The Conanicut Island House is located on a two-acre lot on the Atlantic Coast. The house is grounded in both an elderly client’s personal history as well as the tradition of the region’s architecture. Historic New England buildings provide inspiration in both their structural design and their taut, planar surface treatments.
To meet requirements for total accessibility, this 5,000-square-foot single story house is set atop a low plinth. The program is realized through individual structures bound by a single structural foundation and flooring level; these structures include a pool house, carport, guest house/artist studio, main house, and gardens. The primary dwelling is further divided into discrete spaces for the kitchen, bathrooms, and bedroom. These spaces are expressed volumetrically, extending the idea of a building for each program element housed in the interior. The net result is a series of houses within and beside each other, forming a campus-like home.
Each “house” is comprised of the same set of three elemental building components—structure, envelope, and roof—and each component is itself rendered as a variation on a fundamental palette of materials. Components and materials are reconfigured to meet and express the different functional requirements of the various units that make up the larger house.
