Quogue Creek
Lot size: 2.67 acres
Building size: 5,900 sq. ft.
Location: Quogue, NY
Program: Single Family Residence
Photographer: Joshua McHugh
Contractor: Breitenbach Builders
Interior Designer: Damon Liss Design
Landscape Architect:
Margie Ruddick Landscape
Installation by Marders
The views and lifestyle afforded by waterfront properties come with significant design and construction challenges. In the case of this site, a beautiful lot with 290’ of frontage on a sheltered inlet connected to the ocean, research revealed that the land was entirely reclaimed ground. A geological survey from 1903 indicated the site was wetlands at the time. Recent LIDAR imagery showed evidence of the dredging, trenching, and fill operations over the past century that converted the wetlands to building sites. While now dry, the fill does not provide firm bearing to build on. Soil borings confirmed that even to a depth of 30’, the ground is very soft and prone to settling. This challenge was treated as a design opportunity to develop a structural system that provides solid bearing and shapes the experience of the house and site.
In lieu of traditional bearing walls or widely spaced, heavily-loaded columns that concentrate the building mass on a few critical areas, a grid of very slender 2 1/2” square columns on a 6’ square grid evenly distributes the load on the soft ground. Without the need to bear weight, the ground level partitions can be spaced freely and widely apart, creating large gathering spaces and broad expanses of glass to enjoy the view. On the water side, the sliding glass doors pocket into the walls to seamlessly connect the gathering spaces with the outdoors.
Sitting atop the light columns and glass of the first level, the second level takes on a contrasting solid character. In the form of a sculpted hip roof clad in cedar shingles, the second level references the traditional shingle style roof forms common amongst the 19th and early 20th century estates of the maritime resort community. The hip roof has a void in its center to flood both the upper and lower floors with daylight. The interior windows on the upper level that face this roof opening include wood slats between the glass layers. The screening diffuses a soft, filtered light to the interiors while providing privacy. The entry garden on the ground level sits below the roof aperture. To enter the home, guests pass beneath the deep overhang of the 2nd floor, amongst the grid of columns, on a pattern of pavers that plays off the column grid, before arriving at the front door day-lit from above.
Along with the private spaces of the home, the 2nd floor also contains all the mechanical equipment, elevating it above flood concerns. The roof ridge ascends from a low height over the mechanical spaces to its highest point over the bedrooms, and is rotated relative to the footprint of the house. This maximizes the useful interior volume in the most significant spaces while creating a sculptural roof form as a counterpoint to the rigidity of the first floor column grid. The stair that connects both levels draws on the columnar language, and is comprised of highly polished stainless steel posts supporting solid oak treads.
By embracing the structural challenges of building on a former wetland rather than hiding them, the design allows for a unique appreciation of the place.
In lieu of traditional bearing walls or widely spaced, heavily-loaded columns that concentrate the building mass on a few critical areas, a grid of very slender 2 1/2” square columns on a 6’ square grid evenly distributes the load on the soft ground. Without the need to bear weight, the ground level partitions can be spaced freely and widely apart, creating large gathering spaces and broad expanses of glass to enjoy the view. On the water side, the sliding glass doors pocket into the walls to seamlessly connect the gathering spaces with the outdoors.
Sitting atop the light columns and glass of the first level, the second level takes on a contrasting solid character. In the form of a sculpted hip roof clad in cedar shingles, the second level references the traditional shingle style roof forms common amongst the 19th and early 20th century estates of the maritime resort community. The hip roof has a void in its center to flood both the upper and lower floors with daylight. The interior windows on the upper level that face this roof opening include wood slats between the glass layers. The screening diffuses a soft, filtered light to the interiors while providing privacy. The entry garden on the ground level sits below the roof aperture. To enter the home, guests pass beneath the deep overhang of the 2nd floor, amongst the grid of columns, on a pattern of pavers that plays off the column grid, before arriving at the front door day-lit from above.
Along with the private spaces of the home, the 2nd floor also contains all the mechanical equipment, elevating it above flood concerns. The roof ridge ascends from a low height over the mechanical spaces to its highest point over the bedrooms, and is rotated relative to the footprint of the house. This maximizes the useful interior volume in the most significant spaces while creating a sculptural roof form as a counterpoint to the rigidity of the first floor column grid. The stair that connects both levels draws on the columnar language, and is comprised of highly polished stainless steel posts supporting solid oak treads.
By embracing the structural challenges of building on a former wetland rather than hiding them, the design allows for a unique appreciation of the place.