Brooklyn based studio Worrell Young He updated a historic New York property with a series of gabled Various buildings wood Finishes and details.
the studio Recently commissioned, renovated and expanded North Salem farm home and studio on 8.7 acres in Westchester County, NY.
The project measures 6,585 square feet (610 square metres) and “continues the studio’s interest in expressing architectural scale through the simplification of elements,” said Worrell Young.
The main house was originally a dairy barn. The studio demolished and expanded the 4,650-square-foot (430 m) rectangular house into an L-shaped plan with staggered ceilings. Worrell Yeung also added a garage and a freestanding studio; and a single-slope spa shed, each with its own physical treatment.
Dressed in a dark metal roof and cypress tree painted dark green in a variegated pattern, the main house references and updates agricultural vernacular.
Studio co-founder Jejon Yeung said the house’s layered gabled forms participate in the site, interact with each other, and frame the interior spaces.
One side features dormers while the other features large windows that direct the interior spaces towards the adjacent pond.
Inside, the vaulted common space is open from one end to the other. Studio collaboration with Silman Construction To enlarge the exposed rafters, blending them with the timber gables and accentuating the steel tie bars.
“Douglas Vere’s exposed rafters continue our interest in the details of complex, sophisticated systems that require ingenuity and collaboration but look so simple,” said co-founder Max Worrell.
The living area features a blackwood cabinet wall and soapstone fireplace that contrasts with the kitchen’s zinc island and Douglas Fir millwork.
Other spaces are a mix of wood treatments and colors, including dark red; wire-clad cypress walls in the powder room, terracotta-and-blue tile floors in the bathrooms; and slate-coloured ceramic tiles and bold black wood screens.
The home has five bedrooms—three on the main floor and two smaller rooms upstairs—that look out onto the surrounding landscape through minimal black-framed windows.
Downstairs, the original 19th-century stone foundation serves as wall covering for the communal basement.
A photography studio and garage are located near the main house and are connected by a sheltered central entrance.
“The studio portion of the building is lined with Douglas Fir plywood and magnetic walls, and contains open plan storage, an integrated workstation, a sleeping loft, and a bathroom,” said the architecture studio.
East of the main house, connected by a crushed gravel path, is a white, half-gable spa shed. A gray, polished cypress rain screen covers the small foyer that houses the hot tub and sauna.
“As the program on the site grew, we continued to play with the typical gabled shape,” Worrell said. “The garage/studio has similar detailing and finishes from the outside to the main house, but we wanted to diversify and complement the material palette for the third structure.”
“We didn’t want the monotonous experience of going from one shady building to another,” Young said. “Generally, we read group buildings as closely related siblings — like cousins.”
Similarly, Worrell Yeung designed the Contemporary black clad barn in the Hudson River Valley. The studio has also recently completed Lake house with cascading cantilevers in Connecticut.
Photography by Naho Kubota.
Project credits:
structural engineer: Worrell Young (Jaejun Young, Max Worrell, Yunchao Lee, Cohen Hudson, Brian Cordova)
Interior/FFE: Worrell Young
landscape architecture: raft
Promoter Consultant: Larry Weiner Landscape Associates
Structural Engineer: Silman
civil engineer: Computer engineers on site
MEP Engineer: Altieri Sibur Weber LLC
Creator: L&L Builders, Belmont Land Design