Landscape deeply informs the structure and layout of the residence to such an extent that it was designed around existing cedar trees and water views. Given the discrete microclimates that characterize Cape Cod’s ecosystem, the residence is visually altered by subtle shifts in weather, and points the interior spaces toward those outward-facing transformations.

Stage modeling is at the heart of the Great Island Residence’s layout. Taking Joseph Urban’s unidentified set design model as an inspiration for the spatial reinterpretation of traditional cottage structures, the “stage” pulls four central rooms away from the perimeter of the building. By insulating these rooms while providing a porousness to the environment just beyond the perimeter, the space becomes a theatrical set apart from the exterior façade.

This contemporary adaption of a cottage presents a hybrid model that combines discrete rooms with an open floorplan; it provides a quiet and focused central living space while connecting residents with the beauty of the Cape and woods just outside. At the center of the structure a cross axis runs from sea to garden, allowing long vistas along the length of the residence at either end.

One of the most distinctive features of the Great Island Residence is the wainscot that runs throughout the structure. The wood is both part of the vernacular history and re-thought. Now rendered as sculpturally dimensional the paneling runs to shallow peaks on a sine curve line running from front to the rear of house. Behind the undulating walls are hidden storage areas that support daily life: coats, tools, and building systems along with china, glasses, and tableware.

The rooms in the original residence functioned as singular worlds, with hallways providing passage between unique spaces; an idea which stems from Victorian notions of leisure and individualized activities. The new iteration blends contained areas into a broader building footprint creating long vistas while poché spaces throughout the structure are filled with critical building systems and storage.

Inspired by the history of the fishing industry and boatbuilding around Cape Cod, the wainscot is cut at an angle, creating a ruled surface that alters not only how light bounces off of it, but how it shifts the overall sensation of color within the residence. Light shifts in a wavelike fashion across the wainscot, which thus produces a volumetric effect from a planar surface.

The house is full of shifting colors borrowed from the exterior landscape as it changes over the course of the day and seasons. The careful choice of materials enhances brilliance of light creating a canvas for saturated hues. By using reflection against dark and shiny materials, natural color permeates certain parts of the residence, while light matte materials elsewhere render surfaces airy and muted.

The porch room offers another nod to the history of the house and its residents—serving as a literal means of cultivating a landscape within the residence itself. Ivy, ferns, and moss grow directly out of the floor in acknowledgement of the current resident’s great-grandfather who grew an ivy garden inside the house a hundred years ago.