ASSEMBLED IN LIGHT, The Houses of Barnes Coy Architects
by Alastair Gordon
Introduction by Christopher Coy
Foreword by Pilar Viladas
Published by Rizzoli USA / Gordon de Vries Studio
Pub. Date: September 2020

Assembled in Light is the first exclusive look at the firm’s previously unpublished body of work. Although most of the featured projects are located in the Hamptons on eastern Long Island (New York), a few are found as far afield as Georgia, California, and Costa Rica. All but three were built on waterfront sites. The preface is by Christopher Coy, Barnes Coy’s founding partner; the foreword is by Pilar Viladas, long-time design editor at the New York Times; and the main text is by critically acclaimed author Alastair Gordon. A co-publication of Rizzoli New York and Gordon de Vries Studio, the two-hundred-and-forty-page book was designed by Barbara de Vries with more than two hundred photographs by acclaimed photographer Michael Mundy.

Throughout their twenty-five-year commitment to modern design, Barnes Coy Architects have specialized in one-of-a-kind houses expressed in minimally modern ways through the spatial poetry of glass, structural steel, and interpenetrating volumes. Their houses function as finely tuned machines. They are neither small nor grossly oversized. Most in the book can boast more than six thousand square feet of livable space while a few go above ten thousand. Every effort is made to integrate the designs into the natural environment, while reducing energy consumption with cross ventilation, solar panels, and geothermal heating systems. Barnes Coy have come to understand their clients’ needs, visions, and desires. All architectural elements are custom designed, handcrafted, and tailored to their individual lifestyles. While interiors are tastefully furnished with one-of-a-kind artisanal pieces and stunning collections of contemporary art, the architecture remains the main attraction.