Exterior

While the facade favors privacy, clear cedar was used on the entryway to create a warmer welcome.

The exterior features natural slate cladding and massive floor-to-ceiling Marvin windows on the east side to take advantage of the home’s views of the rolling terrain. The tongue-and-groove clear cedar accents are used between the windows to make them a single mass and “warm up and bring some accents to the house,” says Nate.

The sprawling 5,200-square-foot residence by The Up Studio is sited in a fairly secluded and densely-wooded area of Old Westbury, New York, surrounded by mature oak and maple trees. The home’s front facade—with undulating gables and long, winding entry—is undeniably cinematic. In contrast to the traditionally-influenced front, the rear of the home embraces a more modern design sensibility. Rotated perpendicularly, the L-shaped configuration and wall of windows from Marvin maximizes natural light flowing into the home, and encourages unobstructed sightlines from the interior to the lush landscape outside.

The site and existing driveway were minimally disturbed while relocating the garage and opening up the horizontal sight lines.

Techo-Bloc’s Industria 600 x 100 pavers in Greyed Nickel add a refined rhythm to this circular patio that punctuates a vast expanse of grass on the edge of a lake. The regularity of the gridded tiles and the perfectly formed circle are pleasingly juxtaposed by the rough-hewn stone firepit.

After: The front porch feels fresh and streamlined with a new unfinished wood door and minimal railings.

Building in the countryside presents problems enough; building on a remote Scottish island multiplies them. But Tiree has form for award-winning architecture. A ferry shelter-cum-art installation was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2003. Then, in 2014, Murray Kerr of Denizen Works rebuilt one of the tumbledown black Hebridean houses for his parents and won the Stephen Lawrence Prize. The three volumes of the house are linked by a glazed-roofed atrium, but they are separately expressed: the original house a black pitch-roofed, white-rendered stone building, the two new elements have corrugated agricultural cladding that look the part. Yet inside all is cosy warmth provided by an air-source heat pump. Collectively they are corralled like farm animals hunched together against the weather. Marco Goldschmied described it as ‘an intelligent and witty response to the function and logistical challenges of location, orientation and isolation.’ He was right.

Though the house was expanded in back to make room for a new bedroom and extended living room, there was still plenty of room for a patio and terraced outdoor space.

"The site has lush vegetation dotted with mature live oak trees, and Sarah is a gifted gardener who keeps the yard beautiful,

The new screen porch provides a bright, airy space for the family.

The four panels of aquamarine and green look like a work of art.

“I just wanted the kitchen to disappear,” says Gail, of the room’s neutral design, which ensures it blends into the flooring and white-painted wall of the courtyard.

Treat walls and the ground as a canvas. This graphic abstract was created with Techo-Bloc’s Travertina Raw slab in Ivory and Rock Garden Brown. The earthy tones complement the texture of the slab, which echoes that of natural travertine with the stain-resistant attributes of Techo-Bloc’s Klean-Bloc factory-sealed technology.

This 4,080-square-foot house in Shoreline, Wahington was a former adult living facility, that has since been converted into a single-family home by Seattle firm SHED Architecture & Design. “The wall of glazing facing towards the West is still one of the most striking elements of the house,” says designer Rebecca Marsh, so it was key that any redesign maintain its integrity.