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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Austerlitz Residence : By Anmahian Winton Architects

Austerlitz, N.Y.
Anmahian Winton Architects

Post By:Kitticoon Poopong
via:archrecord--By Ingrid Spencer

Photo © Florian Holzherr
For busy Manhattanites, there’s nothing like escaping to a country retreat. And for celebrated food writer and Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl and her husband, television news producer Michael Singer, getting away means turning down the NYC volume and seeking refuge in their 2,500-square-foot weekend house on a 35-acre tract of land in the Berkshires, designed by Cambridge, Mass.-based architecture firm Anmahian Winton Architects.


Photo © Florian Holzherr
It’s a very simple home,” says Nick Winton, “meant for casual living and with an open plan and exposure to the landscape.” On a high plateau with dramatic views across the Hudson River Valley, the one-story, three-bedroom house is organized in a narrow plan that allows for simplified volumes and a high-performance parapet roof designed to hold, not shed, snow. “The house feels a lot like being on a ship,” says Reichl. “The fact that you can see through the house completely to the outside is wonderful. I often find myself getting up in the middle of the night and walking around with the lights off.”


Photo © Florian Holzherr 
The house has two primary sides, one of which is closed in with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and an entry “bridge” that penetrates the space. Across from the bookshelves, walls of glass expose the dramatic landscape framed by a stone terrace and the cantilevered roof. “From the house you’re actually looking down,” says Reichl, “so you can watch hawks playing on the breezes over the valley.”


Photo © Florian Holzherr
For Reichl, seeing the world outside her home is icing on the cake. While she envisioned “something like the Case Study House,” as a grand scheme, what she really wanted was to be connected with what was happening around the house, while not having to venture from her favorite place—the kitchen. “In every other house I’ve lived in I’ve always been in the kitchen away from friends and family, or we’ve all been gathered and cramped in the kitchen,” she says. “I wanted to solve that problem once and for all.” Winton took care of it. The core of this house is a single room that contains the living, library, and dining areas, all anchored by a horseshoe-shaped open kitchen, and brought together with the simple and elegant texture of maple wood. Off this large space is the master suite, which contains a bathroom that opens to a private garden and an outdoor shower.


Photo © Florian Holzherr 
While it’s usually the architect who brings a landscape architect to the clients’ attention, in this case Cambridge-based landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, a friend of Reichl and Singer, was the person who suggested Anmahian Winton for the job. According to Winton, working with the renowned landscape architect was a treat. “The exterior of the house is a stucco shaded to match the landscape—a bluestone dust,” he says. “Michael planted ivy which will consume these walls and blend the house and the landscape, which will be beautiful.” Van Valkenburgh also designed a steel and wood trellis for climbing wisteria. Reichl says that the inside/outside feel of the home really makes it special. “There’s a screened-in dining room with all the sights and sounds of nature, and none of the bugs in summer,” she says. “I love eating out there.”

Floor Plan
According to Reichl, this isn’t a house for “entertaining,” but a house for “having people over.” “Entertaining is too grand a word for us,” she says. “We’re out here every weekend, and our lives here are very relaxed. For us, the whole experience—driving the two hours on the beautiful Taconic parkway, shopping for produce at the local farm stands, then being here—is perfect for us.” Nearby, in the woods, Winton created separate 8 by 10-foot studios for both Reichl and Singer, which also serve as guest rooms when having people over means spending the night. “We had 21 people here for Thanksgiving,” laughs Reichl, “and somehow, 13 of them stayed overnight. It just works.”


Section

Gross square footage:
2,700 sq. ft.

the People
Owners
withheld
Architect
Anmahian Winton Architects
650 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02141
T: 617.577.7400
F: 617.577.7420
www.anmahian-winton.com
Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Nick Winton AIA
Alex Anmahian AIA
Munira Fleyfel
Engineer(s)
Richmond So
625 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
T: 617.868.7500
F: 617.868.7505
www.richmondso.com
Consultant(s)
Landscape:
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates 
18 East 17th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10003
T: 212.243.2506
F: 212.243.2016
www.mvvainc.com
General contractor:      
Quadresign
David Haust
Box 90
Chatham, NY 12037
T: 518.392.9008
www.quadresign.com

Photographer
Florian Holzherr
Clemensstraße 62
D-80803 München
tel wie fax +49 89 3007827
mobil +49 171 4533130
www.architekturfoto.net

CAD system, project management, or other software used
Vectorworks
www.nemetschek.net
Form Z
www.formz.com
 
the Products
Structural system
steel frame with wood in-fill
Exterior cladding
Concrete:
cast-in-place foundations
Wood:
African mahogany board siding
EIFS, ACM, or other:
stucco with integral pigment
Roofing
Elastomeric:
pvc membrane by Sarnafil
www.sarnafilus.com/
Metal
Lead coated copper coping and flashing
Windows
Wood:
mahogany window and door system by Duratherm
(fixed glass, lift and slide doors, entrance doors)
www.durathermwindow.com
Glazing
Glass:
tempered, insulated, low-e with ultraviolet protection
Doors
Entrances:
Duratherm
www.durathermwindow.com
Sliding doors:
Duratherm
www.durathermwindow.com
Hardware
Locksets:
Colombo design- Orion series;
www.colombodesign.com/
GU lift and slide hardware
Cabinet hardware:
Sugatsune
www.sugatsune.com
Interior finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork:
custom maple casework and milwork
Paints and stains:
Benjamin Moore paints
www.benjaminmoore.com
Floor and wall tile:
Cleft slate (in all bathrooms—walls and floors)
Wood flooring:
 maple
Lighting
Downlights:
 Lightolier track system in plaster coves; Lightolier recesses
www.lightolier.com
Task lighting:
 Prandina pendant lights
www.prandina.it/
Controls:
 Lutron
www.lutron.com
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