The design of this house took its cues from the site and the physical reality of the island on which it is located. Fire Island is a barrier island, protecting the southern shore of Long Island from the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean side sand dunes of Fire Island similarly protect a fragile ecosystem of indigenous flora and fauna from the full force of Atlantic storms. On the protected side, the broad shallow waters of the Great South Bay are crisscrossed by numerous ferries and water taxis, which serve the various isolated summer resort communities occupying the island. The Island is free of private motorized traffic, only emergency and service vehicles occasionally interrupt the peaceful atmosphere; their movements are generally confined to the Atlantic beach, which is the only continuous thoroughfare of the island.
The town of The Pines is divided into a rough grid of pedestrian board walks running from the Ocean to the Bay, dissected by a single track sand road. The site is an undulating terrain of thinly soiled sand dune and is heavily wooded with pine, holly and wild cherry trees. The rectangular site on the sheltered bay side of the island is obscured by vegetation from the adjacent houses; to the south of the site there is a pedestrian boardwalk.
Screens of protection and privacy were developed between the boardwalk and the heart of the site. The functional aspects of the dwelling become revealed as the visitors pass through its protective layers from public to private. The edges of the geometric volumes are blurred as facades of varying opacity pass beyond the contained form and so the reading of the solid volume is impeded. The transition from the exterior to the interior is similarly undefined, as exterior spaces can be incorporated into the inhabited domain or be closed out to protect the fragile nucleus from the elements. The main living space of the house is separated from the sleeping quarters by an internal courtyard, which is cultivated as a domestic garden, isolated from the surrounding inhospitable woodland and protected by two element forms of the house. The airy poetry of the forms are reinforced by the materials chosen for its execution
Materially the design combines the illusory and airy qualities of steel and glass with the earth bound solidity of concrete and wood. Steel affords a lightness of structure in the glass facades, while Douglas fir boards contain the solid volumes. A simple wooden board walk flanked by a fractured concrete wall dissects the site and links the individual elements floating above the volatile and shifting landscape of living sand dune. The living space opens onto a pool deck to the south and the internal raised courtyard garden to the north. The boardwalk passes through the living space over the garden into the dormitory of sleeping rooms in the two-storied volume beyond, protected from the elements at this point by an upper walkway connecting back to a sun deck over the main living space. The south facade of the sleeping quarters is the last screen the visitor passes through: the solid wood clad form is open to the floating facade and closed with limited views to the north. The boardwalk continues through the bedroom block to the rear of the site where it is terminated at a concrete wall with an outdoor shower surrounded by the tangle of local vegetation.
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