the storm drains. Similarly sized photovoltaic panels may later replace some or all of these planting tray modules.
By simplifying the structure’s configuration, minimizing building technologies, facilitating future adaptation and superceding current regulations with LEED Certification criteria, the project acquires the attributes of “timelessness”; it will outlast its contemporaries and extend our natural resources.
North Main
Lot size: 0.45 acres
Building size: 4,670 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Office & Retail
Many contemporary commercial structures are planned with inherent disposability, minimizing initial cost at the expense of fortitude and long-term usefulness. This owner-occupied project challenges the conventional approach, enhancing the property’s value with durable material systems, adaptable spatial organization, and flexible building surfaces.
Insulated precast fly-ash concrete panels envelop the building’s two large uninterrupted spaces. This long-span sturdy shell will long outlast the typical tenant’s occupancy and accommodate an array of future uses. It is sheltered from the brunt of the elements by a skin of recycled modular wooden shingles held in place by custom stainless steel clips. In the same way that a car’s tires are prolonged by rotation, the panels are transferred from severe- to moderate- weathering facades and individually flipped front-to-back to maximize the material’s utility without using toxic, high-maintenance protective paints and stains. Inside, the same clips hold finished ceiling surfaces and light fixtures to the structural concrete planks. Rearranging and modifying these elements permits future users to adapt the spaces’ lighting, reflectance, acoustics, and technology without disturbing the permanent structure.
Similarly, air conditioning, voice, data, and electrical systems are modified by lifting the modular panels of a proprietary raised floor set atop the subfloor. Each panel accepts a replaceable finish layer fitted for grip, reflectance, sound attenuation, and wear-resistance.
In addition to enhancing the building’s value, the qualities of durability and flexibility also lay the foundation for its LEED Certification. Unlike many “green” buildings, this project attends to basic construction elements instead of relying on auxiliary technologies to achieve LEED credits. For instance, while the precast concrete panels are essential to the structure and envelope, they also contain an integrated insulation layer to outperform cast-in-place concrete in energy efficiency. These panels are spaced apart and pierced to introduce light wells and clerestories that reduce reliance on mechanical ventilation and artificial lighting. The wooden siding panels, once weathered to obsolescence, comprise a completely biodegradable product free of synthetic adhesives, fasteners, chemical coatings, or finishes. On the roof an array of modular planting trays insulates the building and diverts roof run-off water from the storm drains. Similarly sized photovoltaic panels may later replace some or all of these planting tray modules.
By simplifying the structure’s configuration, minimizing building technologies, facilitating future adaptation and superceding current regulations with LEED Certification criteria, the project acquires the attributes of “timelessness”; it will outlast its contemporaries and extend our natural resources.
Northwest Landing
Lot size: 0.51 acres
Building size: 1,895 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Straddling freshwater wetlands and a tidal estuary at just six feet above sea level, this house’s site demands extraordinary sensitivity to environmental concerns. Local zoning restricts the structure’s maximum coverage and encroachment on the wetlands areas, while FEMA requirements set the first floor structure above the base flood elevation. The house’s basic massing is therefore predetermined, limited to a one story, 1,900 square foot design in 4:7 proportion, raised eight feet above the ground. The spaces within this envelope are arranged, articulated, and fenestrated with an innovative structural system that infuses the house’s inner areas with light and circulating air.
Whereas most waterfront construction uses pilings to establish an artificial ground plane upon which a conventional house is built, in this project these structural members are integral: 16 wide, exposed, glue-laminated piles stake out the enclosing walls for each of the three bedrooms and extend continuously from the ground through the roof. The residual spaces between these piles house “utility” functions: closet, desk, laundry, pantry, and shower compartment. In addition to these conventional utilities, three vertical voids are opened between the piles to serve the spaces around them. Without occupying any of the limited allowed coverage these open areas add considerable value by improving the
house’s interior environmental quality and diminishing its impact on the local environment. The benefit is threefold: each opening draws light though the interior spaces to the carport below, conducts rainwater from the roof deck to a rainwater management system, and ventilates by siphoning air through the middle of the structure.
At the roof the projecting piles serve to divide the space between a deck directly coinciding with the living areas below and a modular planting system installed directly above each bedroom. This planting system further minimizes the structure’s footprint and environmental impact. At the ground level directly underneath the main living spaces, there is room for storing the cars, boats, and yard equipment usually found under houses raised on pilings.
By allowing these voids to permeate through the house, the owners have multiple visual connections to the landscape from below, within and above the house, encouraging a sense of place.
Northwest Landing
Lot size: 0.51 acres
Building size: 1,895 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Straddling freshwater wetlands and a tidal estuary at just six feet above sea level, this house’s site demands extraordinary sensitivity to environmental concerns. Local zoning restricts the structure’s maximum coverage and encroachment on the wetlands areas, while FEMA requirements set the first floor structure above the base flood elevation. The house’s basic massing is therefore predetermined, limited to a one story, 1,900 square foot design in 4:7 proportion, raised eight feet above the ground. The spaces within this envelope are arranged, articulated, and fenestrated with an innovative structural system that infuses the house’s inner areas with light and circulating air.
Whereas most waterfront construction uses pilings to establish an artificial ground plane upon which a conventional house is built, in this project these structural members are integral: 16 wide, exposed, glue-laminated piles stake out the enclosing walls for each of the three bedrooms and extend continuously from the ground through the roof. The residual spaces between these piles house “utility” functions: closet, desk, laundry, pantry, and shower compartment. In addition to these conventional utilities, three vertical voids are opened between the piles to serve the spaces around them. Without occupying any of the limited allowed coverage these open areas add considerable value by improving the
house’s interior environmental quality and diminishing its impact on the local environment. The benefit is threefold: each opening draws light though the interior spaces to the carport below, conducts rainwater from the roof deck to a rainwater management system, and ventilates by siphoning air through the middle of the structure.
At the roof the projecting piles serve to divide the space between a deck directly coinciding with the living areas below and a modular planting system installed directly above each bedroom. This planting system further minimizes the structure’s footprint and environmental impact. At the ground level directly underneath the main living spaces, there is room for storing the cars, boats, and yard equipment usually found under houses raised on pilings.
By allowing these voids to permeate through the house, the owners have multiple visual connections to the landscape from below, within and above the house, encouraging a sense of place.
Northwest Landing
Lot size: 0.51 acres
Building size: 1,895 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Straddling freshwater wetlands and a tidal estuary at just six feet above sea level, this house’s site demands extraordinary sensitivity to environmental concerns. Local zoning restricts the structure’s maximum coverage and encroachment on the wetlands areas, while FEMA requirements set the first floor structure above the base flood elevation. The house’s basic massing is therefore predetermined, limited to a one story, 1,900 square foot design in 4:7 proportion, raised eight feet above the ground. The spaces within this envelope are arranged, articulated, and fenestrated with an innovative structural system that infuses the house’s inner areas with light and circulating air.
Whereas most waterfront construction uses pilings to establish an artificial ground plane upon which a conventional house is built, in this project these structural members are integral: 16 wide, exposed, glue-laminated piles stake out the enclosing walls for each of the three bedrooms and extend continuously from the ground through the roof. The residual spaces between these piles house “utility” functions: closet, desk, laundry, pantry, and shower compartment. In addition to these conventional utilities, three vertical voids are opened between the piles to serve the spaces around them. Without occupying any of the limited allowed coverage these open areas add considerable value by improving the
house’s interior environmental quality and diminishing its impact on the local environment. The benefit is threefold: each opening draws light though the interior spaces to the carport below, conducts rainwater from the roof deck to a rainwater management system, and ventilates by siphoning air through the middle of the structure.
At the roof the projecting piles serve to divide the space between a deck directly coinciding with the living areas below and a modular planting system installed directly above each bedroom. This planting system further minimizes the structure’s footprint and environmental impact. At the ground level directly underneath the main living spaces, there is room for storing the cars, boats, and yard equipment usually found under houses raised on pilings.
By allowing these voids to permeate through the house, the owners have multiple visual connections to the landscape from below, within and above the house, encouraging a sense of place.
Northwest Landing
Lot size: 0.51 acres
Building size: 1,895 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Straddling freshwater wetlands and a tidal estuary at just six feet above sea level, this house’s site demands extraordinary sensitivity to environmental concerns. Local zoning restricts the structure’s maximum coverage and encroachment on the wetlands areas, while FEMA requirements set the first floor structure above the base flood elevation. The house’s basic massing is therefore predetermined, limited to a one story, 1,900 square foot design in 4:7 proportion, raised eight feet above the ground. The spaces within this envelope are arranged, articulated, and fenestrated with an innovative structural system that infuses the house’s inner areas with light and circulating air.
Whereas most waterfront construction uses pilings to establish an artificial ground plane upon which a conventional house is built, in this project these structural members are integral: 16 wide, exposed, glue-laminated piles stake out the enclosing walls for each of the three bedrooms and extend continuously from the ground through the roof. The residual spaces between these piles house “utility” functions: closet, desk, laundry, pantry, and shower compartment. In addition to these conventional utilities, three vertical voids are opened between the piles to serve the spaces around them. Without occupying any of the limited allowed coverage these open areas add considerable value by improving the
house’s interior environmental quality and diminishing its impact on the local environment. The benefit is threefold: each opening draws light though the interior spaces to the carport below, conducts rainwater from the roof deck to a rainwater management system, and ventilates by siphoning air through the middle of the structure.
At the roof the projecting piles serve to divide the space between a deck directly coinciding with the living areas below and a modular planting system installed directly above each bedroom. This planting system further minimizes the structure’s footprint and environmental impact. At the ground level directly underneath the main living spaces, there is room for storing the cars, boats, and yard equipment usually found under houses raised on pilings.
By allowing these voids to permeate through the house, the owners have multiple visual connections to the landscape from below, within and above the house, encouraging a sense of place.
Salt Cay
Lot size: 6 acres
Building size: 7,000 sq. ft.
Location: Turks & Caicos, BVI
Program: Resort Villa
Salt Cay is to become a unique resort that provides its guests with unmatched privacy, service, intelligent luxury, and unique experiences. It will achieve this not in spite of, but because of its sensitivity to the history, ecology, vernacular traditions, and natural beauty of the island. The architecture of the resort will be a backdrop that enhances the already unique experiences available on Salt Cay. The design is a singular idea that fulfills all of the resort’s goals. It enhances the sense of place, provides unsurpassed privacy, creates unique and therefore profound experiences, respects the environment, and does so with an economy of materials and resources.
Piersons Way
Lot size: 1.7 acres
Building size: 7,400 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Project narrative forthcoming
Piersons Way
Lot size: 1.7 acres
Building size: 7,400 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Project narrative forthcoming
Northwest Landing
Lot size: 0.51 acres
Building size: 1,895 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Straddling freshwater wetlands and a tidal estuary at just six feet above sea level, this house’s site demands extraordinary sensitivity to environmental concerns. Local zoning restricts the structure’s maximum coverage and encroachment on the wetlands areas, while FEMA requirements set the first floor structure above the base flood elevation. The house’s basic massing is therefore predetermined, limited to a one story, 1,900 square foot design in 4:7 proportion, raised eight feet above the ground. The spaces within this envelope are arranged, articulated, and fenestrated with an innovative structural system that infuses the house’s inner areas with light and circulating air.
Whereas most waterfront construction uses pilings to establish an artificial ground plane upon which a conventional house is built, in this project these structural members are integral: 16 wide, exposed, glue-laminated piles stake out the enclosing walls for each of the three bedrooms and extend continuously from the ground through the roof. The residual spaces between these piles house “utility” functions: closet, desk, laundry, pantry, and shower compartment. In addition to these conventional utilities, three vertical voids are opened between the piles to serve the spaces around them. Without occupying any of the limited allowed coverage these open areas add considerable value by improving the
house’s interior environmental quality and diminishing its impact on the local environment. The benefit is threefold: each opening draws light though the interior spaces to the carport below, conducts rainwater from the roof deck to a rainwater management system, and ventilates by siphoning air through the middle of the structure.
At the roof the projecting piles serve to divide the space between a deck directly coinciding with the living areas below and a modular planting system installed directly above each bedroom. This planting system further minimizes the structure’s footprint and environmental impact. At the ground level directly underneath the main living spaces, there is room for storing the cars, boats, and yard equipment usually found under houses raised on pilings.
By allowing these voids to permeate through the house, the owners have multiple visual connections to the landscape from below, within and above the house, encouraging a sense of place.
Piersons Way
Lot size: 1.7 acres
Building size: 7,400 sq. ft.
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Project narrative forthcoming
Sagaponack
Lot size: 2 acres
Building size: 8965 sq. ft.
Location: Sagaponack, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Photographer: Michael Moran
Contractor: Wright & Co. Construction
Interior Designer: Bates Masi Architects
Landscape Architect: Stephen Stimson
Located between the Atlantic Ocean and a freshwater pond, this residence is for an adventurous couple and their four sons. They wanted a house for their large family and numerous guests with a lawn, swimming pool, pool house, garage, and sports courts on a site with a limited building envelope due to coastal and wetland zoning. The large program, relatively small footprint, and daunting regulations dictated a building envelope densely packed with program that stood as a barrier between the ocean and the pond. Thus the design process was one of subtraction rather than addition: carving away at the solid mass of the house to reconnect site features and views and to distill the experience of the place.
Spaces run the full width of the house with floor to ceiling sliding doors on both sides. The spaces create apertures through which views, light, and air completely penetrate the house, dissolving its mass. Passersby see directly through the house to the sky and landscape beyond. With the sliding doors open and recessed into the adjacent walls, interior spaces are transformed from formal rooms to open pavilions, merging seamlessly with the site.
To accommodate the extensive program spaces are nested within one another. Operable partitions pull out from the walls of the living room, carving out a media room within the living room when privacy is desired. Conversely, with the partitions open, the media room merges with the living room for large gatherings. The thickness of the wall separating the dining room and kitchen is also cut away, utilizing its depth to accommodate a wine rack that also functions as a light fixture.
The process of carving is applied at the material and detail level as well. The 5/8” corten steel plate that clads the base of the house is waterjet cut into a delicate pattern that defies its mass. Inside, corian is employed for the ease with which it can be milled. Corian countertops are cut to form towel bars, bunk bed frames are carved to create ladders, cabinet doors are recessed to form handles, and wainscoting is subtly etched with meaningful words chosen by the clients.
Materials were chosen not only for their workability, but also for their durability in the coastal environment. Corten steel siding is zero maintenance despite being relentlessly sandblasted by the wind. Cedar siding and screens are finished using a Victorian technique in which the iron sulfate in a blend of white vinegar and iron filings reacts with the tannins in wood, creating an ebony finish that penetrates through the material and will not require refinishing. The lack of harsh stains or finishes reduces the ecological footprint of the house. Geothermal heating and cooling as well as vegetated roofs further reduce the environmental impact.
Using the design approach of sculpting away rather than building up, the house is pared down until the experience of the extraordinary site is dominant.
Sagaponack
Lot size: 2 acres
Building size: 8965 sq. ft.
Location: Sagaponack, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Photographer: Michael Moran
Contractor: Wright & Co. Construction
Interior Designer: Bates Masi Architects
Landscape Architect: Stephen Stimson
Located between the Atlantic Ocean and a freshwater pond, this residence is for an adventurous couple and their four sons. They wanted a house for their large family and numerous guests with a lawn, swimming pool, pool house, garage, and sports courts on a site with a limited building envelope due to coastal and wetland zoning. The large program, relatively small footprint, and daunting regulations dictated a building envelope densely packed with program that stood as a barrier between the ocean and the pond. Thus the design process was one of subtraction rather than addition: carving away at the solid mass of the house to reconnect site features and views and to distill the experience of the place.
Spaces run the full width of the house with floor to ceiling sliding doors on both sides. The spaces create apertures through which views, light, and air completely penetrate the house, dissolving its mass. Passersby see directly through the house to the sky and landscape beyond. With the sliding doors open and recessed into the adjacent walls, interior spaces are transformed from formal rooms to open pavilions, merging seamlessly with the site.
To accommodate the extensive program spaces are nested within one another. Operable partitions pull out from the walls of the living room, carving out a media room within the living room when privacy is desired. Conversely, with the partitions open, the media room merges with the living room for large gatherings. The thickness of the wall separating the dining room and kitchen is also cut away, utilizing its depth to accommodate a wine rack that also functions as a light fixture.
The process of carving is applied at the material and detail level as well. The 5/8” corten steel plate that clads the base of the house is waterjet cut into a delicate pattern that defies its mass. Inside, corian is employed for the ease with which it can be milled. Corian countertops are cut to form towel bars, bunk bed frames are carved to create ladders, cabinet doors are recessed to form handles, and wainscoting is subtly etched with meaningful words chosen by the clients.
Materials were chosen not only for their workability, but also for their durability in the coastal environment. Corten steel siding is zero maintenance despite being relentlessly sandblasted by the wind. Cedar siding and screens are finished using a Victorian technique in which the iron sulfate in a blend of white vinegar and iron filings reacts with the tannins in wood, creating an ebony finish that penetrates through the material and will not require refinishing. The lack of harsh stains or finishes reduces the ecological footprint of the house. Geothermal heating and cooling as well as vegetated roofs further reduce the environmental impact.
Using the design approach of sculpting away rather than building up, the house is pared down until the experience of the extraordinary site is dominant.
Sagaponack
Lot size: 2 acres
Building size: 8965 sq. ft.
Location: Sagaponack, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Photographer: Michael Moran
Contractor: Wright & Co. Construction
Interior Designer: Bates Masi Architects
Landscape Architect: Stephen Stimson
Located between the Atlantic Ocean and a freshwater pond, this residence is for an adventurous couple and their four sons. They wanted a house for their large family and numerous guests with a lawn, swimming pool, pool house, garage, and sports courts on a site with a limited building envelope due to coastal and wetland zoning. The large program, relatively small footprint, and daunting regulations dictated a building envelope densely packed with program that stood as a barrier between the ocean and the pond. Thus the design process was one of subtraction rather than addition: carving away at the solid mass of the house to reconnect site features and views and to distill the experience of the place.
Spaces run the full width of the house with floor to ceiling sliding doors on both sides. The spaces create apertures through which views, light, and air completely penetrate the house, dissolving its mass. Passersby see directly through the house to the sky and landscape beyond. With the sliding doors open and recessed into the adjacent walls, interior spaces are transformed from formal rooms to open pavilions, merging seamlessly with the site.
To accommodate the extensive program spaces are nested within one another. Operable partitions pull out from the walls of the living room, carving out a media room within the living room when privacy is desired. Conversely, with the partitions open, the media room merges with the living room for large gatherings. The thickness of the wall separating the dining room and kitchen is also cut away, utilizing its depth to accommodate a wine rack that also functions as a light fixture.
The process of carving is applied at the material and detail level as well. The 5/8” corten steel plate that clads the base of the house is waterjet cut into a delicate pattern that defies its mass. Inside, corian is employed for the ease with which it can be milled. Corian countertops are cut to form towel bars, bunk bed frames are carved to create ladders, cabinet doors are recessed to form handles, and wainscoting is subtly etched with meaningful words chosen by the clients.
Materials were chosen not only for their workability, but also for their durability in the coastal environment. Corten steel siding is zero maintenance despite being relentlessly sandblasted by the wind. Cedar siding and screens are finished using a Victorian technique in which the iron sulfate in a blend of white vinegar and iron filings reacts with the tannins in wood, creating an ebony finish that penetrates through the material and will not require refinishing. The lack of harsh stains or finishes reduces the ecological footprint of the house. Geothermal heating and cooling as well as vegetated roofs further reduce the environmental impact.
Using the design approach of sculpting away rather than building up, the house is pared down until the experience of the extraordinary site is dominant.
Sagaponack
Lot size: 2 acres
Building size: 8965 sq. ft.
Location: Sagaponack, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Photographer: Michael Moran
Contractor: Wright & Co. Construction
Interior Designer: Bates Masi Architects
Landscape Architect: Stephen Stimson
Located between the Atlantic Ocean and a freshwater pond, this residence is for an adventurous couple and their four sons. They wanted a house for their large family and numerous guests with a lawn, swimming pool, pool house, garage, and sports courts on a site with a limited building envelope due to coastal and wetland zoning. The large program, relatively small footprint, and daunting regulations dictated a building envelope densely packed with program that stood as a barrier between the ocean and the pond. Thus the design process was one of subtraction rather than addition: carving away at the solid mass of the house to reconnect site features and views and to distill the experience of the place.
Spaces run the full width of the house with floor to ceiling sliding doors on both sides. The spaces create apertures through which views, light, and air completely penetrate the house, dissolving its mass. Passersby see directly through the house to the sky and landscape beyond. With the sliding doors open and recessed into the adjacent walls, interior spaces are transformed from formal rooms to open pavilions, merging seamlessly with the site.
To accommodate the extensive program spaces are nested within one another. Operable partitions pull out from the walls of the living room, carving out a media room within the living room when privacy is desired. Conversely, with the partitions open, the media room merges with the living room for large gatherings. The thickness of the wall separating the dining room and kitchen is also cut away, utilizing its depth to accommodate a wine rack that also functions as a light fixture.
The process of carving is applied at the material and detail level as well. The 5/8” corten steel plate that clads the base of the house is waterjet cut into a delicate pattern that defies its mass. Inside, corian is employed for the ease with which it can be milled. Corian countertops are cut to form towel bars, bunk bed frames are carved to create ladders, cabinet doors are recessed to form handles, and wainscoting is subtly etched with meaningful words chosen by the clients.
Materials were chosen not only for their workability, but also for their durability in the coastal environment. Corten steel siding is zero maintenance despite being relentlessly sandblasted by the wind. Cedar siding and screens are finished using a Victorian technique in which the iron sulfate in a blend of white vinegar and iron filings reacts with the tannins in wood, creating an ebony finish that penetrates through the material and will not require refinishing. The lack of harsh stains or finishes reduces the ecological footprint of the house. Geothermal heating and cooling as well as vegetated roofs further reduce the environmental impact.
Using the design approach of sculpting away rather than building up, the house is pared down until the experience of the extraordinary site is dominant.
