Gwathmey Residence and Studio

Charles Gwathmey – Amagansett, NY 11930, United States, 1966

The original project for the house envisaged a surface area of ​​just over 110 mXNUMX  and included a living-dining space, kitchen, master bedroom with study, two guest bedrooms and a workshop. A year after completion, a second structure of approximately 45 square meters was added, which houses a guest bedroom and a study.
Within the rather limited budget, design elements were developed that set a precedent for subsequent works. By organizing the house vertically, programmatic and site constraints were resolved through sectional and planimetric manipulations. The guest rooms, workshop and covered terrace occupy the ground floor; the living-dining room and kitchen are on the second floor; the master bedroom-study on the third floor overlooking the double-height living area.
Bringing the “public” spaces to full height allowed for the exploitation of the wide views and established a relationship between the living areas and the ground floor.
The residence is composed of primary and minimal geometric forms that appear to be carved from a solid volume rather than constructed as an assembly of different volumes. Manipulation in response to site characteristics, orientation, structure and the functional needs of the inhabitants determines that the intersections of these forms are defined by erosion or natural light, or both.
The cladding of the wooden structure is cedar, the primary material from which secondary and tertiary elements develop. Transparency, perceptual and literal extension and volumetric interpenetration give this small building a unique sense of scale and presence.