New McDonald
For Katie and Scott McDonald, moving into a Rhode Island family home meant recasting the previously renovated house as a sanctuary of peaceful, Japanese-inspired design.
Creative Direction
The arrowhead-shaped corner at the end of the living room evolved from the need to accommodate a standard sliding-glass-door module. “It would have been astronomically expensive to custom-build it,” says Chris Bardt. This architectural gesture— the arrow “points” toward the river—“enabled us to be very generous with the view area without having to extend the entire house.”Katie and Scott McDonald—she’s a self-described “holistic health coach and raw food chef”; he’s a psychiatrist—were living the architectural high life with their son, Sage, in Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1908 E. E. Boynton House in Rochester, New York. Alas, a desire to return to New England and inhabit a space that more actively incorporated the outdoors prevailed. “The 228 leaded-glass windows were beautiful, but they separated us from nature,” says Katie. Add to that the couple’s shared love of serene, clean interiors, and the McDonalds realized they were ready to exchange Wright’s inward-looking world of crafted ornament and heavy oak furniture for an Eastern-influenced, minimalist environment that embraced nature.
They purchased the house Katie’s parents had lived in for 22 years: a non-descript 1950s gambrel-roofed builder’s special on four bucolic acres in Saun-derstown, Rhode Island, a hamlet some 30 miles from Providence. “We didn’t want to add square footage,” says Katie, “but we wanted to capture the view [of the Narrow River],” which is best seen from the decks off the living room and master bedroom. They also desired a seamless, open floorplan where they could embrace their Far Eastern tastes.
Accordingly, 3six0 Architecture principals Chris Bardt and Kyna Leski, along with their senior associate Jack Ryan, removed the wall between the existing living and dining rooms. The three spaces (two old, one new) were combined into the McDonalds’ multipurpose zone, and a wall of river-facing glass sliders now frames the vista. They also converted the existing dining room into a library and enclosed its adjacent screened porch to create Katie’s office.
While keeping the square footage essentially the same, 3six0’s renovation turned the rambling structure’s complicated aggregation of Ls, angles, and rooms into what Katie calls “a healing sanctuary.”
Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!
Articles
-
Re:Crafted, by Marc Kristal
I finally got my hands on a copy of contributing editor Marc Kristal's lush new book, Re:Crafted: Interpretations of Craft in Contemporary Architecture and Interiors, which was published by the…
-
Piero Lissoni: Recent Architecture
Though the book Piero Lissoni: Recent Work came out from the German house Hatje Cantz last year, it just came across my desk yesterday. Though he's known perhaps firstly as an industrial designer…
-
Fresh Kills
This darkly-named destination is a repository for rare and elegant vintage furniture–it's the kind of place that offered Election Day discounts on sofa orders, and is documented by a…
Products
-
Raw Mirror
Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the rawest of them all? Designer Stanley Ruiz cut this birch plywood piece to expose the unique grain of the wood, while a leather strap suspends it from the wall…
-
Clivus Multrum Foam-Flush Toilet
Vitreous china bowl and water tank / Push-button flush / 3 ounces per flush
-
Purist Wading Pool Lavatory Sink
The shallow design and angular edges make this basin an ideal fixture for a powder room or any other diminutive space. It's available in an array of monochromatic tones.
Dwell Collections
-
The Bathroom Reinvented
Exploring everything from conceptual ideas about waterless toilets to just what it takes to integrate a greywater system into a residence, Dwell leads the conversation online about the future of…
-
A Look at Bathrooms
We combed through our archives to present this pictorial ode to one of the most high-traffic spaces in the house—the bathroom.
Videos
-
On Shelter Island
Husband-and-wife architecture team Yoshiko Sato and Michael Morris open the doors to their newly constructed home on Shelter Island in New York. The pair teamed up with Evans+Paul to fabricate a…
-
The Bathroom Reinvented
Industrial designer and London–based Dwell contributor Virginia Gardiner shares the ins and outs of her low-cost, low-tech concept for a waterless toilet system.
Events
-
Recent Acquisitions
"Recent Acquisitions" celebrates the ongoing addition of important works of art to the Menil Collection by gift, purchase, and bequest. While some of these works have been included in…
-
Fairfield Porter Raw: The Creative Process of an American Master
Fairfield Porter Raw: The Creative Process of an American Master, an exhibition of approximately forty works drawn from the Parrish Art Museum's extensive Porter holdings, will open Sunday, April…
-
Walking Tour: Cape Cod Modern Architecture
Visit the Cape Cod National Seashore to view the Modernist cottages. A chartered bus provides transportation for an exclusive tour by architect Peter McMahon, principal of PM Design, a firm…
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Related Products
-
Raw Mirror
by Stanley RuizMirror mirror on the wall, who's the rawest of…
-
Clivus Multrum Foam-Flush Toilet
Vitreous china bowl and water tank / Push-button…
-
Purist Wading Pool Lavatory Sink
The shallow design and angular edges make this…
Latest
-
05.23
The Making of Screenplay: Part 8
Jenny Wu, a partner at Oyler Wu Collaborative, documents the…
-
05.23
Veliero Shelving by Cassina
In 1940, architect Franco Albini made a single model of his…
-
05.23
ICFF 2012: Picks from Javits Center
This week we're digging deep into our favorites objets de…
Follow
Dwell
Reloading tweets…
Be the first to comment.
RSS Feed
Add a Comment