napa house pool

napa house pool

windmark beach house anderson architects was one of six architects invited by the St. Joe Company to design a prototypical house for its latest beach community, WindMark Beach. Designs were required to be semi-custom and flexible enough to fit on a variety of lot configurations. Lots typically measure 120’ x 75’, but can vary in width and length depending on their location. To the rear, lots connect to a raised ‘vehicular’ street; to the front, the sites tie into a network of ‘pedestrian’ boardwalks which take the inhabitants from their front porches through the immediate neighborhood directly to the beach. The long, narrow structure is located along a side setback line, dedicating the remainder of the site to a private garden. To the rear of the lot a carriage house defines the garden, separating it from the street and the public realm. To the front the garden is open to the boardwalk and the community. Our prototype was conceptualized as a simple, vernacular form, which is extruded and carved to shape a variety of outdoor spaces: on the second floor the form is sliced open to create an outdoor deck space shared by two bedrooms, as well as a ‘gasket’, splitting the plan into two zones, a parents’ ‘wing’ and a kids/guest ‘wing’. Directly below the carved-out volume is the sand room or dogtrot with adjoining outdoor shower, bench and hooks, which also serves as a breeze-way and primary entry. At the front of the house a wooden screen protects a carved-out, shaded, private porch for the third bedroom. Downstairs along the main deck area the façade is pushed back to provide more space for outdoor entertaining and a direct visual and physical connection between the interior and exterior public spaces. The main form is consistently clad with tongue-and-groove butt jointed vertical cedar boards, white washed, celebrating the grain of the wood. Areas where cutting or carving have occurred are expressed by the use of tongue-and-groove horizontal cedar boards with a ‘dropped’ joint detail. Here the siding is stained and sealed to accentuate grain and color. The simple form is further articulated by the use of clip-ons which introduce some playful elements into the massing. Indoor stairs, for example, are literally attached to the side of the house, one leading to the master suite, the other to two smaller bedrooms. These clip-on volumes are expressed by the change in material (such as the horizontal, stained siding used here) and float on a scaffold of wood post and beams. On the garden side of the house, a covered walkway runs along the main façade formally bringing the inhabitant from the street into the private world of the garden and the sand room. Further along, the walkway widens and continues uncovered, to become the main deck overlooking the private garden. Here an articulated box slips into the building and houses two fireplaces: one interior, one exterior. Facing the community boardwalk a screened porch clips on to the front of the house. This outdoor room is a transition between the public boardwalk and the private interior of the house; above it extends to become a slatted skin, once again screening the second floor patio. The carriage house is made up of a first floor 2-car garage and a clipped-on second floor guest suite. Siding materials are configured to match the main house. A hollowed-out second floor provides a generous patio overlooking the private garden and the public street. Opening two opposite sides of the garage allows for a visual connection from the garden to the street. This dwelling’s simple extruded form conveys the relaxed demeanor appropriate to life at the beach. It is about being outside as much as inside. Its narrow footprint allows breezes and light to animate each room. Sitting lightly in the landscape, it speaks a language that is both local and sophisticated, while responding to the climate in a variety of time-honored gestures. Most importantly, it continues to let the landscape dominate white it remains comfortably in the shaded background.

windmark beach house

anderson architects was one of six architects invited by the St. Joe Company to design a prototypical house for its latest beach community, WindMark Beach. Designs were required to be semi-custom and flexible enough to fit on a variety of lot configurations. Lots typically measure 120’ x 75’, but can vary in width and length depending on their location. To the rear, lots connect to a raised ‘vehicular’ street; to the front, the sites tie into a network of ‘pedestrian’ boardwalks which take the inhabitants from their front porches through the immediate neighborhood directly to the beach.

The long, narrow structure is located along a side setback line, dedicating the remainder of the site to a private garden. To the rear of the lot a carriage house defines the garden, separating it from the street and the public realm. To the front the garden is open to the boardwalk and the community.

Our prototype was conceptualized as a simple, vernacular form, which is extruded and carved to shape a variety of outdoor spaces: on the second floor the form is sliced open to create an outdoor deck space shared by two bedrooms, as well as a ‘gasket’, splitting the plan into two zones, a parents’ ‘wing’ and a kids/guest ‘wing’. Directly below the carved-out volume is the sand room or dogtrot with adjoining outdoor shower, bench and hooks, which also serves as a breeze-way and primary entry. At the front of the house a wooden screen protects a carved-out, shaded, private porch for the third bedroom. Downstairs along the main deck area the façade is pushed back to provide more space for outdoor entertaining and a direct visual and physical connection between the interior and exterior public spaces. The main form is consistently clad with tongue-and-groove butt jointed vertical cedar boards, white washed, celebrating the grain of the wood. Areas where cutting or carving have occurred are expressed by the use of tongue-and-groove horizontal cedar boards with a ‘dropped’ joint detail. Here the siding is stained and sealed to accentuate grain and color.

The simple form is further articulated by the use of clip-ons which introduce some playful elements into the massing. Indoor stairs, for example, are literally attached to the side of the house, one leading to the master suite, the other to two smaller bedrooms. These clip-on volumes are expressed by the change in material (such as the horizontal, stained siding used here) and float on a scaffold of wood post and beams. On the garden side of the house, a covered walkway runs along the main façade formally bringing the inhabitant from the street into the private world of the garden and the sand room. Further along, the walkway widens and continues uncovered, to become the main deck overlooking the private garden. Here an articulated box slips into the building and houses two fireplaces: one interior, one exterior. Facing the community boardwalk a screened porch clips on to the front of the house. This outdoor room is a transition between the public boardwalk and the private interior of the house; above it extends to become a slatted skin, once again screening the second floor patio.

The carriage house is made up of a first floor 2-car garage and a clipped-on second floor guest suite. Siding materials are configured to match the main house. A hollowed-out second floor provides a generous patio overlooking the private garden and the public street. Opening two opposite sides of the garage allows for a visual connection from the garden to the street.

This dwelling’s simple extruded form conveys the relaxed demeanor appropriate to life at the beach. It is about being outside as much as inside. Its narrow footprint allows breezes and light to animate each room. Sitting lightly in the landscape, it speaks a language that is both local and sophisticated, while responding to the climate in a variety of time-honored gestures. Most importantly, it continues to let the landscape dominate white it remains comfortably in the shaded background.

living in the city you need to have a relationship with the sky.

living in the city you need to have a relationship with the sky.

nickerson wakefield house An expansive vista of distant mountains and wooded valleys opens the dialog between the specific site and the larger landscape.  The unfinished concrete foundation of a speculative ski house lay dormant, a mute ruin, when the land was purchased.  The decision to incorporate it into the design rather than tear it down initiated a conversation between new construction and old as well as between house and landscape. Wanting to take advantage of passive solar heating and to maximize the views, an extruded linear form was placed perpendicular to the existing foundation walls and parallel with the mountain ridge and valley beyond. Carport, entry and all services are located in the spaces formed within the pre-existing foundation.  Two distinctive entries into the house are provided.  One can enter directly under the new structure and rise through the house from darkness to light, from tall concrete retaining walls to wood and glass, from containment to release.  Alternatively, a more ceremonial entry moves one from the apple trees and meadow at the upper level to a wooden boardwalk that pierces the structure and skewers the view beyond. Entering the low structure on the boardwalk, both volume and access to the landscape open up.  Emerging at the southern glazed wall, passing between the outdoor fireplace and bench, the vista expands over the concrete walls of the foundation towards the outdoor shower and mountains beyond.  The long extruded form of the wooden house with oversized glazing turns the weather into wallpaper.  The rising shed roof of the house permits natural light to stream into the house, balanced by the lower, more intimate scale in the enclosed private rooms (e.g. bedrooms and bathrooms). The boardwalk serves as both a destination and an integral part of the circulation, where vertical movement through the house is via interior and exterior steel stairs hung from this long wood plane.  The outdoor fireplace and bench positioned just outside the house are discreet elements that create a pause, while the outdoor shower beckons at the far end as the boardwalk, vectoring to the landscape beyond. Below, the foundation forms a new outdoor room. A room with no name, which adds an urban destination to the collection of spaces. With access from above as well as from the studio and lower level entry, this residual space is revitalized as a stone garden, a solar trap, a child’s play area with a bridge above, a windbreak, an observatory. It offers an intimate respite from the relentless views.  Existing window openings in the foundation become framed portholes for views of the woods and sky. Anchored to the hillside, the structure, like a spatial valve, mediates between the small-scale agrarian landscape (meadows, paths, apple trees and woodland) and the larger scale of mountains humping through the horizon.  As a sculptural ruin transformed into a home in a rural setting, the design addresses the desire for intimate spaces while responding to the wide panorama of the valley, melding a humble, approachable facade with the drama of the revitalized fortification.

nickerson wakefield house

An expansive vista of distant mountains and wooded valleys opens the dialog between the specific site and the larger landscape.  The unfinished concrete foundation of a speculative ski house lay dormant, a mute ruin, when the land was purchased.  

The decision to incorporate it into the design rather than tear it down initiated a conversation between new construction and old as well as between house and landscape. Wanting to take advantage of passive solar heating and to maximize the views, an extruded linear form was placed perpendicular to the existing foundation walls and parallel with the mountain ridge and valley beyond. Carport, entry and all services are located in the spaces formed within the pre-existing foundation.  

Two distinctive entries into the house are provided.  One can enter directly under the new structure and rise through the house from darkness to light, from tall concrete retaining walls to wood and glass, from containment to release.  Alternatively, a more ceremonial entry moves one from the apple trees and meadow at the upper level to a wooden boardwalk that pierces the structure and skewers the view beyond. 

Entering the low structure on the boardwalk, both volume and access to the landscape open up.  Emerging at the southern glazed wall, passing between the outdoor fireplace and bench, the vista expands over the concrete walls of the foundation towards the outdoor shower and mountains beyond.  

The long extruded form of the wooden house with oversized glazing turns the weather into wallpaper.  The rising shed roof of the house permits natural light to stream into the house, balanced by the lower, more intimate scale in the enclosed private rooms (e.g. bedrooms and bathrooms). 

The boardwalk serves as both a destination and an integral part of the circulation, where vertical movement through the house is via interior and exterior steel stairs hung from this long wood plane.  The outdoor fireplace and bench positioned just outside the house are discreet elements that create a pause, while the outdoor shower beckons at the far end as the boardwalk, vectoring to the landscape beyond. 

Below, the foundation forms a new outdoor room. A room with no name, which adds an urban destination to the collection of spaces. With access from above as well as from the studio and lower level entry, this residual space is revitalized as a stone garden, a solar trap, a child’s play area with a bridge above, a windbreak, an observatory. It offers an intimate respite from the relentless views.  Existing window openings in the foundation become framed portholes for views of the woods and sky. 

Anchored to the hillside, the structure, like a spatial valve, mediates between the small-scale agrarian landscape (meadows, paths, apple trees and woodland) and the larger scale of mountains humping through the horizon.  As a sculptural ruin transformed into a home in a rural setting, the design addresses the desire for intimate spaces while responding to the wide panorama of the valley, melding a humble, approachable facade with the drama of the revitalized fortification.

vermont shack A ‘summerhaus’ that takes its parentage from Connecticut River valley tobacco barns and vermont corn cribs.  It’s a woven basket that contains a screen porch and loft, dog trot/ mud room, and a winterized portion that has bathroom (future), kids loft and living quarters.  A vector aimed at Mt. Monadnock, it mediates between woodland and meadow and is part of a larger composition of a pond, hot tub and future barn, house and sauna.   An extruded form, anchored at one end by a moss covered rock ledge and supported at the other by a black asphalt shingled box, it nudges a grove of ancient, shaggy sugar maples.  It hovers in the landscape.  An oversized entry stair makes an urban stoop overlooking the meadow and the pond beyond.   A covered bridge at the scale of a mobile home it can be locked up and forgotten for months at a time and re-opened incrementally, depending on the season.  Heated by a wood stove and by the sun, cooled by breezes, its dimensions (10’W x 65’ L) make it as much about wall as it is about volume. Windows skitter from end to end, framing small bits of the landscape.  Light filters through the black stained spaced boards of the exterior emphasizing the horizontal shadow lines that would typically be found on the white clapboard covered structures indigenous to the area. At night it glows softly like a paper lantern in the woods.

vermont shack

A ‘summerhaus’ that takes its parentage from Connecticut River valley tobacco barns and vermont corn cribs.  It’s a woven basket that contains a screen porch and loft, dog trot/ mud room, and a winterized portion that has bathroom (future), kids loft and living quarters.  

A vector aimed at Mt. Monadnock, it mediates between woodland and meadow and is part of a larger composition of a pond, hot tub and future barn, house and sauna.   

An extruded form, anchored at one end by a moss covered rock ledge and supported at the other by a black asphalt shingled box, it nudges a grove of ancient, shaggy sugar maples.  It hovers in the landscape.  An oversized entry stair makes an urban stoop overlooking the meadow and the pond beyond.   A covered bridge at the scale of a mobile home it can be locked up and forgotten for months at a time and re-opened incrementally, depending on the season.  

Heated by a wood stove and by the sun, cooled by breezes, its dimensions (10’W x 65’ L) make it as much about wall as it is about volume. Windows skitter from end to end, framing small bits of the landscape.  Light filters through the black stained spaced boards of the exterior emphasizing the horizontal shadow lines that would typically be found on the white clapboard covered structures indigenous to the area. 

At night it glows softly like a paper lantern in the woods.

mclane-ettinger apartment High above Gramercy Park, this two and one half story apartment faces southern views of the city.  Originally two separate apartments, the new home for a film producer, a theater set designer and their two children was to be an integration and weaving of the narrow, stacked floors.   Existing, traditional, wood moldings are juxtaposed with spare lines of well-crafted modern insertions.  Simple, warm, tactile materials shape objects, make spaces, and frame openings to create an environment that is at once hip and comfortable and durable.    From the double height living room, a blackened steel stair with ebonized wood treads slips past a custom tinted plaster wall down to the bedroom level.  The open stair rests in a stained wood cradle.   Above the living room, the glowing poplar and fiberglass ‘tree house’ provides a library and guestroom with a view out the artist’s garret window and down into the living room.  It also is the sole fixed source of light in the living room, providing a lamp-like glow.    The kitchen is visible across a structural glass landing and through the large pass-through.   Pendant lights dance up and down above the work and eating area.  Analine dyed maple cabinets with oversized stainless steel drawer pulls cover the walls on each side of a lab top clad island; a playful random pattern of oversized linoleum squares.    To accommodate myriad family activities in the kitchen, an upholstered built-in seating banquette and black lab top book case are located under a skylight at the west end of the kitchen.      In 1999, the clients purchased the apartment below.  The renovation of that apartment included a playroom, bathroom, office, and bedrooms for three children as well as the extension of the blackened steel stair into the playroom, where the bottom landing acts as a stage for performances.   Organized vertically, the layers of family living are linked by a stair that brings theatricality and movement to the mundane components of daily life.  Integrating elements of the traditional early 20th century structure with a modern, more open design strategy the design address the desire for intimate spaces, while responding to the varying needs of the family and the open panorama of the surrounding views.

mclane-ettinger apartment

High above Gramercy Park, this two and one half story apartment faces southern views of the city.  Originally two separate apartments, the new home for a film producer, a theater set designer and their two children was to be an integration and weaving of the narrow, stacked floors.   Existing, traditional, wood moldings are juxtaposed with spare lines of well-crafted modern insertions.  

Simple, warm, tactile materials shape objects, make spaces, and frame openings to create an environment that is at once hip and comfortable and durable.    From the double height living room, a blackened steel stair with ebonized wood treads slips past a custom tinted plaster wall down to the bedroom level.  The open stair rests in a stained wood cradle.  

 Above the living room, the glowing poplar and fiberglass ‘tree house’ provides a library and guestroom with a view out the artist’s garret window and down into the living room.  It also is the sole fixed source of light in the living room, providing a lamp-like glow.   

 The kitchen is visible across a structural glass landing and through the large pass-through.   Pendant lights dance up and down above the work and eating area.  Analine dyed maple cabinets with oversized stainless steel drawer pulls cover the walls on each side of a lab top clad island; a playful random pattern of oversized linoleum squares.    

To accommodate myriad family activities in the kitchen, an upholstered built-in seating banquette and black lab top book case are located under a skylight at the west end of the kitchen.      

In 1999, the clients purchased the apartment below.  The renovation of that apartment included a playroom, bathroom, office, and bedrooms for three children as well as the extension of the blackened steel stair into the playroom, where the bottom landing acts as a stage for performances.   

Organized vertically, the layers of family living are linked by a stair that brings theatricality and movement to the mundane components of daily life.  Integrating elements of the traditional early 20th century structure with a modern, more open design strategy the design address the desire for intimate spaces, while responding to the varying needs of the family and the open panorama of the surrounding views.