Courtyard House Designed for “Forgetting Time”

No natural light? No problem.

Originally built as a modest beachfront cabin in the 1960s and subsequently modified through a series of piecemeal renovations, by the time the client acquired the house its design integrity had long ceased to exist. The forested one-acre property, however, was ideally suited to the creation of a quiet refuge with direct connections to nature. The path from street to house is conceived as a journey where work and public life give way to nature and private reflection. The 60-foot change in elevation from entry drive to water’s edge, was not without challenges. The upper driveway is transformed into a winding forest drive, while the final steps to the house pass through a series of intimate landscapes. A two-story glazed entry provides glimpses through the house to the water from the moment one enters the site. “To preserve the original view experience,” notes Brett Baba, principal architect for the project, “we carved big glass slots through the house both vertically and horizontally so a visitor can see right through to the water as they descend to the house.” Planted roof surfaces help to merge the house with its setting. Inside, the house was taken back to the studs and completely reworked. Previously lacking visual connections to the lake, all major interior spaces were reoriented to the views. “One of the most challenging aspects of this project,” adds Baba, “was the limited buildable area of the site. The homeowner had an ambitious program, so we needed to be creative in finding ways to solve space needs and elevate the quality of the space we had.” The main floor and formal entry, the middle of the house’s three floors, serve as the public zone of the house. Here, spaces including the galley kitchen and breakfast room, and dining and living, which flow one to the other. A small guest room rounds out the main floor. A second floor was added to provide separation for private spaces, and includes the master suite and kids bedrooms. The staircase connecting the floors was conceived as a set of wood slabs (fumed white oak) that appear to float within a wood enclosure. The partial, below-grade basement, was previously closed off from the waterfront. The space now opens directly to the water, enabling activities to flow from inside to outside. The basement provides family-oriented spaces including the family room, gym, wine room, kitchenette, laundry, powder bath and playroom for the children. Family room furnishing are simple, dominated by an L-shaped sofa, and a large television above a fireplace—a “hangout area” for the kids. Baba and Hunziker worked closely with the homeowner on the selection of finishes. “He pushed us to explore the most elegant design that we could,” notes Baba. “He has great taste and was open to very sophisticated finishes and details” Materially rich finishes—such as polished concrete, stone, cerused rift white oak and fumed oak, and blackened steel—balance the otherwise crisp and spare detailing found throughout the house. Everything from door pulls to sink faucet levers were meticulously designed, detailed, and fabricated. Stand out features include the staircase with floating wood slabs, custom bead-blasted nickel hardware, an oversized Japanese soaking tub, and sliding leather paneled pocket doors to master bedroom and bathroom. Concealed doors and integrated handrails reinforce the minimal aesthetic without sacrificing rich materiality. Outside, variously-sized, dark-stained cedar siding provides subtle dimension and shadow effects. Cor-Ten siding wraps selected portions of the exterior to articulate the composition and massing. Integrated sun shades and fins on all west-facing windows marry function with aesthetics, adding visual texture while mitigating direct sun exposure. Graham Baba Architects team
Brett Baba, design principal
Francesco Borghesi, project team
Noreen Shinohara, project team Project team
Graham Baba Architects (architecture)
Terry Hunziker Inc. (interiors)
CPL (civil engineer)
Carissa Farkas (structural engineer)
Geotech Consultants (geotechnical engineer)
Rich Haag and Associates / Anne James Landscape Architect (landscape architecture)
Brian Hood (lighting design)
Lockhart | Suver LLC (contractor)
Fleetwood USA (windows and selected doors)

Sited gently on the lower slope of a dramatic sixty foot high coastal bank and surrounded by miles of undeveloped Cape Cod National Seashore beaches and scrub pines is a warm, modern beach house that is more than just a place to enjoy uninterrupted ocean views and sea breezes. Our clients dreamed of a house that would work equally well as both a year-round family “camp” and also as a “thinking retreat” for collaborating with their colleagues. From the beginning of design it was critically important to us and to our clients – as well as the Town Conservation Commission and National Seashore representatives – that the house fit into its fragile site seamlessly. Our team responded with great care by designing the house to curve and shift softly with the natural topography and also by envisioning the new native and drought resistant landscaping growing back tight to the house as if both had always been there together. The main house is conceived of as a collage of overlapping, cantilevered planes and volumes that culminate in a large living / dining space defined by an asymmetrically arcing copper roof plane. Entry to the house is by way of a long ramp through what will in a few years be a thicket of native pines and bushes, then through curving cedar shingled planes. The inland side of the house is tucked into its shifting, sandy landscape and is comprised of cedar shingled planes that float above the ground and contain bedrooms, bathrooms, and the kitchen, and lower volumes of horizontal tongue and groove cedar boards that enclose bedrooms and a gathering space for teenage sons. On the Cape Cod Bay side, the house opens up through walls of glass to endless water views and heavenly sea breezes. In the middle of the house, just inside the front door, is an architectural “hole” that allows the house to breathe and cool itself naturally most of the year through its floor to ceiling awning windows, and which also provides views of the sky from a shady breezeway on the lower level. Along one wall of the hole is a trellis planted with evergreen and seasonally aromatic flowering vines. On the Cape Cod Bay side, the house opens up through walls of glass to endless water views and heavenly sea breezes. In the middle of the house, just inside the front door, is an architectural “hole” that allows the house to breathe and cool itself naturally most of the year through its floor to ceiling awning windows, and which also provides views of the sky from a shady breezeway on the lower level. Along one wall of the hole is a trellis planted with evergreen and seasonally aromatic flowering vines. Separated from the main house by a screen porch and contiguous deck, is a separate art / yoga / thinking studio that seemingly floats fourteen feet above the ground. Inside is a single large loft space as well as a full bath, and below is an open-air summer art studio and boat / beach toy storage, behind walls of wood slats and matching barn doors.

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While the idea of purchasing a vanity table may seem frivolous to some, the intent behind it can speak volumes. Symbolic of a commitment to carving out quality time for self care, a vanity table (also known as a dressing table) represents the ability to rejuvenate and recharge in the morning while you’re getting ready, […]

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