Long Island Homes We Love

The open-plan living-kitchen-dining area is a repository of design icons, both classic and contemporary. There’s a Louis Poulsen pendant lamp over the Eero Saarinen dining table; Mirror Ball pendants by Tom Dixon over the kitchen counter; and Tab F1 floor lamps from Flos behind the Edward Wormley–designed Dunbar sofa. In the living room, chairs modeled on Jens Risom’s swivel design enable people to face either the sofa or to spin 180 degrees toward the kitchen.

The site-sensitive exterior belies an interior festooned with a kaleidoscopic mix of colors and an array of tactile materials. The Peter rug, Malibu sofa, and ceramics are Adler’s own designs. The tables, pendant lights, and rocker are vintage. Adler and Doonan used scaffolding from the house’s construction to build the bookshelf.

Inside, the kitchen, dining and living areas are separated by breezeway from the master suite and the children’s bedrooms. “It’s small,” Cary said. “I wanted to design it, but not architect it.” Courtesy Architects and Artisans.

The house is assembled, rather than built, with a prefabricated foundation, concrete panel siding and efficient built-ins, minimizing construction debris and toxins such as concrete foundation tar on the site.

When architect Nick Martin was hired to rework an art curator’s Hamptons property into a Zen-like getaway from the big city, he took an appropriately holistic view. It’s the beach house that’s got it all: green technology; passive solar design; rich materials; an expansive feeling, despite a petite half-acre corner lot; and a design concept that references its humble beginnings as an off-the-rack kit house.

Inside, the slim cedar boards wrap the walls horizontally, a visual trick that seemingly expands the home’s petite footprint.