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Location: Sag Harbor, New York
Project size: 3,325 square feet

Program: A guest house for a family on a narrow peninsula is surrounded by water views on all sides.

Design Solution: The owners’ stewardship of the location inspired Bates Masi + Architects to design a house that improves hydrology, reduces erosion, and mitigates flood risk. The retreat is organized into a series of five discrete pavilions, with an overarching roof structure, that contain the private functions of the house and share an intimate ceiling height and material palette. The spaces between the pavilions are adaptable based on the environmental conditions, creating unique experiences that change with the weather and seasons. Pocketing glass doors offer the pavilions intimacy; when open, public spaces merge with the exterior deck, pavilions become cabins, and halls become connective boardwalks.

Photo © Bates Masi + Architects

The pavilions are centered on courtyard rain gardens, which receive runoff from the sculpted roof. In light rain, water trickles down the copper siding leaving patina patterns over time. In heavier showers, rain arcs down into the gardens in dramatic streams. Concrete retaining wall rings on piles elevated 3 feet above grade form the courtyards’ foundations and act as piers upon which the elevated house sits, reducing its footprint and minimizing the floodwater it displaces. Layers of soil, gravel, and sand within the courtyards act as rainwater storage and filtering devices, preventing erosion and improving groundwater quality.

Structure and Materials: The roof structure sits atop the pavilions, creating a higher ceiling height in the interstitial spaces. The outside walls of these spaces are operable glass doors that completely disappear into the walls when the weather allows, dissolving the barrier between inside and out. The exterior material palette of Ipe siding, decking, and copper soffits continues through these indoor-outdoor public spaces to further eliminate the boundary between exterior and interior.

Additional Information
Completion date: August 2023
Site size: 1.27 acres
Total construction cost: Withheld
Client/Owner: Withheld

Photos © Bates Masi + Architects

Image courtesy Bates Masi + Architects; click to enlarge