The DPR House is a significant AIA Honor Award winning design by architecture firm Method Design, situated in the town of Pound Ridge, New York. The project was a 500 square foot addition and full renovation to an existing 1960’s modern house on a sloped site. The architects were asked to reconsider three major aspects of the current condition “creation of a formal entry, an addition of a master suite, and a sustainable re-cladding of the entire house.”

Their approach centered on a qualitative response to the inherent characteristics of the site, which included intrusion of large old growth trees into the immediate area of the house, the dramatic coloration of the site’s seasonal foliage, and the daily use of the occupants which prescribed clear articulation of private and public space.

The response to these challenges entailed floating a new master suite on a forest of columns that reinforce an existing line of trees and create a procession towards the newly organized formal entry suspended underneath. The columns themselves operate as a sophisticated structural system where each tips towards a projected point at the center of gravity, giving an innovative balance, stability and equilibrium to the new addition. Public areas are detailed with a rain screen of warm cedar finishes reflecting the outdoor environment in which they are situated.

Visit the website of architecture firm Method Design here.

Photos:  Courtesy of Method Design