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Dewees Island Vacation Home
Dewees Island Vacation Home
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Dewees Island Vacation Home
Firm
Type
Dewees
Island is a barrier island 12 miles northeast of Charleston, South
Carolina. It is home to 200 Two bird
species, alligators, bobcats, loggerhead sea turtles and, occasionally, a red wolf that swims over from nearby Bull
Island.
Free of cars, golf courses, bars and shops, and
accessible only by 20-minute ferry ride, Pittsburgh, PA landscape architect and
nature educator Rives Yost, her husband Walter, and their two children, decided
it was the perfect place to build their summer vacation home.
The lot
the Yosts chose among the mere 150 home sites available on the island’s 1206
acres is a dense jungle of live oaks, cedars, palmettos, barrier island shrubs
and vines. Wetlands bisect and partially surround the property, separating the
building site from an ancient line of dunes with a panoramic view of the ocean.
To preserve the wilderness
character of the place, highly restrictive covenants allow only a very small
percentage of each lot to be disturbed or altered in any way.
Of the architects recommended by the
Dewees Island property owners’ association, the Yosts chose Whitney Powers,
AIA, principal of Studio A, Inc., in Charleston. Powers had designed nearly a
dozen houses on the South Carolina coast and was adept at designing modern
structures that recalled familiar, vernacular building types.
The house was conceived as
a minimal outpost, or camp. No existing trees were removed to construct the
house and no paving was used, which would affect the natural hydrology of the
delicate site adjacent to an inland pond and wetlands.
To that end, the two-level,
1400-square-foot vacation home is perched above the earth on a matrix of one-
and two-story tall pilings. Screened porches – 1600 square feet of them –
completely surround the house. The exterior walls are a curtain-like series of
glass doors to allow the whole house to be opened up to cooling sea breezes.
Sleeping and bathing areas are located on the lower level, screened by the
trees. The living room and kitchen rise above the treetops. A bridge leads to a
seaside pavilion on high ground 25 yards from the house.
The house is based on an
8-foot by 12-foot module and the exterior is sheathed in to Hardipanel®,
applied in a board and batten configuration, to greatly reduce the amount of
construction material waste. The broad, hipped roof is clad in Galvalume®
metal, which is highly reflective to reduce heat build-up during the summer
months.
The basic exterior form of the Yost
house recalls a simple, vernacular farmhouse, which, in this case, has been
duplicated, offset, and separated by a gap that mirrors a naturally occurring
breach in the site’s ancient dune line. The offset of the two halves was
dictated by the locations of massive live oak trees surrounding the house. The
slot between the houses is the zone where vertical movement occurs, both within
the house and along the ramped bridge to the seaside pavilion.
The Yosts’ treetop vacation home has
been featured in the New York Times and on HGTV’s “Extreme Living” show.
Island is a barrier island 12 miles northeast of Charleston, South
Carolina. It is home to 200 Two bird
species, alligators, bobcats, loggerhead sea turtles and, occasionally, a red wolf that swims over from nearby Bull
Island.
Free of cars, golf courses, bars and shops, and
accessible only by 20-minute ferry ride, Pittsburgh, PA landscape architect and
nature educator Rives Yost, her husband Walter, and their two children, decided
it was the perfect place to build their summer vacation home.
The lot
the Yosts chose among the mere 150 home sites available on the island’s 1206
acres is a dense jungle of live oaks, cedars, palmettos, barrier island shrubs
and vines. Wetlands bisect and partially surround the property, separating the
building site from an ancient line of dunes with a panoramic view of the ocean.
To preserve the wilderness
character of the place, highly restrictive covenants allow only a very small
percentage of each lot to be disturbed or altered in any way.
Of the architects recommended by the
Dewees Island property owners’ association, the Yosts chose Whitney Powers,
AIA, principal of Studio A, Inc., in Charleston. Powers had designed nearly a
dozen houses on the South Carolina coast and was adept at designing modern
structures that recalled familiar, vernacular building types.
The house was conceived as
a minimal outpost, or camp. No existing trees were removed to construct the
house and no paving was used, which would affect the natural hydrology of the
delicate site adjacent to an inland pond and wetlands.
To that end, the two-level,
1400-square-foot vacation home is perched above the earth on a matrix of one-
and two-story tall pilings. Screened porches – 1600 square feet of them –
completely surround the house. The exterior walls are a curtain-like series of
glass doors to allow the whole house to be opened up to cooling sea breezes.
Sleeping and bathing areas are located on the lower level, screened by the
trees. The living room and kitchen rise above the treetops. A bridge leads to a
seaside pavilion on high ground 25 yards from the house.
The house is based on an
8-foot by 12-foot module and the exterior is sheathed in to Hardipanel®,
applied in a board and batten configuration, to greatly reduce the amount of
construction material waste. The broad, hipped roof is clad in Galvalume®
metal, which is highly reflective to reduce heat build-up during the summer
months.
The basic exterior form of the Yost
house recalls a simple, vernacular farmhouse, which, in this case, has been
duplicated, offset, and separated by a gap that mirrors a naturally occurring
breach in the site’s ancient dune line. The offset of the two halves was
dictated by the locations of massive live oak trees surrounding the house. The
slot between the houses is the zone where vertical movement occurs, both within
the house and along the ramped bridge to the seaside pavilion.
The Yosts’ treetop vacation home has
been featured in the New York Times and on HGTV’s “Extreme Living” show.
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