A house by architect Ben van Berkel rarely could be described as a glass box. Instead the principal of the Amsterdam-based UNStudio avoids the rectilinear modernist approach for a more organic direction.
Secrecy and privacy. Hiding in plain sight. These are themes Mike Mora of Heliotrope Architects toyed with while drawing up the designs for this Portage Bay residence, a 2,500-square-foot home for a bachelor that replaced an existing structure.
Principals of 15-year-old Intexure Architects, the husband-and-wife team of Russell and Rame Hruska, had plenty of experience designing high-end residential projects for others.
The clients wanted to renovate a two-story, ranch-style, 1960s-era, wood-frame house, which was left devoid of natural light after an earlier duplex conversion.
Atop a high ridge in a densely wooded 'Outer Cape' area of Cape Cod, the architects designed a four-bedroom residence offering both long, unobstructed vistas and passive cooling from the breeze.
For a family of five, the designer and architect sought to gut and renovate a building that had been partially converted from a 5,500-square-foot church to a residential space, preserving historic elements of the existing structure while updating the home with modern conveniences.