0115 | Westerly RI
Located in Westerly, RI and overlooking a salt pond and the Atlantic Ocean this newly constructed home is a balance of form and function. The tight, triangular site, coastal restrictions and local zoning dictated the general size and shape of the plan and a desire to accommodate a summer’s worth of visitors pushed the house up three stories. To bring a sense of order and proportional harmony to the design the architect employed the Golden Section, a Renaissance-era proportioning system with its roots in the natural world to help organize the spaces and views throughout the house.
The general layout of the home is the classic “upside down house” with bedrooms on the first floor where it is cooler at night, living areas on the second floor to capture the day’s cooling breezes and expansive views and a private master suite on the third floor. Large expanses of glass, exterior porches and decks at all three levels work to blur the distinction between inside and out and overhangs provide a mix of shaded porches and sunny areas.
Custom details are used throughout the home’s interior and exterior to give it a distinct individualized character. All the crown moldings and casings inside and out are custom designed by the architect just for this house. The custom stairway’s newel posts are meant to recall the turnings found on ships and the brackets found on the waterside and cupola allude to Victorian detailing.
The treatment of the home’s exterior clearly draws its influence from historical New England structures by using time-proven elements like warm red cedar shingle siding to the traditional divided lite windows and a standing seam copper roof. It is grounded back to the earth with heavy stone walls meant to recall the native stone walls found throughout South County. These traditional elements are purposely contrasted with a much more contemporary approach to the homes form: the copper barrel vaulted roof, large expanses of curved glass walls and a cupola-topped tower all rendering a home with its roots in the past but clearly designed of our time.
The general layout of the home is the classic “upside down house” with bedrooms on the first floor where it is cooler at night, living areas on the second floor to capture the day’s cooling breezes and expansive views and a private master suite on the third floor. Large expanses of glass, exterior porches and decks at all three levels work to blur the distinction between inside and out and overhangs provide a mix of shaded porches and sunny areas.
Custom details are used throughout the home’s interior and exterior to give it a distinct individualized character. All the crown moldings and casings inside and out are custom designed by the architect just for this house. The custom stairway’s newel posts are meant to recall the turnings found on ships and the brackets found on the waterside and cupola allude to Victorian detailing.
The treatment of the home’s exterior clearly draws its influence from historical New England structures by using time-proven elements like warm red cedar shingle siding to the traditional divided lite windows and a standing seam copper roof. It is grounded back to the earth with heavy stone walls meant to recall the native stone walls found throughout South County. These traditional elements are purposely contrasted with a much more contemporary approach to the homes form: the copper barrel vaulted roof, large expanses of curved glass walls and a cupola-topped tower all rendering a home with its roots in the past but clearly designed of our time.
Country: United States
