STANDOUT DESIGN AND a capacity to create luxury homes have become something of a signature for New York-based Bromley Caldari Architects. And the A-frame house on Fire Island outside New York is no exception. After almost three years of designs, planning applications and building work, the renovation of this beach house from 1965 was finally completed in spring 2015.
At the start of the project the house had been hit hard by wind and weather, but also by partying and film shoots (not least with Hollywood star Judy Garland) but the architects were not put off. They began the project by exploiting a local law that allowed them to add floor to ceiling windows along both short ends of the house, to maximise light and ventilation.
The views now stretch for miles across the water from all three floors. The wood materials are exposed on the exterior and interior, and the whole building encompasses energy-friendly methods and technologies. The original steel staircase, which formed a huge presence in the middle of the house, has been replaced by a similar structure with wood as its dominant material. The staircase lines the walls of the home as it climbs up to the rooms in the roof apex.«
