End 2

Page 1

2 End Design Awards: The Finalists The Endangered Legacy of Norman Jaffe The Hamptons Water Emergency Top Architects’ Own Houses

A magazine with The East Hampton Star


ANTONELLI ANTARCH.COM ANTARCH.COM 212.736.670 0 212.736.6700

Ins t agr am: @antonelliarchitec t s

AMAGANSETT POOL HOUSE

AMAGANSE T T POOL HOUSE


architecture | interior design

nantucket residence workshopapd.com

new york | nantucket


BrownHarrisStevens.com

HAMPTONS NEW YORK CITY PALM BEACH MIAMI WORLDWIDE

You need the best. We’re here for you. You’re making a big real estate decision. Who can find the unexpected opportunities? Who can you trust to talk straight? Who can turn questions into answers and doubt into certainty?

All information is from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice. All rights to content, photographs and graphics reserved to broker. Equal Housing Opportunity Broker.



This Cindy Sherman Pool Float is helping build the world’s first water-filtering floating pool. Get Yours. Retail: $250. Email jancy@pluspool.org. Designed and produced by Third Drawer Down in partnership with + POOL. Image: “Oops”, 2017. Courtesy the artist. Digitally printed pool float; open edition.

More at pluspool.org


BEYOND THE END Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Levi Shaw-Faber Senior Editor Bess Rattray Design PLAYLAB, INC. Contributors Biddle Duke, Nina Channing, Tara Israel Copy Editors Nina Channing, Julia Hart, Morgan Oppenheimer

It’s easy to read through End and think, “These are small-town issues that are important to those who live here but lack meaning to those who don’t.” And that’s half true. What you are about to read in End Issue 2 is important to those who live here — but these themes reverberate well beyond the Shinecock Canal. What we intend to do here at End is use small-town stories to talk about much larger issues. Take for example our feature on wastewater treatment across the East End. A lack of public infrastructure and sufficient planning has resulted in a crisis that needs to be urgently addressed. A lack of foresight in infrastructure has also bedeviled New York City’s subways, Flint’s drinking water, and tons of other public necessities nationwide. On a less environmentally serious note, but nonetheless a culturally important one, we explore how Modernist architectural masterpieces by one of the best known architects of the Hamptons are being lost. The same can be said about 20th century architecture across the country that is deemed too new to deserve preservation. Anyone

who’s ever taken the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station and seen the pictures of the original McKim, Mead, and White terminal on the platform walls (a sick joke, if you ask me) knows the consequences of demolishing great architecture. The next issue of End comes out on July 12, and in it we will explore how changes in the East End’s retail scene reflect national trends and how climate change, a global issue, will affect our coastal community. The small size of our East End community helps to simplify what in many places are super complicated issues. (Sometime try to figure out where waste from a Manhattan apartment eventually ends up.) By keeping complicated issues simple, End seeks to connect the East End to a much larger community. Levi Shaw-Faber Publisher & Editor-in-Chief levi@eastenddesignawards.com

A rendering of three Shelter Island residences by Norman Jaffe

End is printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper made with 10-percent-recycled material. For advertising, please email levi@eastenddesignawards.com On the Cover A Norman Jaffe interior in Wainscott, c. 1969. Photo by Maris/ Semel, reprinted from Alastair Gordon's Romantic Modernist: The Life and Work of Norman Jaffe Architect 1932–1993. See Page 30.

10%


Mi

We asked three architects about the process of designing their own East End house. Here’s what they had to say. 8


END MAGAZINE

The Westhampton bungalow of Bryan Young, principal architect of Young Projects design studio. Photo by Costas Picadas

9


MI CASA

YAIZA ARMBUSTER Atelier Armbuster Springs

We bought this house three summers ago, and our first approach to renovating it was very do-it-yourself. We tore out carpet, closets, and pretty much everything that was in disrepair. We camped out in the living room and friends came over to help. We proceeded under the illusion that maybe there was a low-budget way to restyle the house, so we painted the plywood floors that were under the carpet, painted all the doors and surfaces, and so on. This got us through the first nine months before it became clear that we would have to do more. A lot more.

10


END MAGAZINE

We were blinded by the beautiful East End light for a while before we gave in to the fact that this was a real project which needed a new cedar roof, HVAC, plumbing, kitchen, and bathrooms — along with the architectural planning and contractors to make that happen. The quality of the space today is defined by the simplicity of the geometries, but with a richness of materials (full slabs of stone, white oak laid in a chevron, frameless eight-foot solid-core doors) and our collection of highbrow/lowbrow furniture like a couch table of my own design made of marble on oriented strand board, which is similar to particle board. Now, after a glass of rosÊ at the kitchen island, it's on to the next phase: the landscaping.

Photos by Francois Dischinger

11


MI CASA

DEBORAH BERKE Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Deborah Berke Partners East Hampton

Unless you live alone, you’re never really your own client. My husband and daughter were on the other side of the table, so they were the clients, in a sense. For me, designing my own house in East Hampton wasn’t that different from designing a house for someone else. I listen and figure out how a family lives and how they want to live. For us that meant a lot of places to be indoors and outdoors, within a relatively modestly sized, modern house. We wanted to be able to entertain at different scales, from a small dinner to a large gathering of family members from across the country.

12

Top photo by Winnie Au Bottom photo by Jason Schmidt


END MAGAZINE

BRYAN YOUNG Young Projects Westhampton

My wife, my daughter, and I pooled our ideas and wishes to create a narrative that guides the experience of being in the house. We opened all the common areas to one-another while using subtle architectural gestures to differentiate them. This allowed us to create varying scales and levels of intimacy. The family room feels cozy, even though it is adjacent to the living room, which is open and airy. These spaces flow seamlessly from the front door to the exterior deck, resulting in a laid-back blurring of boundaries.

Top photo courtesy of Young Projects Bottom photo by Costas Picadas

13


Far

Away

Notable projects by East End architects, beyond the Shinnecock Canal

By Nina Channing While we often celebrate the many international architects who have contributed to the East End’s built environment, and rightfully so, we rarely talk about the contributions that East End architects make outside our area. Their talents have not gone unnoticed by the larger world. However, increasingly, clients all over the U.S. are turning their sites to Eastern Long Islanders for creative and innovative designs. Here are a few projects worthy of broader attention. 14


END MAGAZINE

John Berg, an architect based in Springs, wanted the events space at Brooklyn’s Kinfolk to look like it was designed by a “Pacific Northwest hippie mathematician.” Photo by Edward Caruso

15


NINA CHANNING

TESSA West Side, Manhattan

The East Hampton-based firm Bates Masi + Architects drew inspiration from utilitarian structures in the urban environment — scaffolding, fire escapes, security gates — to create the design and décor of Tessa, a new restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The most striking features of the space include a ceiling and bar constructed out of layered scissor security gates (the kind used to block off parking lot entrances), exposed brick walls, and black steel bathroom sinks. The overall effect is sophisticated and unmistakably New York. By highlighting these often-overlooked components of the city’s structural landscape, the team created an elegant space that is as true to its place as Nicholas McCann’s food.

16

Photos courtesy of Bates Masi + Architects


END MAGAZINE

KINFOLK Williamsburg, Brooklyn

When Kinfolk, a creative collective, asked John Berg, an architect based in Springs, to help conceptualize a multipurpose venue in a Brooklyn storefront, the brief called for a space that looked as if it had been designed by a “Pacific Northwest hippie Mathematician.” Part yurt, part geodesic dome, and constructed entirely of raw Douglas fir and western red cedar, the final product certainly lives up to that description. It lends itself to a variety of different uses — from daytime coffee-shop hangout to bar and event space — with a geo-shell canopy that spatially defines a central area while creating several auxiliary semi-enclosed spaces within the room. These nooks function as intimate seating areas and are differentiated by changes in elevation: One is slightly raised while another is recessed into the floor, referencing the “conversation pits” of the George Nelson era.

Photos by Edward Caruso

17


NINA CHANNING

BARD MEDIA LAB Annandale-On-Hudson

The campus of Bard College in upstate New York boasts several architectural gems, including a Frank Gehry Performing Arts Building and Library designed by Robert Venturi, but the newest building on campus has something that sets it apart: It was built in a single afternoon. Designed by Maziar Behrooz of East Hampton and made from four recycled shipping containers, the Department of Experimental Humanities Media Lab was installed in just a few hours, and fully operational after only a few weeks. Designed for multidisciplinary student use, the bright modern building features a large pivoting garage door that opens out onto a quad, quickly transforming the main room (with a 17-foot ceiling) into a stage set for theatrical performances and concerts.

18

Photos by Matthew Carbone


END MAGAZINE

585 FIFTH AVENUE Midtown, Manhattan

If you look closely, the high rise at 565 Fifth Avenue is classic Norman Jaffe. If the bold, geometric exterior doesn't tip you off, the lobby — which mimics the proportions of a Greek temple, with the information desk in the place of an altar — will. This isn’t a typical New York office building. Few know that Jaffe, an architect based in Bridgehampton and best known for residences on the East End (see Page 30), left his mark on the Manhattan skyline as well. And it was a big mark: This 325,000-square-foot building, commissioned by the development company Kipps-Stawaski in 1990, features pristine stainless steel framing, ornamental marble details, and a transparent glass exterior. From a distance, it seems to glitter. The project was completed in the summer of 1993, just months before Jaffe’s death.

Photos by Jeff Heatley

19


The projects we write about at End are often ongoing and constantly evolving — so here are a few updates on what’s happened since we last went to press. 20


END MAGAZINE

THE FUTURE OF THE GUERILLA PLAN FOR EAST HAMPTON VILLAGE In last summer’s inaugural issue, Maziar Behrooz and Bruce Engel, well-known East End architects, raised eyebrows when they presented "Restoring Forward: A Vision for East Hampton Village," a dramatic re-imagining of East Hampton Village. Their self-described guerilla plan — aimed at addressing environmental, transportation, and housing deficiencies while connecting existing and new hubs of activity — can be seen on End’s website, endmag.org. But their advocacy didn’t stop when they put the plan into print: Behrooz and Engel vwent on to present their findings at an End event at the Parrish Art Museum shortly before Labor Day and in a follow-up article in The East Hampton Star. Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. called the plan “thought provoking and stimulating,” and suggested its authors present it at a work session, as well. Five weeks later, Behrooz and Engel personally made the pitch to the East Hampton Village Board, a five-member body that, when it tinkers with established ways at all, tends to emphasize peace, quiet, and continuity. Because neither the village board, nor anyone else, had commissioned them to create their vision, "it gave us an opportunity to think freely and openly," Mr. Behrooz told the board. Barbara Borsack, a member of the board, said that the presentation coincided with changes in her own thinking about the commercial district’s future. Retail stores across the country are dying, she said, victims to online shopping. “It occurred to me that we do have to consider wastewater treatment,” she said. “In order to open Main Street and Newtown Lane to the possibility of more restaurants, which is one way to keep our village vibrant . . . we need to talk about wastewater.” Some kind of treatment facility

A map of the proposal by MB Architecture

will be necessary. That, she said, “would also enable us to encourage affordable housing over the businesses on Main Street and Newtown Lane, because septic is also an issue there. We’ve had a number of what were apartments become office space. It would be nice if we could get them to revert to some kind of affordable housing.” In April, Mayor Rickenbach commented: "We accepted in good faith the time, energy, and effort they put into that. We listened to what they wanted to say, and they made some very good points." Bill Chaleff, an architect who advised the authors, was more bullish on the ideas put forth. "I find my life is bounded by the laws of physics, so to that degree I am a realist," he said after the presentations. "But I also find there are rules and regulations that are words on paper, and when sufficient amounts of political will are mustered and educational efforts joined with that, the conventional wisdom can change about what's appropriate, and things that have been in practice for over 100 years can suddenly shift." The architects are continuing their unsolicited, pro bono campaign, and have welcomed input from government and the community. "We're going to take it to the next level," Mr. Behrooz said recently. "We're going to zoom in and develop details in a way that'd be understandable for the layperson. We're hoping to engage, and adapt the plan to realities that face everyone." Inaction, he said, "has resulted in change, regardless of intention. The town has changed tremendously in the past 10 years, but not in a planned, intentional way." — Christopher Walsh

21


CHRISTOPHER WALSH

metrica Ltd., Bahnofstraße 73. 48308 Senden, Germany metrica Ltd. , Bahnhofstraße 73, 48308 Senden, Germany www.metrica.de www.metrica.de

Your way to perfection


END MAGAZINE

ROOFTOP SOLAR: THE TIME IS STILL . . . NOW A lot has changed since we last wrote about residential solar. Donald Trump has imposed his tariffs on solar panels and thrown squadrons of climate-change deniers into key government positions. But everyone who closely follows the changing economics of solar power agrees: It’s financially wise this year and next to install solar at your house. “Do it now.” continues to be to the answer to the question, “When should I invest in solar power?” “Anyone who lives on the South Fork should do it now,” says Lynn Arthur, a sustainable-energy consultant who works for the Town of Southampton. Several factors are in play. The full 30-percent federal tax credit for solar installations remains in place for this year, before it begins to ratchet down. It goes to 26 percent next year and drops further after that. In addition, both South Fork towns, Southampton and East Hampton, have bulk-buy “Solarize” programs in place through this year that will cut the price of fully installed and operational systems by as much as 10 or even 15 percent for customers who sign up by October. Southampton has run its Solarize program for three of the past four years, adding hundreds of businesses and houses to the growing number that get some or all of their electricity from the sun.

once net metering ends on the South Fork, solar-power contracts will generally be less favorable to consumers, and therefore the incentive for almost anyone to switch diminishes. That’s a long way of saying: Get on it. As for President Trump’s 30-percent tariffs on imported solar panels earlier this year, so far the effect on consumers has been negligible, in part because solar panels themselves are only a fraction of the cost of new solar systems. “Obviously, Trump’s agenda isn’t supporting the industry,” Green Logic’s Marc Cléjan says, “but he hasn’t done anything specific, except the tariffs, and even those haven’t changed anything in a significant way.” Manufacturers are scrambling to find run-arounds to the tariffs, and some of the biggest players are considering ramping up American production. But, generally, rooftop solar costs remain low and any slight increases are due to the fact that the solar business is largely fully scaled; any significant economies have already been captured. “The systems,” Cléjan added, “just aren't getting any cheaper any more.” — Biddle Duke

Perhaps the most compelling reason to lock in soon to a solar-installation contract is the impending end to “net metering,” which is a huge incentive to switch to sun power. Basically, net metering enables home and business solar operators to use their local utility company as something of a battery backup. Here’s how: Rooftop and freestanding solar generates power during the day, the sunnier the better, providing power for the house or business. Any excess power the system generates — and often there is a lot of extra — feeds into the grid, running your meter backward. Net metering for residential solar is expected to remain in place until December 31, 2019. Net metering for commercial customers sunsets this spring, replaced by a system that, on average, makes solar power a smart investment, but the payback is longer. Killing net metering is a matter of survival for utilities like PSEG, which serves Long Island. It was originally set up to drive solar adoption, which is good for the environment and the planet (and your pocketbook). But to stay in business, utilities need electricity-purchasing customers, which is why many utilities across America don’t allow net metering at all. The important thing to understand is that

Residential solar on Daniel's Lane in Sagaponack. Photo Courtesy of Green Logic

23


Down the Drain

By Biddle Duke No one is super eager to potty-talk about sewage and human waste. But the dirty, filthy truth is that it’s a huge pollution problem, ruining our waters, and we need to face it now. 24


END MAGAZINE

The droplet-shaped, Steven Holl–designed Whitney Water Purification Facility outside of New Haven, Conn. Photo by Paul Warchol

25


BIDDLE DUKE

It’s astonishing that when the development boom began on the South Fork in the 1980s, and thousands of acres of farmland were beginning to be carved into housing lots, and houses seemed to be popping up on virtually every vacant parcel in every village, that no one said “whoa!” “Whoa!” not because landowners should have been prevented from obtaining the fullest financial benefit of their lands — and not because the houses being built everywhere seemed heedlessly big and inefficient, which many of them were — but because this area simply wasn’t prepared to properly handle all that additional human poop and pee. Around about the late 1980s, the signs were already quite clear that municipalities on the South Fork needed to devise a regional wastewater treatment strategy. That never happened. So, now — and take a second here to visualize this, because although it is a basic fact of life in “the Hamptons,” it is truly astounding — every toilet and shower and bath from the Shinnecock Canal to Montauk, from tiny cottages on Lazy Point to megamansions on Lily Pond Lane, basically flushes into carefully crafted holes in the ground. It is, as East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc told End recently, “very 19th century.” (There is one exception: Sag Harbor Village, which did, in fact, build a sewage treatment plant in 1970s for its downtown district.)

Take a second here to visualize this, because although it is a basic fact of life in “the Hamptons,” it is truly astounding — every toilet and shower and bath from the Shinnecock Canal to Montauk basically flushes into carefully crafted holes in the ground. The result has been predictable. South Fork ponds, bays, and harbors are plagued by serious pollution problems from bacteria, phosphorus, and particularly nitrogen, which has led to harmful algae blooms and bacterial contamination and the closure of huge swaths of shellfish grounds and some bathing beaches. Just this May, the Department of Environmental Conservation closed Alewife Pond in Northwest Woods and Fresh Pond and the Devon Yacht Club boat basin to shellfishing, because fecal coliform bacteria levels had become dangerous. And, in the case of Georgica Pond and a few other smaller bodies of water, the pollution has prompted occasional bans on all human or animal contact altogether. No wonder, then, that wastewater treatment has of late become a primary objective of South Fork officials. The nearly 600-page East Hampton town water-quality report, completed two years ago by Lombardo Associates, a Massachusetts firm, not surprisingly recommends neighborhood and community sewage-treatment systems in areas around Montauk, in the Village of East Hampton, and around Three Mile Harbor. A second study of the town’s hamlets conducted by four engineering and planning firms hinged its recommendations on “effective centralized wastewater treatment systems.” The Town of East Hampton is now working on a proposed wastewater-treatment facility to serve downtown Montauk, and is discussing other smaller service areas around the Montauk docks and Ditch Plain. Developing such systems also has been on the docket in East Hampton and Southampton villages. Southampton went so far as to undertake a study to develop a sewer district and build a treatment facility. But, despite the availability of huge state grants and the obvious environmental benefits, the big hurdle, as always, is cost. In other words, how to get existing houses and businesses, which already have on-site septic systems — inadequate as many are — to pay for and connect to a centralized system? Southampton Village put its sewer-plant proposals on ice, but momentum is clearly behind cleaning up the South Fork’s wastewater. The Montauk proposal is moving forward, driven largely by need: The vast majority of the septic systems in the downtown area there are inadequate or failing, according to recent studies, and most sites do not have room for replacements.

26

The water-treatment plant at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck (left and top right) treats wastewater without chemicals. Photos by Farshid Assassi


END MAGAZINE

Sag Harbor Village’s is the only municipal water-treatment facility east of the Shinnecock Canal. Photo by Tara Israel

27


BIDDLE DUKE

28

The Omega Institute plant is a net-zero building — which means that over the course of a year, it generates more electricity than it consumes. Photo by Farshid Assassi


END MAGAZINE

Meanwhile, both towns have begun a big push to get home and business owners to install new nitrogen-removing wastewater systems. They’re now required for all new construction in East Hampton, according to a law passed last year. And the towns have offered significant financial incentives: In East Hampton, properties in “water protection districts” are eligible to have the entire cost of a new system covered; and anyone earning $500,000 or less is eligible for as much as $10,000 toward a new system, estimated to cost around $16,000. The main impetus behind improved wastewater treatment here is water quality. But expanding sewage capacity in commercial districts also enables in-fill development, new business opportunities, and affordable housing, all of which drive community vibrancy. Is it any wonder that arguably the most vibrant village east of the canal is Sag Harbor? It installed a treatment facility in the 1970s, enabling the municipality to maintain and expand the high density so crucial to the village’s bustling vibe. In East Hampton Village, a subcommittee of trustees has been tasked with coming up with ideas to revitalize the commercial district. Village leaders rightly are seeking a more lively downtown, with more apartment housing and a greater variety of stores, with more businesses open into the evenings. A major hurdle to any of that — second and

The Whitney facility draws water from Lake Whitney, a reserve source for the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority. Photo by Elizabeth Felicella

Is it any wonder that the most vibrant village east of the canal is Sag Harbor? A wastewatertreatment facility was built there in the 1970s, enabling the municipality to maintain and expand the high density so crucial to the village’s bustling vibe. third-floor apartments above first-floor retail spaces, more restaurants, newer, smaller commercial spaces — is sewage capacity. Individual septic systems simply don’t provide enough. “Sewage flow is an issue” to get approval for downtown apartments and other initiatives, says Billy Hajek, the village planner. Some sort of centralized sewage treatment for the downtown “is inevitable eventually — the question is when? And where?” Barbara Borsack, a village trustee, said in an email to End recently. “We recently visited the plant in Sag Harbor to see what it looked like and learn about its operation. There are a few options for locations here. It could even be a joint town–village project, since North Main Street is closely connected to the village.”

29


BIDDLE DUKE

Sewer-plant-siting options have tightened considerably in 30 years, but the mood now among decision-makers appears less a question of whether it can be done and more of how. In addition to finding the money and the right location, the other main challenge facing wastewater plants has been neighbors: No one wants an industrial-looking (and potentially smelly) sewer plant nearby. But such facilities can today be designed to be actually beautiful, set in almost park-like settings — and, with current technologies, odorless. Though not a sewage plant, the Lake Whitney Water Treatment Facility, serving 12 towns on the outskirts of New Haven, is an instructive example of a large industrial facility being a good neighbor. Instead of saying, “Not in my backyard,” residents of nearby Edgerton, Conn. collaborated with the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority to replace the authority’s aging plant with a striking new one. The facility is a community park, a model of sustainable architecture, with 90 percent of the plant underground. Another example can be found at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck. It also proves that sewer plants can be elegant and hugely energy efficient. The institute’s plant is relatively small, serving a sprawling retreat center, but it is a model for what is possible on a larger scale. Such a facility could serve a small community or neighborhood. It involves no chemicals, is fully powered by geothermal and solar power, and treats wastewater not as something that should be pumped away but rather a resource to be repurposed naturally and returned safely back to nature. On an even smaller scale, Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island has designed and built a nitrogen-reducing natural wastewater treatment system; its ugly parts are underground, and what you see is mostly a constructed wetland and garden of native grasses and plants. “This will be a beacon to others to reduce nitrogen and to keep our groundwater and surface water clean,” Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said at the press conference when the facility opened last year. “It will be the wave of the future, and I look forward to the day when we don’t hold a press conference to announce these things because everybody is doing it.” We at End look forward to that day, too. Biddle Duke, his wife, the artist Idoline Duke, and their scruffy canine, Ralphie, live in a fully solar-powered house in Springs where he raises oysters in Accabonac Harbor. The owner and operator of a Vermont media company, he's the founding editor of The East Hampton Star's magazine, EAST.

30

Michael Van Valkenburgh, the landscape architect for the Whitney project, wanted “neighbors to engage with the land from the perspective of the water that flows through it.”


END MAGAZINE

Photo by Steve Turner

31


The Norman Invasion

By Nina Channing Modernist masterpieces from the 1960s and 1970s are being lost every month, it seems, in a real estate market that prizes ostentation above all else — but forward-thinking architects and buyers alike are feeling the love once again for the values of nearspiritual harmony championed by the late Norman Jaffe of Bridgehampton. 32

Although it featured two hallmarks of traditional East End architecture — a pitched roof and cedar shingles — the Bliss House, built in 1977 on Meadow Lane in Southampton,


END MAGAZINE

was not immediately embraced by the town planning board, which thought it was too angular and aggressive. Photo reprinted from Alastair Gordon's Romantic Modernist

33


NINA CHANNING

34


END MAGAZINE

Jaffe posing for Men’s Bazaar in 1967 beside a scale model of a project designed for a client in Virginia. The headline read “Man With an Image.” Photo by Neal Barr

35


NINA CHANNING

This summer marks 25 years since the death of the renowned architect Norman Jaffe. It was at a high point in his career that, on a warm August day in 1993, he went for his morning swim off Ocean Road beach in Bridgehampton and never returned to shore. His sudden death left his family and colleagues heartbroken and cast a mysterious pall over his already enigmatic body of work. He is best known for the many contemporary houses he built on the East End, several of which have become icons of Hamptons architecture. Jaffe’s designs look more like sculptures than residences, weaving together Modernist proportions and rustic materials to reflect the natural landscape. Jaffe first visited Bridgehampton in the late 1960s, when he was working for Philip Johnson’s studio in New York. He would come out on weekends to escape the city, staying with friends or sometimes sleeping on the backseat of his car. It was a different time; much of the real estate on the East End was still under potato fields. From the moment Jaffe pulled off the Long Island Expressway, the landscape spoke to him. The slanted summer light, the gaping sky, the seemingly endless expanse of open space were, for the young architect, a call to arms. He was not alone. Major experimental projects by Johnson, Pierre Chareau, and others in the 1940s and ’50s had put the South Fork on the architectural map. That history, combined with the beauty of the area, drew the attentions of Robert A.M. Stern, Richard Meier,

36

and Charles Gwathmey as well, all of whom began designing houses out here around the same time. After working on several small-scale commissions, Jaffe got his first major project in 1967, when he was hired to design a beach house for Sascha Burland, a jazz composer. Inspired by the simple sloped roofs and shingled exteriors of barns and other agricultural buildings, Jaffe’s early designs echoed the structural idioms of the East End. Sourcing natural materials — stone, wood, and glass — he created elevated compositions that echoed, and didn’t overwhelm, the area’s rustic character. The house he built for Burland featured a plain canted roof, barn doors, and an open interior. It was the first of many oceanside dwellings he would build in the following decades, and with it, he began to establish his aesthetic. Though often described as Modernist, much of Jaffe’s work defies traditional categorization. While incorporating clean, bold, shapes — what he called “shapes that wake up the mind” — he rejected the harshness of some of the more reductive Modernist profiles. “He wasn’t into the white box look,” his son, Miles, says. Jaffe favored using native materials that complimented the land and helped to soften and add texture to his buildings. He was always care-

Bridgehampton’s Schulman House, built in 1967, featured vertical red cedar, which weathered to driftwood-gray when exposed to the salt air. Rendering reprint Jeff Heatley, from Romantic Modernist


END MAGAZINE

Though often described as Modernist, much of Jaffe’s work defies traditional categorization. While incorporating clean, bold, shapes — what he called “shapes that wake up the mind” — he rejected the harshness of some of the more reductive Modernist profiles.“ He wasn’t into the white box look,” his son, Miles, says.

ful to make sure the eye had something to grab ahold of. When asked about his relationship to Modernism, Jaffe would insist that he did not have an allegiance to one particular style, asserting instead, “My loyalties are only to space, light, texture, and a dialogue with the site.” It was always important to Jaffe that his houses have a sense of place. He always paid minute attention to the specific location, and considered everything from the movement of the sun to the character of the soil and surrounding flora. Landscape design was a significant part of his work; he used berms and plantings to create a tableau for his architectural forms. This interest in place is also visible in his sketches, which are uncommonly detailed, their color and shading evoking the mood and atmosphere of a particular site. He frequently drew the houses from impossibly low vantage points, against a dark backdrop of stormy skies, to lend a mood of austerity and prominence to the designs. In 1973, Jaffe moved to Bridgehampton with Miles, who is now an accomplished artist and designer in his own right. Miles traces his interest in design back to days spent playing at his father’s construction sites. Norman was an eccentric man with an artistic philosophy that bordered on mysticism. He once described his houses as “deep, rich, sonorous, stirring, melodic, dreamlike, romantic journeys.” He loved Kabuki theatre, meditated daily, liked to eat a slice of apple

Jaffe left behind his right angles for a more lyrical style with the Krieger House (top) built in Montauk in 1977. Photo by Maris/Semel

Jaffe at the construction site of the Hillman House, c. 1977. Photo by Hal McKusick/East Hampton Star archive


NINA CHANNING

38

The interior of the Wainscott’s Becker House, built in 1969, featured structural framing of unfinished spruce timber bolted together with steel plates. Photo by Maris/Semel


END MAGAZINE

pie before dinner, and was known to do headstands on construction sites (claiming this was to get a sense of the space from a fresh vantage point). The older generation of Bridgehampton locals remember him as a slight, handsome man who drove a beat-up old Mercedes and haunted the Candy Kitchen and Karen Lee’s (now World Pie). When asked about his father’s character, Miles — named after Miles Davis, whom Norman admired — described him as being “always mentally engaged in multiple things at the same time.” He was prolific and hardworking, but he could be disorganized. Preliminary designs might be scribbled onto the back of a receipt or a Candy Kitchen placemat. “He would throw me a napkin with some tiny sketch on it,” says Miles, who spent years working alongside his father, “and just say, ‘Do something with this!’ He was an infuriating person to work with, but always fun, always thinking and problem-solving.” Norman’s childhood in Chicago at the height of the Depression had instilled in him a sense of self-reliance and a drive to be successful. He was often reclusive and could be obsessive about his work, spending hours a day at his desk drafting and redrafting ideas. “Design was an escape for him,” Miles says. “He would hide from his demons by focusing on his work, and he had some pretty big demons, so he really focused on his work.”

The Perlbinder House, built in 1970 on Daniel’s Lane in Sagaponack, exemplifies Jaffe’s combination of vernacular and Modern architecture. Photo by Maris/Semel

This focus manifested itself in perfectionist tendencies. Over his career, Jaffe developed a reputation for making last-minute changes, constantly tweaking details and proportions during construction to the extent that contractors would use thinner shingling nails in expectation of having to pull them out when he inevitably changed something. “Nothing was ever finished. Nothing was ever good enough,” Miles says. “One of Norman’s problems was that he never really knew when to stop.” His perfectionism was frustrating to colleagues and even to his clients, many of whom grew weary of his nitpicking. Jaffe’s style continued to develop through the 1970s and ’80s as he started getting larger commissions and had the opportunity to experiment with more ambitious forms and scales. A far cry from the shingled barn houses of his early days, the Turetsky House in Old Westbury and the Lloyd House in East Hampton clearly illustrate an interest in more dramatic silhouettes. Jaffe was particularly fond of the design for the Lloyd house which featured a Wright-inspired sliding plane composition, glass atrium, and battered stone walls. Angled floor-to ceiling windows enclosed an open-plan kitchen, dining room, and lofted master bedroom, allowing ample natural light and balancing the brawny weight of the rock. What the modest oneacre site lacked in vista or seascape, it made up for with an elegantly landscaped lawn, which Jaffe kept simple and well-manicured to

39


NINA CHANNING

better highlight the sculptural quality of the house. An interior courtyard with a custom swimming pool was carved to fit the irregular contours of the house, the water appearing to swallow the massive stone wall. Described by one Brown Harris Stevens agent as “a piece of modern art that it is suitable to live in,” the house was almost more sculpture than it was residence, indicating Jaffe’s movement toward more exaggerated forms and a California-style use of stone.

negotiation and meticulous construction, the Gates of the Grove synagogue was completed in 1988 to international acclaim.

As time went on and Norman’s reputation grew, requests for largescale houses, which he dubbed “pig-outs,” became more common. The evolution in the scale of Jaffe’s projects illustrates a larger shift that was taking place: In the 1980s, the East End saw both a massive influx of wealth and a significant change in the real estate market. Gone were the days of the humble 1,500-square-foot cottage in the dunes. People were beginning to look at their vacation homes as financial investments and showplaces. In keeping with that culture, mansions came into style.

Many have called the synagogue Jaffe’s masterpiece. It certainly proved that he was capable of more profound work than his beach houses, however beautiful, might have suggested. The synagogue’s entrance, low in scale, is designed to promote a mood of humility and help worshippers to shed their daily concerns in preparation for prayer. The stone floors are laid in an irregular pattern with minimal joints, recalling limestone blocks of the Walls of Jerusalem. The interior space opens up to a series of interlocking porticos separated by skylights, which allow an abundance of natural sunlight to enter the sanctuary. Much of the design is based on a numerological symmetry around the number ten, which has significance in the Kabbalah. Angular columns, which bend upward, recall the curve of Hebrew script, and the repetitive shapes make reference to a steadfastness of prayer.

At a certain point, Norman became frustrated by his clients’ desire for opulence and became eager to design a space that could serve a higher purpose and be enjoyed by the public. Looking to branch out beyond residential work as well, he learned that the Jewish Center of the Hamptons was looking for an architect to design its new synagogue, and he jumped at the opportunity. After years of

Jaffe had become quite spiritual in the later part of his life, and he believed that a design, if executed with the perfect balance of light and weight and space, had the power to elevate experience. Alastair Gordon remembers: “Talking to Norman about his work, you got the sense that he was a man in search of something way beyond architecture.”

40

One of Jaffe's favorites, East Hampton's Lloyd House, built in 1977, was torn down in 2016 and replaced with a house indistinguishable from others on the street. Photo by Cervin Robinson


END MAGAZINE

Built in East Hampton in 1982 for the C.E.O. of American Express, this house featured two of Jaffe’s signatures: a sunken living room and a stone fireplace. Photo by Jeff Heatley from Romantic Modernist

41


NINA CHANNING

That Jaffe was chasing something sacred might offer some insight into his character. His perfectionism, endless revisions, and fanatical attention to detail were all in the service of that “something way beyond.” It was at this height of creativity that Jaffe went for his morning swim and never returned. While many have speculated about the nature of his death — was it suicide? — the truth of what happened will never be known. Some time later, a pelvic bone determined to be Jaffe’s was found on the beach, and the case was unsatisfactorily closed.

42

“Talking to Norman about his work, you got the sense that he was a man in search of something way beyond architecture.”

The north-facing skylight at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons paints the Gates of the Grove Sanctuary in ambient light. Photo by Jeff Heatley from Romantic Modernist


END MAGAZINE

While some of Jaffe’s houses are still visible along the shoreline — most significantly the Perlbinder House, which is still owned by the same family — many have fallen victim to changing times and changing values. “These days, when a ‘Norman’ comes up for sale, it is pretty much a tear-down,” Miles says. “In the last five years, I have seen at least a half-dozen that have been completely erased.” Especially tragic was the bulldozing of the Lloyd House in 2016. In its place stands a 5,300-square-foot house indistinguishable from the others on the street. This urge to tear down is partly due to economic pressures — with newer, more traditional constructions fetching higher

The Osofsky family of Shelter Island wanted their home to feel like they were almost aboard a ship. Photo by Maris/Semel

prices — but it is also about a change in sensibility. “It all comes down to how you define luxury. Luxury used to mean simplicity. An escape from the noise of the city. But now, the noise is here, too.” While it is true that many Modernist gems have been lost in the race to build bloated, 10-bedroom lookalike mansions, there are notable exceptions. Several firms, including Deborah Berke Partners of Manhattan and Martin Architects of Sagaponack, have recently partnered with

43


NINA CHANNING

clients to renovate Jaffe houses. And just last year, Miles himself renovated and restored one of his father’s designs from 1975, a 2.5 bedroom on Mecox Bay in Bridgehampton. Originally designed to be a prototype for a modest vacation home that could be replicated elsewhere, the 1,800-square-foot house features a dramatic triangular roofline and stunning water views, harking back to the beach shacks of the 1950s and ’60s. The interior was remodeled during the renovation, and an addition with two bedrooms was built. “It was a challenging project for me,” Miles says. “Not only did I have to meet my own standard, which I’d like to think is astronomically high, I felt like I had to meet Norman’s standard, which is out of this universe.” The clean angles and natural wood tones of Miles’s addition are perfectly integrated and classic Jaffe, highlighting the delicate slopes of the surrounding dunes. The craftsmanship and simple beauty of a house like this help to remind us that the legacy of Jaffe’s work is not only architectural, but cultural, recalling an era in South Fork history when everything was a little less noisy. And, thanks to a new generation of East End architects who are picking up the torch, that legacy is not yet lost. Nina Channing is a writer, editor, and aspiring winemaker with a degree in English from Wesleyan University. She is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in creative writing at Stony Brook, where she teaches nonfiction. She lives in a eight-by-twelve-foot treehouse in Bridgehampton with her dog, Tucker.

44


END MAGAZINE

Jaffe had Frank Lloyd Wright books open when he started sketching the Osofsky House in 1969. Photo by Jeff Heatley from Romantic Modernist

45


LONGHOUSE CELEBRATES BROOKLYN THE LONGHOUSE BENEFIT CELEBRATING

SATURDAY JULY 21, 2018

DUSTIN YELLIN + PIONEER WORKS

6PM COCKTAILS + MUSIC + ALL SENSES AUCTION

JOE MELILLO + BAM NEXT WAVE

10PM DANCING + DRINKS

BUILDING A ROCKET, 2017, GLASS, COLLAGE, ACRYLIC, 15.625 X 15.125 X 7.875 INCHES

7:45PM DINNER + HONORS CELEBRATION


East End

Design Awards


PRESENTING THE FINALISTS OF THE 2018 EAST END DESIGN AWARDS Our favorite part of facilitating the East End Design Awards — other than the fact that our inbox is filled with 84 of the most innovative architectural, interior, and landscape projects around — is the ability to view the entries as a sort of non-scientific poll of what has been built in the last five years. It gives us a unique look at trends in the Hamptons design industry. A surprising statistic that arose from our data set had to do with the size of the submitted houses. When we first put the awards program together last spring, we thought, “It’s the Hamptons; the houses are huge!” So for the 2017 awards, we had two size groups in our new house category: over 5,000 square feet and under 4,999 square feet. It seemed reasonable at the time. We’d often heard about houses built with 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and well over 10,000 square feet. But when we received the entries, we noticed that a large majority of the houses entered were under 4,999, and many were under 3,000. Out of fairness to the entries, we ended up splitting the under 4,999 category in two. This year, we have kept the three size groups (under 2,999 square feet, 3,000 to 4,999, and over 5,000), but, again, the houses skewed smaller. Seventy-four percent of those entered were under 4,999, and 26 percent under 2,999. We admit our sample size is way too small, and Nate Silver would probably grade our data-collection system a C+ at best, but all this got us thinking about why the houses submitted were so much more modestly sized than expected. We came up with a bunch of hypotheses. Maybe it has to do with the style of home submitted? The entries tend to lean more toward modern than traditional, and maybe Modernist architects like to keep their houses more Mies than McMansion? Or maybe the Modernist architects are being hired by younger clients, who want a more manageable home? It’s impossible to know why the best of East End design is of the Think Smaller variety, but we hope our entry pool reflects a broader emerging trend. This year’s 84 entries (20 percent more than last year) came from 31 firms in 15 categories. All projects are on the East End of Long Island — on the South Fork from Westhampton to Montauk, plus Shelter Island and the North Fork, from Riverhead to Orient — and were completed between 2013 and 2018. In this issue of End we are presenting the second-place projects, our finalists. In the next issue, coming out on July 12, we will present the winners. The editors of End did not have input on the judging. — Levi Shaw-Faber, Editor-in-Chief

48


THE JURY

1

STEVEN HARRIS, AIA Founding Partner of Steven Harris Architects LLP This Tribeca firm, known for multiple projects for Barneys New York as well as for many houses in the Hamptons, has received numerous American Institute of Architects awards and Interior Design Best of Year nods, and been recognized in Architectural Digest’s AD100 and Elle Décor’s A-List. Steven Harris is a professor of architecture at Yale, where he has taught for more than 25 years. Diversity is a hallmark of his prolific and innovative work: His A.I.A. award–winning projects range from a Manhattan townhouse to a bowling alley and pool hall in Queens to the southernmost private residence on the Baja Peninsula. In 2008, Harris was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame.

2

CLAIRE WEISZ, FAIA Founding Partner of WXY architecture+urban design WXY is known for its community-centered approach to architecture, urban design, and planning. This year, Weisz was honored with a prestigious medal of honor from the New York chapter of the A.I.A., the group’s highest award to a member for distinction in the profession. In 2016, the same chapter named WXY its Firm of the Year. Weisz is a fellow of the A.I.A., having served on the NYSCA Architecture Design Panel and on design juries both nationally and internationally. She has lectured and taught widely, most recently as the 2017 Portman Visiting Critic at the Georgia Tech School of Architecture. She was named one of Fast Company’s most creative people in business in 2017. Some of WXY’s critically lauded projects include the Spring Street Salt Shed, the reconstruction of the Rockaway Boardwalk, and the SeaGlass Carousel in Battery Park.

3

DOUGLAS REED, FASLA Principal of Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture Reed Hilderbrand is best known on the East End for creating the prairie-like setting for Herzog and de Meuron’s Parrish Art Museum in Watermill, but it has been making waves far and wide since the mid1990s with landscapes for universities and colleges (including Duke, Harvard, Yale, M.I.T., Bennington, and Brandeis), for art museums (the Clark Art Institute, the Chazen Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, Crystal Bridges, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Phoenix Art Museum), and for public parks and influential residential projects. The American Society of Landscape Architects named Reed Hilderbrand its 2013 Firm of the Year. Douglas Reed is a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects who lectures widely and participates as a critic on reviews for design schools across the nation.

49


NEW HOUSE UNDER 2,999 SQ FT Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects

MAKO Amagansett, 2015 A natural dune informed the design of this oceanfront house inhabited by a multigenerational family. “The second-floor cantilever allows for a smaller footprint on the lower floor and, as a result, more open space around the building on the ground floor.” The architects also used the entire roof as a deck to maximize space — and views — for the family to enjoy. "East End seaside summer life the way it ought to be: modest, modernist, deferential to precious natural systems." — Douglas Reed (Juror)

50


Photos courtesy of Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects

51


NEW HOUSE 3,000–4,999 SQ FT Oza Sabbeth Architects

LIVING LEVELS Sagaponack, 2017 To take advantage of multiple views of “two large farm fields and a small naturally occurring basin,” the architects created multiple levels of “simple gable forms,” woven together by interior stairs and set in an undulating landscape. This resulted in private spaces that encourage encounters with the outdoors. "Fun and playful treatment of a domestic space. The open corner and position of the pool as part of the living room makes the outdoors come inside." — Claire Weisz (Juror)

52


Photos by Michael Moran

53


NEW HOUSE OVER 5,000 SQ FT MB Architecture

HOUSE IN THE LANES Amagansett, 2017 As a departure from most of the other houses in the neighborhood that realtors call the Lanes, the architects let the house’s narrow end face the street. “By doing so, we were able to let the longer side of the house and the living spaces face south, and direct sun, while maintaining a suitable distance from the neighbors to the south and north.” Both the design and materials were influenced by the client’s desire for maintenance-free living. “From the charred cypress to raw concrete walls to the zinc roof,” each element was chosen for its “ability to weather and patina naturally over time.” “The obscured street-side facade is an interesting element. It gives privacy and conceals the program of the house beyond, but also reveals the consistent material choices throughout the structure.” — Steven Harris (Juror)

54


Photos by Matthew Carbone

55


RENOVATION OVER 3,500 SQ FT Oza Sabbeth Architects

SEA BARN Sagaponack, 2013 The architects turned a pair of fading red barns from the 1930s into a live/work space for an artist couple and their two kids. “Following some selective demolition, it was revealed that the two barns were connected by an architecturally insignificant structure. By removing the structure, we created a breezeway. This was done by suspending a ‘minibarn,’ clad in metal shingles, within the gap left by the demolition. It serves to divide the personal and professional, while the twin garage doors below can open for access to the backyard or close as a heated vestibule connecting the two barns.” "Incision-like quality to the cutting and sculpting of a live/ work space out of two attached barns. So skillful." — Claire Weisz (Juror)

56

Top photo by Nilay Oza Bottom photo courtesy of Attic Fire


Top photo courtesy of Attic Fire Bottom photo by Kay Wittstein

57


RENOVATION UNDER 3,499 SQ FT T.W. Ryan Architecture

SURF HOUSE Montauk, 2016 The architects renovated a house in Ditch Plain, Montauk, for "a young West Village family drawn to the area in part because of the similarity to their native Ireland.” The project “embraces the natural materials, finishes, and landscape traditional to the area” with a monochromatic black exterior that “blends with the shadows of the natural landscape, while opening into an ethereal light-filled interior." "What's not to love? Black exterior, white interior, twin cabins set right by the beach." — Claire Weisz (Juror)

58

Photos by Scott Frances/OTTO



LANDSCAPE OR GARDEN LaGuardia Design Group

POINTE MECOX GARDEN Water Mill, 2015 As a part of the larger residential landscape, LaGuardia used a six-foot-tall cast-bronze sculpture set in a fountain, with a vanishing edge, as the centerpiece of a modern courtyard. “The perimeter of the courtyard is planted with layers of liriope, boxwood, and European hornbeam, creating a quiet, green backdrop to set off the artwork.” In keeping with the serene mood, “the infinity-edge swimming pool faces the bay beyond and is wrapped in fountain grasses to mimic the swaying cattail reeds along the wetland shoreline.” “The integration of rectilinear built forms into the landscape is quite lovely, as well as how they work together to frame the artwork.” — Steven Harris (Juror)

60


Photos by Anthony Crisafulli

61


GREEN INTERVENTION Mondern NetZero

TREETOPS East Hampton, 2017 A net-zero house creates as much energy as it uses. This one achieves it by ”combining solar, geothermal, L.E.D., insulation technology, and passive design.” According to Modern NetZero, the combination here “virtually eliminates energy bills and carbon footprint, saving approximately $15,000 in energy bills each year, while also increasing reliability and lowering the maintenance requirements for the home." “I applaud the sustainability aspect, as well as the abundance of sunlight in the primary living spaces.” — Steven Harris (Juror)

62


Photos by Lena Yaremenko

63


OUTDOOR LIVING SPACE CCS Architecture + Design

SPRINGS POOL HOUSE East Hampton, 2017 For this pool house, the architects looked to California for inspiration. “The design is an example of casual Modernism with clean lines, strong indoor-outdoor connections, and a modern interior.” “The visual connection of the pool house with the main house creates an interesting condition of distance and proximity at once.” — Steven Harris (Juror)

64


Photos by Colin Miller

65


SWIMMING POOL HOLLANDER design | Landscape Architects

TOPPING FARM POOL HOUSE Wainscott, 2016 The property has views of preserved agricultural fields, a large pond, and the ocean. “The pool area is located where the site slopes gently to the water. Each element of the pool area is a contemporary interpretation of the site’s historic farm vernacular. The modern pool house draws on local barn architecture. A sinuous adaptation of a traditional picket fence surrounds the pool without obstructing views.” "Makes sculpture out of the pool security barrier, allowing a reframing of the pond." — Claire Weisz (Juror)

66


Photos by Charles Mayer

67


ART SPACE IN RESIDENCE HOLLANDER design | Landscape Architects

GARDEN GALLERY Bridgehampton, 2013 The plantings on this classically styled family retreat “function as architecture, subdividing open space into garden rooms and framing views of exquisite sculpture. Per Adriano by Igor Mitoraj is the family’s favorite. It rests, peacefully, at the center of one of several garden anterooms off of the main house. Layers of crisply trimmed privet hedges frame the art and contrast with its sensuous forms. Evergreen boxwood hedges that define the pool are kept low to preserve and frame serene views of the artwork.” "Crisp, clean, clear but also daring. An architectural conceit for such plantings is seldom done so well as it is here." — Douglas Reed (Juror)

68


Photos by Charles Mayer

69


RESIDENTIAL BATHROOM Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects

BATHROOM IN THE WOODS Amagansett, 2015 With floor to ceiling glass and a simple layout, this bathroom suspended in the forest is meant to focus on the exterior. “A generous mirrored vanity surround allows for further reflection of self and nature and the shower includes an open sky experience.” "Both the lighting and the clerestory succeed in making this an outdoor experience." — Claire Weisz (Juror)

70

Photos courtesy of Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects



RESIDENTIAL KITCHEN Erica B. Smith Architect, Nazak Savitt Interiors

BLUFF VIEW KITCHEN The architect and interiors designers overhauled a traditional kitchen from the 1980s into a “clean-lined, slightly industrial space,” removing a wall of cabinetry and replacing it with “a series of casement windows, facing west to bathe the room in warm afternoon light. The black mullions and frames blend into the landscape beyond.” “The large openings are successfully in service of natural light and view of the surrounding landscape.” — Steven Harris (Juror)

72


Photos by Chris Foster

73


RESIDENTIAL LIVING ROOM James Merrell Architects

BRIDGEHAMPTON HOUSE Bridgehampton, 2015 Wood louvers in this double-height glass space add “subtle textural variation that play a critical role in creating a richness to the quality of the interior.” The architecture is “subtly embedded with Scandinavian references, a nod the client’s formative years spent abroad.” "Nice mix of wood texture with white planes. The room feels like a piece of furniture itself." — Claire Weisz (Juror)

74

Photos by Joshua McHugh


Photo by Raimund Koch

75


RESIDENTIAL BEDROOM Martin Architects

JAFFE REVIVED Bridgehampton, 2016 This bedroom is is part of a larger renovation of Norman Jaffe’s own home (see Page 30). “The renovation stayed true to the existing architectural design, but creates space for modern living and revitalizes the artist’s retreat as was intended. The bedroom retained the original Jaffe volumes, stripping them down to their pure form. Opening up the floor plan and adding architectural glass brings in natural light into the open, yet intimate space.” “I appreciate the minimal feel of the space that still manages to look unique to its East End context.” — Steven Harris (Juror)

76


Photos by Chris Foster

77


NONRESIDENTIAL PROJECT Martin Architects

WÖLFFER KITCHEN Sag Harbor, 2016 Drawing inspiration not only from Wölffer Estate’s winemaking and equestrian premises in Sagaponack and Argentina but also from sleek urban wine bars, “this restaurant design opens the full width of the ground floor facade to establish the strongest possible connection to the lively activity on Main Street. Conceptual inspiration came from the methods and materials of winemaking. Grapes are harvested, crushed, and stored in wood barrels bound with steel straps. There, the liquid ages and ferments in oak barrels, eventually to be transferred into glass bottles sealed with a cork. The design of the Wölffer Kitchen reflects upon this process by using these materials in the definition of the space.” “I appreciate how extrapolating the winemaking process onto material choices adds a cohesive design component to the dining experience.” — Steven Harris (Juror)

78


Photos by Conor Harrigan

79


UNBUILT PROJECT James Merrell Architects

BEACH PARADOX HOUSE Southampton, 2018 For this experiment, the architects considered Theseus’s paradox: whether an object — a ship, in Theseus’s case — that has had all of its parts removed and replaced over time indeed remains the same object. Working “with longevity, functionality, and symbolism in mind,” the architects here pose the question of whether “a lackluster bay-front home” could be turned into “a 21st-century modern beach house” and indeed remain the same structure. “Often, the philosophical and discursive dimensions fade into the background in built architectural projects because of the overbearing presence of the material object. I hope this project maintains its curious polemics even if it gets built.” — Steven Harris (Juror)

80


Renderings by James Merrell Architects

81


The Drawing Game

For an architecture buff, this will be an easy one — but for everyone else, it might require some Googling. An important contribution to the history of Modernist architecture, this East End residence was designed in the middle of the 20th century by an architect who, if he were still alive, would be 80 years old this summer. If you can tell us the name of the architect, and for whom he designed the house, we will give you a lifetime subscription to End mailed directly to your door. Go to endmag.org/contact-us by July 11 to enter.



EAST HAMPTON SOUTHAMPTON Women’s . Men’s . Accessories


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.