Case Study House inspired residence in Montauk, New York.

A pair of oceanfront houses have been designed on a set of adjacent lots in Montauk, New York, that capture the rarest of assets: large private outdoor space on the Atlantic Ocean.

Each house has its own identity, yet they share a vocabulary of materials, forms and intentions. The main house is earthbound: a low-slung single story composed of an open steel and glass wing and an embracing brick and wood one. Only the writing studio and outdoor fireplaces top the single story height. The guesthouse, by contrast, is nearly entirely airborne, barely touching the ground and creating a series of covered spaces and processional gateways to the main house. Conceptually, the guesthouse is the second floor of the main house, relocated to the entry side of the site where it participates in defining the large landscaped courtyard hovering 75 feet above the ocean.

The guesthouse was modeled on a motel with rooms off a shared balcony.

Built for a couple, the main house is composed of a pair of opposing "L" shaped wings: "his" space is a steel and glass loft on the ocean and "her" space is a warm, enclosing set of brick and wood private rooms. The materials—stone, terrazzo flooring, glazed brick walls, teak, stainless steel and terracotta—are the robust stuff suitable for both interiors and exteriors. The material palette binds the interior and exterior into a set of intimately connected spaces, erasing the boundary between inside and out.

Sliding glass walls help erase the boundary between interior and exterior

View of the main house from the balcony of the guesthouse showing the transparency of the living room and kitchen.

The realization of such a remarkably transparent and open house, one that literally opens to the outside with enormous sliding glass walls, is quite a technical feat in an environment as harsh as the northern Atlantic shore. The radiant heated floors, geothermal wells, highly engineered glass and doors, along with fine construction tolerances contribute to the efficiency and comfort these houses offer in all seasons.

Main house living room with an ocean view.

The inspiration for the house came from a trip to California to visit icons of mid-century architecture, everything from Irving Gill to Schindler to Neutra and Eames. The house was always going to be modern and robust, but after the trip a common language developed, as well as a whole catalogue of comparisons—references could easily be made to the glass wall in that Neutra house or the roof overhang at that Schindler house—and it was agreed that a Case Study House should be built in New York.

The mid-century inspired kitchen.

The house has been designed to provide the couple, he is a film producer and she is a writer, each with a niche of their own: a writer’s studio was built on the roof of the main house and a home theater in the basement. The writer’s studio is reached via an outdoor staircase and is enclosed on three sides in glass. Framing the stunning ocean view is a horizontal window encased with steel. Floor tiles inspired by Gio Ponti enliven the space and offer a contrast to the view.

The writer's studio with Gio Ponti-inspired terracotta tiles and a steel encased window that frames the view.

The home theater, featured in the “Home & Garden” section of the New York Times, was built below ground in an effort to keep the visible mass of the house from becoming overwhelming. Also in the 3,000 sq. ft. basement are a pantry, wine cellar and gym. Inspired by Radio City Music Hall, the theater was designed with a series of arches that increase in size as they proceed towards the screen. Hidden behind the arches are 600 five-watt light bulbs that provide a soft ambient light controlled via a dimmer switch. As per the client’s request, seating was provided on the floor in the form of beanbag chairs.

The home theater inspired by Radio City Music Hall.

Although the couple enjoys having guests, they also value their privacy. The guesthouse, supported on steel beams the strength of which allows the house to appear light and airborne, is modeled on a motel with access to all rooms off a continuous balcony facing the courtyard. The louvered side of the house preserves the ocean views while concealing the neighbor's new “shingle style” house next door and allowing for air circulation. Interiors of white linoleum, beach–ball colored wood walls and exposed concrete keep the sense of solidity without the luxuriousness of the main house materials. The partly shaded pool (in deference to the easily sunburned husband) and the raised cube of the hot tub offer ocean views without permanently dominating the center of the composition.

Guest rooms are differentiated by color.

Louvers shield the house from the neighbor's as well as provide circulation.

Interior of the guesthouse.

Guesthouse living room.

Functional, galley-inspired guesthouse kitchen.

Together the houses form a porous outdoor room, open to the ocean and defined by layers of buildings and plantings. It is, however, the omnipresent sound of the ocean that most permeates the spaces and binds them to their site.

The residence has been honored with two Citations for Design in the prestigious AIA New York State Design Awards: one for the main house, awarded in 2006, and another for the guesthouse, awarded in 2009. The house was also the recipient of a 2007 American Architecture Award, sponsored by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and co-presented by the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies and Abitare magazine.

The home has been published in Architectural Record, Wallpaper, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Newsday and Robb Report Vacation Homes, where it was featured as the cover story; and on the blogs A Weekly Dose of Architecture, Gizmodo and The Cool Hunter, among others.