By the architectural standards of Southampton, New York—where magnificent old piles built by Yankee blue bloods and extravagant contemporary mansions constructed by moguls of finance and industry are perched along one of Long Island’s toniest beaches—entrepreneur J. Christopher Burch’s house is a modest affair. Most buyers in this community would likely have torn down the ranch-style structure, which clocks in at 6,000 square feet, and replaced it with an imposing Georgian Revival or Shingle Style residence, replete with pomp and pergolas. But its unassuming character suited Burch, the founder and CEO of Burch Creative Capital and the man behind the retro-preppy lifestyle retailer C. Wonder. “I didn’t want anything too grand,” he says. “I wanted it to feel more like a cottage than an estate.” Modifications, however, were necessary to bring the place up to snuff—namely streamlining the awkward floor plan and upgrading the surfaces. New Jersey architectural designer Marina Lanina stripped the building down to its wood frame and reconfigured the interior, more or less hewing to the original footprint save for an expanded kitchen at the rear. Lanina, who honed her skills in the office of interior designer David Kleinberg, also added guest quarters above the attached garage and, at the opposite end of the home, constructed a second-floor master suite. Bridgehampton-based landscape designer Joseph Tyree recast the 2.75-acre grounds with, among other touches, a charming parterre garden that is visible from the master bedroom’s small balcony. The getaway exhibits the spirited, all-American styling of C. Wonder, but the brand’s candied hues are toned down. “I didn’t really want to do my stuff in the house,” Burch says, adding that he began the renovation before launching C. Wonder in 2011 with a flagship store in Manhattan. The residence is instead New York interior designer Christopher Maya’s interpretation of his client’s somewhat eccentric taste, which Burch himself describes as “a very quirky sense of classicism.” The decorator’s first meeting with the entrepreneur was inspiration enough. “Chris was sitting in the conference room with colleagues, a pink Hermès scarf wrapped around his head. I thought, This is going to be fun,” Maya recalls. The designer soon set about conjuring schemes for each room of the dwelling, aiming for an inviting, energetic atmosphere reflective of Burch’s playful personality. Every inch of molding and trim gleams with pristine lacquerlike finishes. To offset that snappy sheen, some walls are papered in grass cloth, while others are meticulously upholstered with boldly patterned fabrics. The colors are lively—Carolina-blue in the master bedroom, buttery yellow in a guest room—and the overall ambience is light and relaxed. “A lot of houses in the Hamptons are so formal, it’s like being in a Park Avenue apartment,” Maya says. “I thought the house should be fun—when guests walk in, they should feel right away like they’re about to have a fantastic weekend.” Cerused-oak floors, sisal carpets, and the occasional rattan armchair further the casual vibe. The oak-paneled library is as sober as it gets, but an apple-green sofa and a Billy Baldwin slipper chair clad in a peridot-green leopard print leaven the mood. Accenting the room is a striking etching of an owl with its wings spread wide; it is one of several artworks by Walton Ford that Burch had purchased before the project started and which turned out to fit right in with the palette Maya conceived. Burch also asked the designer to incorporate some furniture from a line the investor has developed for No. 9 Christopher, a lifestyle concept store he plans to open in Manhattan next year. Maya customized the pieces, including painting a Jansen-inspired desk in brilliant royal blue and an Asian-style cocktail table in a brash Dick Tracy–yellow. “The house is a little electric in spots, but I’m not scared of color,” says Burch, who sums up the place in his typically punchy style: “It’s cool. It’s small. It’s very happy.”

This bedroom and full bathroom are part of an adventuresome project my wife and I embarked upon to create a complete apartment in the basement of our townhouse. We designed a floor plan that creatively and efficiently used all of the 385-square-foot-space, without sacrificing beauty, comfort or function – and all without breaking the bank! To maximize our budget, we did the work ourselves and added everything from thrift store finds to DIY wall art to bring it all together. A partial double closet bar adds a little extra space while still leaving room for longer hanging clothes.

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m.o.r.e. Cabin The paradigmatic North American cottage is romanticized as a wilderness log cabin. Nonetheless, typical cottages are “woodsy” versions of suburban homes with every modern convenience. These buildings sustain the myth that appearing to be one with the land equates to a reduced impact on the environment. The m.o.r.e. Cabin inverts this idea through a separation from the landscape that is more sustainably constructed than other cottages. This unravelling of eco-fictions is not cynical, but optimistic: while organic environments are being degraded, what remains can be engaged more responsibly. To this end, m.o.r.e. Cabin touches the land lightly through: - Interpreting the law creatively to uphold its principles. - Reducing foundation size through a steel mast. - Low-waste cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure. - Achieving greater tensile strength through a “folded” structure. - Off-grid power and high-efficiency heating. - Creating a home for endangered bats. Interpreting the Law with Finesse Zoning rules required a 100-foot (30-metre) setback from the lake. A cliff face at that 100-foot mark was incorporated into the design, whereas conventional construction approaches would entail blasting. To minimize harm to the hillside and forest, a zoning variance was obtained to allow the front of m.o.r.e. Cabin to hover above, rather than sit on, the 100-foot (30-metre) mark. The Mast The technical solution to the environmental issue involved a single concrete footing and a steel “mast” placed within the required setback. Avoiding a conventional large foundation preserved the watershed and prevented erosion, as did elevating the construction zone. Use of carbon-intensive concrete was also reduced for a lower carbon footprint. m.o.r.e. Than One Way to Skin a Home m.o.r.e. Cabin is built with suitably-sourced CLT panels and glulam beams. The CLT was milled offsite then hoisted into place, avoiding damage to the landscape by the maneuvering of construction machinery. Cabin-as-Beam m.o.r.e. Cabin’s environmental considerations yielded structural innovation. Our challenge became to develop a structural strategy using cantilevered CLT panels as a response to the zoning variance that we obtained; CLT is fundamentally deployed in vertical/compressive sections, not horizontally in tension. Conventional 5-ply CLT is too heavy to support itself over longer spans. The solution used thinner 3-ply CLT, with structural capacity ensured through “folding” (just like paper gains strength when folded). Off-Grid The home is solar-powered. The elevated cottage catches more breezes and has excellent cross-ventilation. Heat is provided by a high-efficiency “green carbon” wood stove. Good R-value and thermal comfort are provided by CLT’s mass, and precise joinery provides air-tightness. Inviting Over the Neighbours One goal of the home was to create extensive lodging for endangered brown bats. Bat pods were integrated into the mast to provide safety from climbing predators and a clear flight path to the lake. *“m.o.r.e.” stands for the clients’ grandmothers’ names; all of whom did more with less — and gracefully so.

Budget Blinds blackout roller shades, photo credit installer Adam Brannick
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The ground floor volumes wrapped in an elongated hand-fired brick, emphasizing the horizontality of the architecture that lays solidly on the land. (Photography by: Matthew Millman)

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