East House
East House
Peter Rose + Partners
ARCHITECTS
Peter Rose + Partners
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Rse Associates Inc
PHOTOGRAPHS
Chuck Choi , Matthew Snyder
CLIMATE ENGINEER
Transsolar | Klimaengineering
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
CONTRACTOR
Holmes Hole Builders
MEP ENGINEER
Icor Associates
MANUFACTURERS
Dornbracht, Design Within Reach, Nulux, Vermont Slate Company
AREA
4000 Ft²
YEAR
2012
LOCATION
Chilmark, United States
CATEGORY
Houses
Text description provided by architect.
Nestled into the native shrubs of the Martha’s Vineyard coastline, East House’s site-cast concrete façade welcomes tendrils of coastal vines while providing a robust barrier to New England’s coastal weather.
The ten-inch-thick concrete walls are cast in the form of a collection of concrete boxes, relieved with sustainably harvested Spanish Cedar window frames, and oriented to achieve both subtle and dramatic responses to the landscape.
During design, a commissioned study revealed a rate of coastal bluff erosion that made both client and architect extremely uncomfortable with the siting of the residence.
The 4,000 square foot house is thus divided into concrete boxes – individually liftable with all interior finishes in place, and interstitial corridors – light wood framed zones that can be easily removed and rebuilt if the building is moved.
The solution was to cast the floors – formerly wood-framed – in concrete, making each box a three or four-sided structural unit that could be individually lifted and moved to a location far from the bluff, should erosion occur.
Rainwater is collected in the interstitial roofs, directed to a single Mahogany flue, and cast into a below-ground cistern for use in irrigation.
Each box has a rugged concrete exterior and is finished with interior stone floors.
The interior walls are clad in Douglas Fir and Alaskan Cedar, which are soft to touch, but extremely durable in the rough coastal weather.
A planted roof caps each box individually, mitigating run-off while further visually integrating the building with the lush landscape.
Circulation travels along the interior figure of the boxes through interstitial spaces both rough-framed and finished in wood, and is choreographed to an ever-more-revealing experience of the site.
Embedded in the natural landscape, East House is nearly invisible from points further up the slope. The concrete shell is cantilevered over the landscape, allowing for expanses of glass along five walls.
With radiant heating, calibrated window openings, and the thermal mass of concrete, the house creates natural ventilation and buffers summer heat gain.
Operable windows pull back, and the gap between the concrete units amplifies the sound of the ocean, bringing it along with sea breezes through the entire house.Geothermal wells use the earth’s thermo-conductivity to temper living spaces, vastly reducing the size and cost of HVAC equipment.
