Golden Age

A contemporary home nods to traditional forms to offer light, space and high ambition in New England

- Pei-Ru Keh

The tonier parts of the American East Coast, grand houses and estates set in lush green or on rugged coastline, is the stuff of literary legend. In one particularly quiet New England bay, a recently completed private residence by the Tucson-based architecture firm Studio Rick Joy cuts a distinctive figure with its contemporary interpretation of the region’s architectural tradition.

Situated just 150ft back from a private beach and orientated around the view of the curving bay, the studio’s single-storey creation is a statuesque refuge with a solid, white granite exterior. A sloping, trapezoidal roof lends it a commanding geometry, while also nodding to the local saltbox typology that was designed to withstand rain, wind and snow. The house’s stoic volume is punctuated by a series of recessed windows of mixed proportions and depths, which seem almost carved out of the stone. On the house’s south-eastern side, a screened-in porch, with retractable windows on two fronts, brings the stonemasonry indoors, creating a dynamic yet shielded bridge between the building and nature.