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t may be nestled on “Mount Misery” in Sag Harbor, NY, but this rustic eco home is wooden bliss. Designed by the architects at Jendretzki Design and Planning Consultant, this wooden clad house renovation served to open the indoors to the outside environment. Outdoor living rooms expand the home’s square footage beyond its conventional walls. The surrounding gardens and forest become a part of the house by opening up the walls and incorporating parches and terraces that are connected by outdoor stairs, all made of reclaimed wood. These multiple elevations also create a visual and functional flow for this slope house plan. Apart from being largely built using recycled wood, there are also a number of other eco sustainable home technologies, like solar energy panels, rain water recycling, sustainable building materials, energy-efficient appliances and HVAC systems. Interiors are bathed in natural light and feature all the warm, wooden appeal that characterizes the home’s facade, complementing the calm, peaceful, natural surroundings. Jendretzki Design and Planning Consultant
via Arch Daily

The house is a modest, single family beach house designed to replace an existing dwelling on the site which the client had owned for a number of years. The primary design idea was to embrace a two storey covered outdoor living space connecting the house and garden and overlooking the Broadwater.

The resulting design satisfies the clients brief which included the following main elements:
- An elevated living area opening into the garden with views to the Broadwater
- A guest bedroom, bathroom, main entry and laundry on the main level
- A master suite, sitting area, office and separate bedroom on the upper level all with water views
- Car parking and storage below ground

The compact built form continues the two storey urban fabric characteristic of this part of Main Beach, along both street frontages, celebrating the street corner with a recessed double height, outdoor living space. Elevating the house 1.5m above the street optimises the view over parkland towards the water. This device has allowed both street frontages to be extensively landscaped using a ha ha combined with a lower than normal height street wall which affords privacy and views for the occupants while enhancing the public amenity of the streetscape.

Designed to take full advantage of prevailing summer breezes, this house contains a number of passive ESD initiatives. It possesses opening windows on all sides giving good natural ventilation. Northern and western elevations, which are extensively glazed, are shaded by operable louvred screens reducing solar gain in summer and allowing the sun to penetrate the interior during winter. More solid walls to the south exclude the cooler winter winds. Walls, floors and roofs are generally light coloured to reflect heat. A large subterranean water tank collects water for reuse on site and environmentally friendly finishes have been utilised throughout.

Materials comprise painted, rendered concrete masonry for external walls generally. Some areas of timber frame walls are clad in fibre cement sheet with aluminium cover battens recalling the beachside vernacular of Main Beach. The roof is steel framed and lined. Window frames and shutters are anodised aluminium. Flooring is generally white terrazzo with some areas of natural timber boarding.

Visit the BDA Architects website – here.

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