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THE WALL

AMAGANSETT, NEW YORK

A 32-foot-high wall of Alabama limestone anchors the house to its high, windswept perch halfway between a high, sandy ridge and a road that winds through the woods. Bands of rock-faced stone alternate with smooth, honed coursing to create a textured rhythm that penetrates the house as an archaic element, suggestive of a temple wall, while counterbalancing the design’s modernist elements. One visitor compared the house to a spaceship crashing into the ruins of an Irish monastery. The rest of the house, in a sense, hangs from this central armature. Once inside, the wall continues in a westward direction but changes character, becoming smoother, more domesticated, establishing as it does an internal division between private and public spaces, guest rooms on the north side and master bedroom suite at the far end. “We wanted to maintain the power of the three-foot-thick stone mass throughout the design,” said architect Coy. The house turns toward ocean views with a large, box-like porch that features 18-foot-high openings on either side for catching prevailing southwest breezes. The sheltered deck cantilevers over the pool terrace and main living/dining area that is nestled within a transparent, all-glass cube.

“We wanted to maintain the power of the three-foot-thick stone mass throughout the design.”

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