After 10 years of frequently hiking in the Catskill mountains, a Manhattan-based family of four found the perfect spot to refresh their spirits to the sound of nature. Here, they built their very own two-story longhouse.
The Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, just a few hours' drive from New York City offers clear water in the summer, fall foliage in October and great skiing opportunities in the winter, so it is no surprise that New Yorkers have escaped to nature in the Catskills for decades.
And that is exactly what Maria Ibañez de Sendadiano and Todd Rouhe decided to do in 2018. The architect couple who run their own New York City firm, IdS/R Architecture, decided to build their own country retreat in New York’s Catskill Mountains after 10 years of travelling to the mountainous region to hike in the fresh air and unplug with their two teenage daughters, Inez and Luz.
Ibañez de Sendadiano and Rouhe wanted foremost to build a structure with as little impact as possible, and towards that end decided to follow Passive House standards, a set of stringent rules for creating an ultra-efficient, air-tight dwelling that supplies most of its own energy via solar panels.
To save on costs and stay on top of an ambitious construction schedule, the couple also decided to act in tandem as their own general contractor. It took them six months to build the 185 m2 house and another six months to finish the interior.
Modelled after a traditional longhouse layout, the ground floor has two bedrooms and two bathrooms at either end of the house, and a living room, dining area and open-plan kitchen. The couple wanted the kitchen to adapt to the spacious room, making sure to keep window views unobstructed and their search for such a kitchen led them to the freestanding Vipp V1 kitchen.
The couple have designed and built the kitchen table of birch plywood and an anodized aluminium base themselves. The table stands next to a built-in pantry with drawers of unfinished birch ply and white doors.
Since the house overlooks woodland, Ibañez de Sendadiano and Rouhe chose interior and exterior colours that blend with the outdoors, while they chose a grey rock-like quarry tile for the entire main floor.
Team:
Architects: IdS/R Architecture
Photo credit: Eric Petschek