Design Solution: Responding to the clients’ desire to enhance their connection with nature, BSC reframed the experience by creating a series of interior and exterior rooms that create a private oasis. A new entry sequence guides residents and visitors through an interior courtyard framing views to the pool, its landscape, and the harbor beyond. The house is entered beneath a second floor “bridge” into a dining and kitchen area that forms the center of the house. This primary social space leads to a sunken living room, designed with comfortable furnishing to encourage lounging, relaxation, and socializing.

The second-floor bridge spans the terrace and is supported by a private office. Driftwood-inspired organic forms are evident in the office's rounded corners and are echoed in the bridge’s curved roofline and bowed wood ceilings. The expanded upper level contains a primary suite and an additional guest room sharing a harbor-view terrace. The light floods the house through large expanses of glass that maximize views and capture the famous Long Island light beloved by the artists who popularized the area in the 1950s and ‘60s. The east- and west-oriented windows of the upper level transform the experience of its spaces throughout the course of the day.

Sustainable features imbedded into the design include maintaining parts of the original structure, the use of thermally modified siding and other responsibly manufactured products, and the incorporation of rooftop photovoltaics.

Photo © Frank Oudeman

Structure and Materials: The house is wood frame construction on a concrete foundation. New window headers in the existing walls allowed larger openings to improve visual and physical connections to the site. The second story bridge is supported by a steel truss concealed within the form of the house. The vertical steel members of the truss provide the backup structure for the hurricane resistant clerestory windows. Interior flooring and second story ceilings are white oak. The house is clad with domestically produced, thermally modified hemlock siding, which is resistant to rot and decay.

Additional Information
Completion date: March 2025
Site size: .32 acres
Total construction cost: Withheld
Client/Owner: Michal Petrzela and Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Photos © Frank Oudeman

Images courtesy Bade Stageberg Cox Architecture; click to enlarge