House on Maine Coast
The house is designed so that the living-dining area and the master bedroom overlook the water.
Architects & Firms
Camden, Maine
The client wanted a low-key, modern two-bedroom house with an indoor lap pool. True, his surname makes you think he might veer toward something grander and more traditional, but O. Stillman Rockefeller has an experimental streak and so spurned “the tyranny of the Shingle Style” prevalent in coastal Maine. His site of less than an acre, however, presented a challenge: a narrow, sloping parcel in Camden, overlooking West Penobscot Bay. But Rockefeller found New York–based architect Toshiko Mori to solve the problem. “We had to provide maximum views of the water without the owner being able to see neighboring houses,” she says. “It had to be strictly framed.”
Mori, who had worked for Edward Larrabee Barnes, particularly admired that architect’s strategy for the Haystack Mountain School in Deer Isle, Maine (1962), where a cluster of wood pavilions spills down a forested hillside to Jericho Bay. “Ed broke up the program into a series of volumes connected by a deck,” notes Mori. “Here, the pool is the connector.”
Her zigzag steel-and-wood frame building, with a sedum roof, is clad in white Atlantic cedar, alternating with large expanses of low-E glass. An overhang shades the living-dining area and the master bedroom on the east, and the house employs geothermal heat pumps and other features to lower energy use. But despite Rockefeller’s love for the house, he had a big problem with the outdoor lighting from a neighbor’s cottage and nearby lighthouse and so sold his only 1-year-old home last year. Still, he says, “I’m so proud of building this house. It’s Toshiko’s signature work.”
PeopleOwner: Private Architect: Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit: Engineer(s): General contractor: Photographer(s): Renderer(s): CAD system, project management, or other software used: Rhino, AutoCAD Gross square footage: 5,400 Sq.ft. Total construction cost: Withheld at owner's request Completion date: August 2013 |
ProductsStructural system Manufacturer of any structural components unique to this project: Exterior cladding Metal/glass curtain wall: YKK YCW 750. Installation by Oakes & Parkhurst. Rainscreen : Atlantic White Cedar Roofing Windows Glazing Skylights: Wasco Products Doors Wood doors: CUSTOM Sliding doors: CUSTOM Hardware Pulls: d line Interior finishes Floor and wall tile: Wood Floor: 4” solid White Birchby A.E. Sampson & Son Ltd. Carpet: Woodnotes, Paper Yarn Furnishings Dining Room: Office: Exterior Deck: Supplier: Furniture from Scandinavia by Annette Rachlin Lighting Downlights: USAI Recessed Halogen Task lighting: Boca Flasher Linear LED Exterior: Lucifer Recessed Halogen Dimming System or other lighting controls: Lutron Maestro Energy |
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