Promised Land

The owners of this Amagansett, New York property and their family have a passion for being on the water. Their interests (wind surfing, kite boarding, and sailing) share a common thread of dependence on the wind. Whether relaxing at home or on a nearby beach, the owners are constantly searching for clues that the environmental conditions are optimal to get on the water.

In researching weather data for this site, Bates Masi Architects discovered that the predominant origin of the wind was from the west. This created an excellent opportunity to utilize the wind as a primary driver for organizing space and to treat the architecture as a canvas indicating its conditions.

With a bias toward the wind, the house is organized about an east-west axis that divides the public and private wings. This axis is carried through the entire site, carving a narrow clearing through the forest that channels the wind while large sliding glass doors surrounding living spaces admit the breeze into the house. The two wings are connected only by a circulation bridge, which can be completely opened to allow the wind to flow through the site without interruption. In parallel with the axis, and located between the two wings, is a reflecting pool, which acts as a barometer for displaying the status of the wind. As the sun rotates around the house, it bounces off the rippled surface of the water and projects the character of the wind onto the ceilings of adjacent spaces.

I’m in total awe of Bates Masi Arch, that’s a hell of lot of research! At my house we have a windmill anemometer!