Not so Hamptons

The ‘lanes’ in Amagansett, The Hamptons, New York, are a set of walkable streets with a diverse range of houses and styles, that are walking distance to the ocean. MB architecture were set with the challenge to create a home that would accommodate the owners wish for a maintenance-free house with longevity, inside and outside.

This led to building shapes and materials that would be hardy, devoid of delicate detailing, and requiring no re-finishing over time. All exterior materials, from the charred cypress to raw concrete walls, to the zinc roof, are chosen for their ability to weather and patina naturally over time and deter termites.

Windows and doors are pushed tight up to the forward plane of the clapboards to keep a tight weather seal. In a departure from recent additions to the area, where houses extend from side to side, on a given parcel, often choking it, MB opted to let the side facade, the narrow end, be the street-front. By doing so, they were able to let the longer side of the house face direct sun, while maintaining a suitable distance to the neighbors.

The first impression of the house is that of a raw, unfinished, concrete wall sitting in this meadow; its profile echoing the familiar shape of a barn. It hides the garage and scales the front face of the house down to meet that of older homes that were prevalent in the lanes.