Bates Masi +

Jan 2012

We live in a time where smart phones and tablets are in everyone's hands and multitasking is the normal way of life. Influenced from the client's multitasking lifestyle, a diverse set of requirements developed for a new home. The clients, one of whom is the owner of a public relations company, requested that multiple activities could take place throughout the house without interruption; a dinner party could take place while simultaneously entertaining a group of children, or guests could come and go without disturbing the rest of the family. These programmatic requests diagrammatically divide the site as well as establish view corridors from front to back. Transparency through the house puts simultaneous activities on display, and provides a setting where guests can see and be seen. A series of open-ended boxes, each tailored to a portion of the architectural program focuses the view from the street though the house to the landscape in the rear. Mahogany boards wrap floors, ceilings, and walls to heighten the perspectival view and provide privacy from neighbors. Each box has independent audio, video, and climate control to operate autonomously and the length, height, and volume of each box is adjusted to appropriately encase the program. Interstitial spaces between the arranged boxes are gardens and patios. The overlap of the boxes creates thresholds that highlight interesting moments. With each box occupying a specific program, the multitasking of different events is achieved. With a limited material palate, travertine is used as flooring for the terraces and as cladding on portions of the open-ended boxes. To use the stone as an exterior cladding, a custom hanging system was designed. The travertine siding is captured at the top and bottom by a CNC wire formed frame and overlapped by the following course above. The proportion and repetition of the siding references the wood shingle vernacular ubiquitous in the area. The fireplace merges a utilitarian object and a crafted, sculptural work of art. The fireplace conceals a moment frame, supporting lateral loads to allow for the large open-ended volume of the dining and living room. It also houses a coat closet and the HVAC components. The overlapping, repeating bronze components were digitally fabricated and assembled on site. Different patina processes were studied to achieve the dark bronze facing the room and the polished bronze on the interior of the hood. Sunlight from above is reflected by the polished bronze and filters through the gaps from the overlapped construction. Similar construction methods were utilized for the master bedroom headboard using repeating strips of belting leather. The separation of program into individual volumes allows the multitasking lifestyle of the clients to continue into their home. Where multitasking on a daily basis can seem chaotic, a new order is developed by the architecture. The client's new home allows them to keep up with their busy lifestyle while also providing respite from it. Photography by: Bates Masi + Architects LLC

Bridgehampton, NY

Jan 2012

The clients, an interior designer and a DJ, requested a complete renovation and addition of a 1960's kit house in Amagansett, NY to be a weekend retreat from their urban apartment. The clients gathered images of objects and conventional materials utilized in new, interesting ways as inspiration for the design. A single design solution that could unify the old remaining parts of the house to the new intervention was sought. This solution should solve acoustical, lighting, equipment coordination and simultaneously address the aesthetic decor requirements of the client's collection of objects. A vocabulary was developed that allowed the patina and history that the client favored to remain and new experiences to evolve. The house was gutted and reduced down to the skeletal framework allowing the intervention to utilize the post and beam construction that remained. Between the existing ceiling joists, natural rope was woven through a digitally fabricated framework. Weaving patterns were used to signify different ceiling conditions. Lighting penetrates through a crossed weave of the rope. It transitions to a straight weave to shield speakers and utilities from view. Since the client is a DJ, sound is very important. The rope weave acts as an acoustic baffle absorbing background noise, but allows music from the ceiling mounted speakers to be emitted. To integrate with the decor, the rope was used structurally to support several items such as a large, custom steel framed mirror in the Master Bathroom and the Dining Room Chandelier. A large sliding door is woven with the same rope to provide privacy from the neighbors and shield the sun at various times of the day. The sunlight rakes through the openings casting linear shadows on the bathroom floor. Unifying the exterior is a dark stained cedar siding that wraps all of the exterior facades and transitions to the matching frames of the replaced windows and doors. The newly constructed interior walls and interior cabinetry were also resurfaced in reclaimed barn wood. Behind a sheet of glass, the same reclaimed wood lines the shower surround and one feels as though they are showering outdoors. The clients now have a quiet escape from city life. The frequent turnover within a vacation community can be wasteful. Some are eager to tear down what exists and start new. This project preserved the skeleton of the house and the history in the patinaed materials that the client desired. Conventional materials were utilized in new ways to unify the old and the new. Photography by: Bates Masi + Architects

East Hampton, NY

Sep 2011

The house occupies a hill in Montauk with a distant view of the ocean, a site that the owners, a couple with two young boys, spent years to find. It is the couple's reprieve from their home in the city, to share the outdoor lifestyle with their family and to remember their teenage years together in Montauk. The house design prompts the owners to interact with the surrounding environment, evoking experiences of camping. A departure from typical residential planning, the house is entered through multiple areas for different guests and occasions. Large glass doors slide open to the living, dining and kitchen area for a large gathering; a smaller scaled swing door for an occasional guest opens to the center hall with a view of the ocean. A sequence of auxiliary spaces - beach equipment area, outdoor shower, sand and mudroom -- creates a seamless ritual of the daily activities for the family and friends. In all living areas and bedrooms, glass doors and insect screens slide in and out from pocket walls, transforming rooms to screened porches or spaces completely open to the landscape. The living area, a double height space with kitchen, dining and living area, has thirty-six feet wide glass doors that pocket into southern and northern walls. When open, the dining room becomes a picnic area and the living room fireplace becomes a campfire. Multiple layers of bronzed metal fabric at the clerestory windows in the living area fold and unfold to adjust sunlight for optimal brightness & temperature of the space. These operable architectural elements use the natural environment to create suitable living conditions. The house is environmentally friendly in its overall construction and planning with geo-thermal heating and cooling, shading and venting systems, solar panels, and organic finishes and materials. Lending to the structure's sustainability, the house is assembled, rather than built, with a prefabricated foundation, panel siding and efficient built-ins, minimizing construction debris and toxins such as concrete foundation tar on the site. With the owner's initial premise of camping, the design and functionality of the house promote a memorable experience for friends and family in the natural environment. Photography by: Bates Masi + Architects LLC

Montauk, NY

Jul 2009

Set on a narrow site atop a bluff overlooking Gardiner's Bay, this house replaces a vacation home shared by 2 brothers and their families for over 25 years before it was destroyed by fire. Since originally building on the site, new regulations have been established and the families have grown in size. The new structure responds to these needs while preserving and enhancing the casual summertime lifestyle long enjoyed by its owners. A new house on the same property provided an opportunity to rethink how the client would use the house. The harsh weather of the waterfront location previously required time-consuming maintenance. Therefore, all of the materials for the new house are durable and naturally weathering. The wood siding with water-resistant tannins and oils, zinc fascia, and slate roofing repurposed as a siding material require little maintenance. These strategies allow the family to enjoy each other instead of spending time maintaining their house. The house is composed of two simple taut volumes. The public and private living areas are in the waterside volume, all with spectacular views and access to the beach. Circulation, baths, and utilities are in the landward volume overlooking the pool. By offsetting the volumes vertically and horizontally, the surface area of the compact design increases, allowing for more windows to admit light and westerly breezes. This slippage also creates intimate outdoor spaces for bathing, entertaining, and dining. The views of Gardiner's Bay that the family has enjoyed for the past 25 years are revisited. Frames create vignettes unique to each space. As a visitor, the sequence of views is choreographed to encourage exploration and further discovery. Snap shots of sky, sea and cliffs coordinate with different experiences throughout the house to create memories. The deep frames in front of each volume provide privacy from neighboring properties while leaving the east and west facades open to views of the water. The frames create spaces that defy the conventional distinctions between indoors and outdoors. At the roof deck, portions of the ceiling and walls are omitted to create an "outdoor room" open to the sky and the landscape, yet more contiguous with the interior than a conventional deck or terrace. The screened porch is similarly open to the elements while remaining integrated with the sequence of interior rooms. The frames direct attention away from the house to the water views and surrounding landscape, further easing the boundaries between interior and exterior spaces. By carefully intertwining spaces and materials with the landscape, the design creates an environment that the family will continue to enjoy for many years to come. The deliberate framing of the landscape has changed the perspective of the familiar view giving each family member his or her own unique experience. Photography by: Bates Masi + Architects LLC

East Hampton, NY

Jan 2009

At the first meeting, the clients introduced both their growing family and growing art collection. They were particularly excited about a new artist, Vik Muniz, whose works based on photographs of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis provided a delightful discovery upon closer inspection: paintings of the iconic images rendered in peanut butter and jelly. This moment of discovery and playful deception became the design concept of the house. Approaching the house by the winding driveway, the gabled form, massive chimney, and shingled siding are all reminiscent of traditional houses on eastern Long Island. Looking closely, the shingles are, in fact, a woven screen of oak surveyors stakes, similar to those that dotted the steeply wooded lot when the clients first saw it. Similarly, the massive chimney that anchors the house to the site isn't solid at all, but is actually made of thin concrete panels. Entering the house, with a view of the pool and gardens beyond, the wall enclosing the stair looks like translucent stone. One has to look very carefully to see that it is a double paned glass wall filled with small seashells, a reference to the nearby beaches. The double-height living/dining room is a compatible scale and space for the large works of art and family gatherings. The fireplace surround reflects fragmented images of the art and surrounding landscape while its crystalline appearance defies its humble origins: polished stainless steel military dog tags. Expectations were also subverted in the structural system of the house to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency. Behind the stake siding and interior gypsum board are walls comprised of precast concrete panels typically used in foundation construction. These durable and low maintenance panels are double insulated for efficiency and are a perfect scale for hanging large art. By staggering the walls slightly, tall, narrow windows admit indirect light and allow glimpses of the landscape. By subverting expectations, this house encourages multiple readings that change, depending on time and perception. It turns this house into something more: an exploration of perception. Photography by: Bates Masi + Architects LLC

Amagansett, NY