Stage Right
An actor's creek-side house in Noyack, New York unfolds as the perfect setting for rest and relax.
Morning light. A house sits in a clearing, nestled against the surrounding tall forest.
BEDROOM. A man stirs in his bed. Through the open windows at the end of the room, the man, half awake, peers at the luscious crowns of the trees outside. A moment later, he gets up, slides open the bedroom door, walks past a curtain of steel cables along a bridge corridor, bypasses the bathroom (cool in its palette of white and turquoise) and goes down the flight of dark, wood-decked stairs.
KITCHEN. In the modern, open-plan kitchen, he puts the coffee on the stove, and humming a tune, prepares food at the open kitchen counter. He steps outside through glass doors to the left of the kitchen, and sits down on the creek-side deck for breakfast.
So the plot begins - poetically, quietly, except all of this is not quite staged, but a real house in Noyack, Suffolk County. To suggest that the house is like a set is hardly a stretch, considering how picture perfect the property is, not to mention it belongs to a New York actor too.
Wanting to turn a narrow lot fronting the tidal estuary of Noyack Creek into a private retreat for relaxation and casual entertaining, the actor roped in Harry Bates and Paul Masi of Bates Masi Architects for the job. With over 40 years of experience working in eastern Long Island, the architects are no strangers to the kind of design New Yorkers looking for that bit of suburban escape want.
The multi-award-winning practice, famous for injecting modern but also sensitive vernacular into even the most rural settings, comes to each project uniquely. And for their man who treads the boards, they have deliberately created a residence that unravels as a spatial drama. They call it an "architectural theatre - a series of spaces in a carefully scripted sequence that subtly reflects his professional life."
It all starts from outside, with the two-storey house's façade clad in dark resin siding, hinting at references to black box theatre. Comprised of Skatelite, the siding resin panel is water-jet cut with tight joints in areas demanding privacy and loosely spaced in other areas to admit light and air. The doorway is pushed to one side, where a perforated screen gives privacy, but also answers the need for light and ventilation. This screen slides apart - a gesture that references the drawing of stage curtains - to reveal the loft-like living and dining spaces within.
The mood of the house is relaxed, with flooring made up of deck boards that impart the requisite warmth and casualness of getaway homes. The boards are laid in sets in different directions to demarcate the various spaces of the sitting, cooking and eating areas. These floorboards finally emerge seamlessly to an exterior waterside deck - an alfresco area that opens up fully to native creekside vegetation.
Designed as an entertaining area too, the deck features a broad staircase that not only leads up to the second level, but being wide-set, also acts as tiered seating perfect setup for admiring the water view beyond. Interestingly, this stairs parallels an interior stair just a glazed wall away. Beneath the stairs, hidden "backstage" for maximum privacy, a guest room shares the water view through a nearly hidden sliding door. Guests emerge from their room, the architects describe, as if through a trap door - and out towards the great nature.
The house's theatrical references extend to the second floor, where a bridge connects the master suite and the bathroom on ends. Lined on one side with a railing and the other with a curtain guardrail of stainless steel cables, this bridge recalls a fly loft and catwalk. But these theatrical gestures, whether to lead you to vantage points or turn guests into an audience before a great view, really only serve one purpose - to set the stage for the perfect creek-side holiday.
Text by Yvonne Xu
Images courtesy of Bates Masi Architects