8 Modern Hamptons Homes Buck Convention

The Houses at Sagaponac, a community of 32 modern homes, was intended for 70 acres in the Hamptons, New York. It railed against the bloated pseudohistorical structure of much of the Hamptons, with the notion of offering compact homes on small websites for approximately $300,000. The project was launched in 2001 by developer Harry “Coco” Brown with architect Richard Meier, who had been responsible for the master plan. But four years after, Brown expired, and the economy hit bottom, at which time only six of the 32 homes were completed or under construction. The homes grew in size and cost, but they still were modest compared with many of the massive homes in the area.

I recently drove into the Houses at Sagaponac to find out what had been realized and that which could be filling in the gaps. My photographs highlight the completed buildings (currently numbering eight), an extremely dense group of modern residential architecture for Long Island — or anyplace.

John Hill

In 2011 the new partners in the endeavor ditched Brown’s modern ideals, allowing buyers to employ their own architects and also create whatever kinds of homes they wanted, rather than choosing from the completed modern home plans by architects like Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, or Reiser + Umemoto. What resulted were homes like the one on the bottom in this picture, traditional in style, taller and about twice as large as the one above it — 6,000 square feet, as opposed to 3,000.

Part of the shift from modern to traditional can be attributed to the housing market and also a wider preference for traditional styles, but the reduction of the job’s heart is a large portion of it. Contemporary architecture has often required strong patrons willing to take risks, and with no Brown the driveway to complete the vision disappeared.

Click photos to view as a slideshow

John Hill

Brown was able to buy up the 70 acres which would include his eyesight for less than $2 million, hardly any cash for the area. Part of this is due to the land’s proximity to the East Hampton Airport, but the noise of airplanes has not defeated the 6,000-square-foot and larger homes in traditional styles from being constructed. So what the developer and his architect had been going for was a gimmick of sorts which would not only question the bloated homes but also create a modern enclave one of the few existing residences in the area. The site design shown here, which will be on a sign at the development’s main intersection, illustrates the initial ambition: the modern Houses at Sagaponac are in orange, and existing homes are in purple.

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And here are the eight homes which were constructed between 2004 and 2010, explained next.

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Contrary to the urban contexts I’ve explored in Chicago and Toronto, in which modern homes rub shoulders with older homes, the Houses at Sagaponac are removed from the street and from their neighbors. Although they are fairly hidden from the street by trees, a variety of the homes present blank walls on this most public of sides. This home by New York City’s Smith-Miller + Hawkinson definitely functions in that vein, opting for much more openness on the back of each side of the L in the plan.

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An even more facing front is found just east of the S-M+H home. New York architect Annabelle Selldorf’s design is similar to a walled-off courtyard that is softened only by the bending driveway; that component tries to add privacy with a dense planting of fir trees.

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Across the street from the previous two homes is a gratifying home created by sisters Gisue and Mojgan Hariri, also located in New York City. Like S-M+H, they used an L-shaped plan to cradle the private garden space; both homes have facades covered with timber, blending into the built and natural circumstance. Massive windows admit light and perspectives through each leg of the L, but operable metallic shutters provide privacy as well as safety once the owners are away. (It’s possible that these and other homes in the Hamptons sit empty more days of the year than full.)

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A few lots over in the Hariri sisters’ home is one made by Shigeru Ban with New York’s Dean Maltz. Very little of the home can be viewed in the street. (This blurry photo is my attempt to take an architectural paparazzi shot over the good gate — surprisingly, it’s the only gate in the development.) The design is understood to be simple boxes with radiating arms which specify spaces within the landscape; one of those arms reaches toward the street across the edge of their driveway.

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A common characteristic among the Houses at Sagaponac is that they’re rather low to the ground. This means that they might occupy much more of the landscape than a taller home of the same area, but they could also be shaped to function with existing trees. New York City’s Calvin Tsao and Zach McKown made a home that is taller than the other designs, something jarring at first glance. Nevertheless its plan is quite compact, which makes the building look like a cube. Next to the tall trees, it still seems fairly modest.

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Near the cube house is a low-slung courtyard home designed by Henry Cobb, who’s a spouse with I.M. Pei at Pei Cobb Freed in New York City. This is another means of creating private outdoor area, one which allowed many trees to be saved and to eventually become part of their day-to-day experience here.

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Across the street in the Henry Cobb home is one made by Stan Allen, until recently the dean of Princeton University’s architecture school. Two volumes are linked by a second-floor bridge, partly visible here. The form of the home is very interesting, since it reaches up to catch sunlight through clerestories. As with other homes in the development, wood siding helps the modern form mix in the context.

John Hill

Last is the Latest home, made by John Keenen and Terence Riley, who practice in Nyc and Miami. It is located next door to Allen’s home, and is similar in that it includes a plan split into two parts. Here, however, they’re wholly unique buildings — the main house and pool home confront each other at angles across a courtyard. Again, we see the way the freedom of the modern approach reduces the plan’s impact on the website, more so when combined with the (relatively) small house sizes.

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