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Planning strategy showing several private outdoor living spaces in a fragile dune landscape. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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The natural and the manmade are mediated by careful planning. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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The layout of pallets strings a series of large deck spaces together while appearing to cut into the untamed landscape. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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A slow winding stair rises through a thicket of native plants whose roots hold the dune together while keeping the house private from the road and parking below. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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The entry stairs connect to cedar pallets that surround the house. The front door is highlighted by a pot sculpted by Paula Hayes. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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Judicious planting of evergreens ensures privacy from the neighbors and the road below. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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Sedum blooms in the September sun adding color to the morning terrace. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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An outdoor dining room is surrounded by cedar, pine, bayberry and beach grass. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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PROJECT STATEMENT: Inspiration – Sometimes there can be poetry in the practical. This beach house landscape creates a feeling of symbiosis that brings us physically and emotionally closer to the beautiful, fragile and ever-changing ecosystem of the dune landscape. The design serves to remind us of a fundamental consideration: we are partners with nature.
PROJECT NARRATIVE: Inspiration – Sometimes there can be poetry in the practical. This beach house landscape creates a feeling of symbiosis that brings us physically and emotionally closer to the beautiful, fragile and ever-changing ecosystem of the dune landscape. The design serves to remind us of a fundamental consideration: we are partners with nature.
Design – In establishing outdoor living spaces around this beach house we created a series of cedar pallets resting on sleepers and set directly into the sand. These pallets were arranged to hug the house on all sides and extend like fingers onto the dune facing the ocean. By planting native materials between these fingers each extension becomes an oasis –at once different from and completely integrated into this dune landscape.
Environment – The project sits on a quarter acre site close to neighboring houses at the eastern end of Long Island on the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of a hilly sandbar covered in bayberry, beach plum, pine and great stretches of beach grass. The two most important ecological considerations for this site are preventing erosion of beach sands (by establishing a dense network of native plants), and recharging ground water (by maximizing impermeable surfaces.)
Value – Everything in the design is either eco-friendly or completely renewable. Cedar weathers without splintering and needs no treatment hence will never leach chemicals into the sand. The cedar strips have smooth rounded edges and are spaced only a quarter inch apart to create a comfortable surface under bare feet. The plant material is mostly native and will thrive in this environment with minimal care.
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PROJECT RESOURCES |
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Planting Contractor:
Matt Daly
MGD Horticultural Services
General Contractor:
Brian Manix
Brian Manix Builder, Inc.
Sculptural Planter:
Paula Hayes |
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Furniture:
Dining Table: Alissa Bucher, Rogers Marvel Architects
Get Real Surfaces, Poughkeepsie
Henry Hall Designs and collection of the owner
Gas Grill: Viking
Lighting: BK Lighting
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A pair of chaises floats in a sea of grass achieving privacy within a basically open plan. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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A narrow path along a shipshape storage area opens to an intimate sitting area at the front of the house. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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Bare washed feet are comfortable on the rounded cedar strips of these custom fabricated pallets. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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Relief from the quarter-acre zoning is enjoyed in this view of a protected bog. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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A swath of native plants are captured within the boundaries of two outdoor "rooms". (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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One slender part of the terrace projects into the dune landscape. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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The garden in winter celebrates the beach as much as it does in winter. (Photo: Dirtworks, PC) |
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