Southampton–See Saw House
Under construction–nominated by German Design Council, unbuilt category, 2025/2026
This contextual Hamptons home operates between the ancient and the modern, anchoring itself to the historic farmland to the north and state forest to the south. The architecture draws strength from this duality as its two countering rooflines gesture to both. The duality is furthered through two contrasting materials of Indiana limestone and wide-plank cedar.
Abstracted, fortress-like limestone waslls undulate at the perimeter forming a protective base that grounds the house in the landscape. These heavier stone elements engage with and elevate the lighter cedar volumes above, whose scale and rthym reference neighboring farm structures.Large portals open the plan outward, expanding the home into a sequence of outdoor rooms integrated into walls, stoops and roofs.
Movement through the house is deliberate and ceremonial: a drawbridge-like path crosses a reflecting pool into a central courtyard garden, then continues upward to earth-insulated roof terraces. The limestone “forts” signal the more intimate spaces– a reading nook, den and primary bedroom. They also suggest the creamy palette of the Hamptons beaches. The reading fort is clad inside w grotto-like volcanic tile, reinforcing a sense of refuge. Adjacent to that is the soaring great room, with a ceiling of reclaimed beams inspired by the ancient
Hotel de Sully in Paris.
Copyright VSA, 2024
Southampton–Waterfall house
2026
Watermill– Red Door Cabin
Renovation, landscape and garden pavilion
2015/2020 Scuttle Hole Road
A gut renovation on a modest budget, we transformed a dilapidated Watermill ranch house on a tight budget to an efficient, barn-chic cheerful modern cabin; it melds into its context of glorious potato farmlands with enhanced VSA landscaping design. The home utilizes salvaged cedar wood for new front barn doors; large glass sliding doors to open onto vistas, new steel cables and wide cedar deck, copper and wood roof. We eliminated an awkward 80s bay windows for a streamlined look that resonates with adjacent farmland. The boldly colored sliding doors serve as protective shudders and open onto a breakfast terrace with landscaped path to a pavilion and gravel drive. The pavilion, added years after the renovation, was likened by the New York Times to the work of Phillip Johnson in the article, Pavilions are the Space Between Art and Architecture, 2021.
2019 Watermill Renovation/Lawrence Court
VSA as Architect of Record and consultant. Design by Fani Budic/Metre Design.
