House on Sag Harbor

“I’ve worked with this client for close to 15 years. She lives minimally, as is evident in this home, but everything has a place to be and that’s where it is. It was clear from the beginning that this might be the last house she was going to build, so it needed to be done sensitively and peacefully. Finding the right property was a multi-year search, and then there was a healthy period of trying to understand what to do and not do on it. It’s a really special part of Long Island with a lot of ecology and ecosystem activity to be concerned with.”

Once the right property was found, David and his team spent two years building mockups and testing materials on site to determine exactly how they would perform. “We wanted to first place scale mockups on the site in the direct solar path over a multi-season period to learn how they performed in summer, winter, and one intermediate season. We started to discover that the way the wood looked was directly correlated to how it was cut and where the sun was.”

1100 worked closely with timber distributor reSAWN TIMBER co. to select the project’s final materials: Abodo’s Vulcan® Cladding in Silicate Wood Coating. “It’s rare and noticeable when a product representative knows a lot about the product, as reSAWN did with the Abodo Vulcan® Cladding we chose. We relish those exchanges because we know where we want to go and we won’t stop until we get there.

“Because of the angularity of the form, we were concerned that the sun would bounce off of it when the cut was too smooth. This is a phenomenon we’ve encountered in the past and have successfully defeated by adjusting the surface texture. In the case of House on Sag Harbour, we were able to get some fine-texture Abodo timber which softened the light quality on the wood and allowed for the colouration to become deeper and richer. This was a big breakthrough, with everyone working together, diligently viewing the mockups and feeling satisfied that these materials were going to achieve what we wanted.”

David and his client’s precise attention to detail meant an equally precise build that began before the team even arrived on site. “There are no remainders in that form, no cut boards. From the outset of digging the hole in the ground and pouring the foundation, we’re talking about things being exact to within fractions of an inch. Everyone has to be committed and paying attention.

We chose Lettieri Builders to complete the build because we’d seen a quality of carpentry and craftsmanship in their work that were distinctive, and we had confidence that they would buy into doing this project with the level of detail it demanded.”

The Abodo timber supplied by reSAWN delivered on both design aesthetic and performance, David says. “We’ve been working with wood of all kinds for 40 years. In this case, we were very interested in what happens to it after harvest that can contribute to a longer life performance.

The way Abodo timber is treated both extends its lifespan and allows it to weather in this silver way. Nobody wants to maintain their homes, but you must, and this is a product that, when properly handled, can contribute to a much more extended maintenance timeframe.”

The resulting home is carefully sited, David says, at the crown of a gentle rise. “We were really trying to balance its presence on the site and give the landscape peace with the home. There are a number of things that the siting is accomplishing, including managing a water flow coming from the hill behind it, but you’d never know it. Good projects do that stuff quietly.

“There’s a certain emotional durability about this environment that we try to deliver for all of our clients. Being human is oftentimes really hard, so we want a refuge that allows us to elevate ourselves if we need to. A home should be resilient for however you’re feeling.”

Abodo Protector - White is an alternative to Silicate Wood Coating, with the colour naturally fading to achieve a similar aesthetic but the latest in water borne oil technology combining refined plant oils, UV protection, advanced water barrier composition and an enhanced fungicidal package for superior exterior performance.