You are on page 1of 3

43 | 9 42 | 9

HO U SE, LO N G ISLAN D,
NE WYO RK, USA
AR CH I T ECT
TO D WI LLI AM S, BI LLI E TSI E N
WALDEN REVISITED
A passionate, beautifully detailed interweaving of dwelling and nature, interior and exterior is almost
eighteenth-century, certainly Miesian, in its poetic marriage of pure artefact and wild landscape.
1 main entrance
2 d ining
3 kitchen
4 living
5 master bed
6 master bath
7 stud y
8 b ed
9 garden shed
1
Looking south, with master bedroom right and
fireplace terminating living area left. Strong
Miesian order with deep copper-covered
cornice holds whole composition together.
2
Looking along west wall, with entrance
immediately right and master suite pavilion
beyond tree left.
3
Entrance (west) court with path (which has
become straight by this time) leading directly
to entrance in glazed link. Garden hut right
foreground has same cornice as rest of house.
4
Entrance court is largely closed, while
5
east side opens itself to view.
1
5
2
3 4
plan (scale approx 1:360)
44 | 9 45 | 9
Tod Williams and Billie Tsien are
a very strange phenomenon:
internationally recognized US
architects who have gained their
reputation not from the
obscurity of their theories and
unapproachability of their
language, nor from flashy
gestures and showbiz antics, but
from careful and intelligent use
of materials and craftsmanship in
pursuit of a gentle, sensuous and
thoughtful arrangement of
spaces revealed by light. In some
ways, their work resembles
some of the best to be found in
Germany, Switzerland and
Scandinavia, but they are
undoubtedly American in the
range of their responses to the
very different cultures, climates
and landscapes of their country.
Their Neurosciences Institute at
La Jolla is a reflection of the
genial weather of California,
while the Art Museum in
Phoenix (AR November 1997) is
a retreat from the desert
extremes of Arizona. The house
they made in Manhattan (AR
November 1997) is a luminous
re-examination of the traditional
New York brownstone. And
now the weekend place they
have created in Long Island is a
modern comment on Thoreaus
romantic, strange
Rousseauesque experiment with
living in his primitive hut at
Walden Pond very American.
The new house is anything but
primitive, but it does sit next to
a large natural pond surrounded
by woods, and has views of the
distant sea. Designed for a New
York family which has never
owned a house before, it is
intended to be a place of peace
and quiet, where parents can, if
they want, live a life almost
completely isolated from their
grown-up children (and vice
versa). In the centre of the plan,
the kitchen is the physical and
metaphorical hub of the place.
To its south is the dining-room,
and to the north is the more
lofty sitting area, all enclosed in a
simple rectangular plan. Two
wings, connected to the central
rectangle by glazed passages,
make separate zones for parents
and children, very much in the
way advocated over 30 years ago
by Alexander and Chermeyeff in
Community and Privacy. Each wing
can be more or less
autonomous, and each room has
a different view and direct access
to the lawns and strongly
scented local pines.
As the principal space, the
sitting area has a big fireplace
clad in split New York blue-
stone; beyond it are views of the
HO U SE, LO N G ISLAN D,
NE WYO RK, USA
AR CH I T ECT
TO D WI LLI AM S, BI LLI E TSI E N
6
Kitchen is symbolic heart of house.
7
Cherrywood stairs to
8
study balcony over kitchen
and dining area
9
which overlooks
10
living room, focused on symbolic
stone hearth.
6 7 9
8
10
site plan
46 | 9
HO U SE, LO N G ISLAN D,
NE WYO RK, USA
AR CH I T ECT
TOD WI LLI AM S, BI LLI E TSI E N
lake and woods. Much of this
place derives its atmosphere
from the warmth of the built-in
cherrywood furniture, which
develops into a study balcony
up in the clerestory level over
the kitchen. The tray of space
is reached by a short flight of
stairs that grows out of the
cupboards and shelves.
At first sight, the house seems
to be made almost entirely of
wood. From the west, the path
wanders up past the garden hut
(a most elegant affair, made as a
sort of detached part of the
house) to a rather severe front
boarded in cedar the scent of
the planks complements the
aroma of the pines. This rather
defensive side is relieved by the
glass link containing the main
door between the childrens
wing and the main central
rectangle. Everything (including
the detached hut) is kept in
order and united by a dark,
deep laminated cornice beam
covered in patinated copper,
which runs round the whole of
the complex plan.
On the other side, the house
opens to the views. Williams
and Tsien clearly wanted the
place to be a wooden structure,
but could not refrain from
dissolving the corners as glued
glass joints. Slender steels are
sometimes hidden in the timber
posts, and the clerestory has
metal rather than wooden
mullions. The unusual mixture
of steel, timber and glass is
allowed to set up its own logic.
Every detail is precisely
considered and beautifully
executed. Every view is
cherished and enhanced. The
place is a sensuous triumph.
M. S.
11
Details are considered with rigour
so as not to put barriers between
inside and out.
12
Dissolved glass corners do not
actually have thin metal mullion
glued joints in double glazing give
the impression.
13, 14
One of the calmest moments:
master bathroom and its associated
decked court.
11
12
14 13
Ar c h i tec t
Tod Williams, Bi llie Tsien
& Associates
Project architect
Peter Arnold
Structural engineer
Severud Associates
Ph o to gr ap h s
Michael Moran

You might also like