Andrew Berman Architect PLLC

Writing Studio

Writing Studio
© Michael Moran

WRITING STUDIO

Andrew Berman Architect

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Eleanor McPeck Landscape Design

PHOTOGRAPHS
Michael Moran

ACOUSTICAL CONSULTANT
Robert F. Mahoney & Associates

DAYLIGHT CONSULTANT
Carpenter Norris Consulting

AREA
2000 ft²

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
R.B. Hartwell and Sons

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Gilsanz Murray Steficek LLP, Ramon Gilsanz

CABINETMAKER
Fineline Custom Cabinet, Jim Ledger

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
CGM Engineering

LOCATION
Bellport, United States

YEAR
2008

CATEGORY
Library, Extension

Text description provided by architect.

This building was commissioned as a library and writing studio for a historian.

Writing Studio
© Michael Moran
Writing Studio
© Michael Moran

It is located on a property adjacent to the client’s home, and is approached on footthrough a stand of trees. There is no drive or path. The library sits at the threshold ofan open field and a wood. A tidal stream is visible through the woods, at the rear ofthe property.

A twelve-foot tall door is the entry façade. Due to the siting and geometry of the building, little else of the building is visible on approach. A wood staircase is immediately seen on entering, leading up to an unrevealed but glowing space.

Writing Studio
© Michael Moran
Writing Studio
© Michael Moran

The library space is at the top of the stairs, apparently set in the tree canopy of the woods. The library was conceived as a tranquil day-lit space for reading, writing, andthought. Light fills the room from above, and animates the space with the changingbrightness and color of the day.

The walls of the study are lined with books. The windows are integrated into the bookcases, creating a sense of being enveloped by books and the surrounding foliage.

Writing Studio
© Michael Moran
Writing Studio
© Michael Moran

The kitchens, bathrooms, storage and dumbwaiter are all concealed in a corestructure within the single volume of the building. The staircase, interior wall lining,bookcases, cabinetry are straight grain Douglas fir.

The structure of the library is a series of parallel steel portal frames that were shop built and delivered to the site. Wood framing spans between the steel frames. All of the exterior facets of the building are sheathed in copper.

The copper and geometry of the building work in concert to create a building whose form and presence change in the shifting light of the day and color of the seasons.

Writing Studio
© Michael Moran
Writing Studio
© Michael Moran
Writing Studio
© Michael Moran

The copper can be both reflective and matte, depending on the viewing angle and light. It can be brilliantly reflective as well as deep velvety brown and violet.

Eventually, the copper will patina to green. It is a simple structure with a mutable presence in the landscape.


Writing Studio
Floor Plan
Writing Studio
Section
Writing Studio
Site Plan

Andrew Berman Architect PLLC
T +1 212 2265998
Andrew Berman Architect PLLC
77 Chambers St, New York, NY 10007, United States