The owners of a 7,000 square foot East Hampton harborside manse designed by Barnes Coy Architects wanted a retreat that was private and warm, yet could accommodate cocktail parties with as many as 60 guests on summer weekends. The modernist design uses glass and concrete to lessen the division between inside and outside, and create a “balance between exposure and escape, social networking and intimate downtime,” the October 2008 issue of Architectural Digest says.
The home makes the most of the water views by maximizing the site with a clamshell floor plan. “The house’s elliptical gesture,” the magazine says, “offers a sequence of views from different platforms, positions and carefully managed sight lines.” The view from the living area faces the harbor; one master suite faces a quiet beach, and the other faces a busy marina. “We wanted to create these little moments, these framed views as you circulate around the crescent,” architect Robert Barnes says.
The curving rear façade of the house blocks views of neighboring properties, wrapping around a limestone terrace and two pools with a connecting waterfall, an “ampitheater for summer living.” There are two levels to the pool area, one for soaking, one for swimming laps. Soothing sounds come from water streaming over a steel bevel and down a rock façade.
The light that streams in through a 15-foot-long skylight acts as a “large-scale sundial that marks the movement of the sun throughout the day.” On summer nights, “a beam of light saturates the living area with a fiery orange glow.”
“It’s almost like Stonehenge,” says architect Christopher Coy.