This is the private small house located in Amagansett, New York and was designed by Bates Masi Architects. In many ways, a small house can be more luxurious than a large one because of the casual simplicity it affords. The owners of this little retreat in the dunes appreciated the lifestyle their quirky but comfortable weekend house provided for many years but its flows need correcting. Space was tight for their growing family, areas of the structure were sagging, and large expanses of glass admitted too much direct sunlight. Also, the form of the house, a series of boxes and turrets, was somewhat awkward looking.

The challenge in this major renovation and addition on a restricted site was to add space and amenities while simplifying the form and function of the house into a balanced whole that fit within the owners busy lives. The added spaces tie the house together visually and structurally. The new bedroom and bath on the second floor fills a void in the original composition and takes advantage of the spectacular views of the surrounding dunes.

The south wall of this bedroom is a sliding glass door that opens onto a new dock and views of the ocean beyond. The roof cantilevers past the door to form a sunshade that stretches, ribbon-like, past the existing, aster bedroom windows and down to a new storage closet on the first floor.

This ribbon visually knits the addition and the existing house together creating a simpler whole. The roof of the bedroom also extends to the west, forming part of the frame for a new screen that addresses the house’s structural and sun lighting problems while giving the house its appealing new public face. The screen within is comprised of 16’ long vertical boards heated and twisted 180 degrees.

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