Architect Peter Cohen's Floor Plans
-
Maison Amtrak, Peter and Saly Cohen's home, is the latest of five spine and module houses he's designed. Clipping rooms, decks and the garage onto a central spine makes Cohen's designs high adaptable to different sites.
-
The lower level of Maison Amtrak has two studies, storage space and houses the mechanical equipment for the house. The two bathrooms upstairs are directly over the mechanical services, keeping cost and noise down.
-
There is a precipitous drop off the deck at Maison Amtrak, though the sloping site meant that either serious excavation or a bit of caution would be needed. The Cohens opted to play it safe, and have a planter of red geraniums that guard the edge of the deck.
-
The first spine and module house Peter Cohen designed was this one in 1961 meant for a family in Rochester, New York.
-
In this house the spine is more of a T-shape than a long corridor. Nonetheless the rooms clamp on to each side with a small terrace out of one room.
-
This elevation photo of the same house from 1961 shows Cohen's fascination with clean, vertical lines and the influence of Japanese design has had on his work.
-
Viewed from above, the 1961 house appears to be three volumes rising up out of the central T. The terrace provides a counterpoint to the larger rectangular rises of the top floor.
-
This small cottage in Corea, Maine, was designed in 1991 as a seaside getaway for a couple. Here the central spine is a long corridor, another variant on Cohen's flexible system.
-
The south elevation in Cohen's illustration looks like an agglomeration of building blocks, and the slated roofs which do so much to counteract the weight of a Maine snowload remind one of Robert Venturi's Vanna Venturi house.
-
This cottage was designed as a summer home in Sorrento, Maine. Cohen says of the property, "Their site was a marvelous sloping, wooded property on the shores of Frenchman Bay facing westerly. One view caught a glimpse of Cadillac Mountain, the other of a small island."
-
The house was not completed to Cohen's specifications though, and later when he ran into his former client, he told him sympathetically, "Peter, your wonderful house how looks like someone left a Hershey bar on a radiator."
-
The central spine of this 1986 design, also overlooking the ocean in Maine, is more like the one of Maison Amtrak, a boomerang-esque angle. The house was "symmetrical with a bedroom flanking each end, a Japanese farmhouse shaped roof, and my spine, containing entry, kitchen and bathroom long the inland side."
Categories:
More
The Right Track
With nearly a half century of architectural experience, Peter Cohen designed this ingenious spine-and-module home for him and his wife Sally in the coastal forests just outside Ellsworth, Maine.
Best Houses in New England
As the Northeast braces for one of the worst storms in memory, we can't help but remember (and hope for the best for) all the fantastic houses we've featured in New England.
Architects' Homes for their Parents
It comes at no surprise that some of the most famous architects' early commissions were for their parents. Who better to encourage their experimental ideas?
Worth the Wait
On an island 20 miles off the coast of Maine, a writer, with the help of his daughter, built not only a room but an entire green getaway of his own.
Add comment