Wave Hello

On a family property on Long Island Aerin Lauder oversees a new modernist getaway that takes full advantage of the views.

-  Max Berlinger

In 2012, a small cottage in the Hamptons owned by the Lauder family-descendants of the pioneering cosmetics entrepreneur Estée-was tragically destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. It left a void, to be sure, but also presented an opportunity to build something entirely new. Now they've constructed an unassuming aerie along an enchanting stretch of beach nestled between the ocean and a saltwater pond.

"It's really this magical indoor-outdoor beach pavilion," says Aerin Lauder, style and creative director of Estée Lauder and founder of the luxury lifestyle brand Aerin, speaking on behalf of the family. "It's a jewel box," she adds, a touch dreamily. "A jewel box in the dunes."

The replacement is elegantly restrained, just a 1,300-square-foot, low-slung, single-story, modernist structure. The facade is composed of sleek glass and vertically placed slats of sapele mahogany, which doubles as a rain screen. Despite the simplicity of form, there's a quiet splendor and romantic gravitas to the finished property, in no small part thanks to the way it embraces and integrates the untamed beauty of its natural surroundings. "It's arguably one of the nicest locations on eastern Long Island," says architect Michael Lomont, of the firm Stelle Lomont Rouhani, who designed the project with the family. "It's just spectacular."

It was impossible to compete with the view, Lomont adds. So he didn't. In fact, certain logistical requirements encouraged him to take maximum advantage of those meditative vistas, like updated flood codes that called for all livable space to be built at an elevation, resulting in ideal sight lines for the main living floor, which features 10-foot-tall floor-to-ceiling windows.