Surf House is shaped by the raw beauty of it’s context. Located in the small beach enclave of Ditch Plains, long a favorite of surfers and bohemians, the house seeks to capture the warm otherworldly spirit that fills the salt air.
Designed for a young West Village family drawn to the area in part because of the similarity to their native Ireland, the house embraces the natural materials, finishes and landscape traditional to the area. In the spirit of the early Hampton’s work of architects such as Richard Meier and Charles Gwathmey, traditional materials are made contemporary through a reductive color palate and the use of pure, primitive forms. Forms which have presence but whose asymmetry produces an unidentifiable dissonance.
The monochromatic black exterior blends with the shadows of the natural landscape, complementing the raw beauty of Ditch Plains while opening into an ethereal light-filled interior. Clear forms and subtle detailing define a primitive yet contemporary architecture.
The scale and finish of the materials transforms as one moves from the entry and up the stairs framing the narrative of the experience. Starting at the front edge of the property, one enters between two staggered black cedar fences. One solid and pushed back against a dune, shielding parking, and one open, allowing views and plants to grow through. Black cedar boards matching the dimension of the fence is again used for the exterior cladding. The two gables are clad in flat vertical boards, while the new extension and entry are articulated with a 2x1 “corduroy” of cedar battens. Through a dutch door with a porthole window, the white washed wood walls in the entry hall are continued upstairs, treated in ever more opaque stains moving up to the second floor, culminating in the white painted open beams and ceiling of the great room.
Materialization
- Exterior- 8” width vertical ship-lap black cedar siding on the main gable volumes. 2”x1” vertical cedar battens on the entry-stair extension.
- Interior Entry Hall- Poured concrete floor, white-washed heart pine walls
- Bathroom- poured concrete floor, white-washed heart pine walls, concrete shower wall. Custom vanity - clear stain heart pine, custom concrete vanity top. Exterior shower - Unstained cedar on the interior, black stained cedar on the exterior.
- Stair- White-washed pine walls, custom bronze handrail
- Living/ Dining- White-washed heart pine walls, White painted wood ceiling and beams
- Fireplace- Morso wood burning stove set on flush-mounted bluestone slabs
- Kitchen- Soapstone countertop, black stained base cabinets. Island - Clear finish heart pine base, Statuary marble top
- Plumbing Fixtures - Vola, natural brass finish
