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DUNE HOUSE

BRIDGEHAMPTON, NEW YORK

The 8,650-square-foot house is elevated high above its one-acre waterfront site in accordance with FEMA’s floodplain map. The first habitable level must be nineteen feet above sea level, so everything has to be jacked up, supported in part by a semicircular structure that defines an arrival court and vehicular turnaround, while holding up the eastern end of the house. The bold cantilever called for a single, 42-foot-long steel beam that was fabricated in the Netherlands and shipped to the site on a barge. Two cubic volumes––one to the east, one to the west––are clad in horizontal red cedar and hover above the ground plane, giving the house its tectonic play of forms and “saddle-bag” symmetry that was inspired, in part, by Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye. The eastern slab contains a family media room; the western block contains three guest bedrooms angled to the southwest to gain direct ocean views. A three-story glass atrium serves as the vertical spine and circulation core with an open-tread staircase and elevator. The master bedroom enjoys unlimited ocean views from the southeast corner and hangs above a loggia with an outdoor kitchen and dining area that connects to multi-level terraces and an L-shaped infinity pool lined with black porcelain.

Two cubic volumes hover above the ground plane.

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