Project ID
UCR
Location
Long Island, USA
Scope
New Build
Function
Residence
Landscape
Steven Yavanian Landscape Architecture
Status
Canceled

This very large house for a very large family was designed to sit within its suburban context as an interloper. By fracturing the major planes of the building into a series of different materials and surfaces, the volume of the building is minimized. This is further enhanced by breaking the residence into main house and a separate guest quarters (with garage and indoor/outdoor basketball court).

The house is more than 2x larger than the largest neighbor, and 3x more contemporary, yet fits in quite nicely.
The house is more than 2x larger than the largest neighbor, and 3x more contemporary, yet fits in quite nicely.

The exterior of the house is designed with a palette of multiple woods, stones, and geoemtries to visually break down its massing.

View toward the entrance of the home
View looking from the driveway to the entrance of the main house showing the complex and varied facade

Enabled by careful detailing of the facade, the exterior of the building is conceptualized as a mask overlaid onto a box packed taut with program. Overlapping materials, protruding window sheaths, screened glazing, and a floating fin wall work to dissolve the reading of the solid box into one of a series of planes.

The ground floor of the main house hosts a mix of formal and informal dining and social spaces, as well as two full kitchens.

Ground plan of main house

Upstairs, seven bedrooms are efficiently arrayed on either side of a light well. Moving vertically through the light well are two stairs: one panoramic and curvey and the other efficient and compact.

Second floor plan of main house

Though connected as a continuous indoor space, the building appears to be two separate structures from the exterior.

Elevation from the Main Street
Elevation of the back showing main house and guest volume
Ground plan showing main house and basketball court below the guest house