Coxe-Hayden House and Studio
Block Island, Rhode Island · 1981
Photo · Photo by Tom Bernard
A key precedent for Postmodern vernacular adaptation, demonstrating how traditional shingle-clad gabled forms can be reinterpreted with playful, oversized glazing geometries.
- What we like about this project
- The oversized semi-circular window on the main gable end dramatically shifts the scale of the small cottage.
Materials
- wood-shingle
- glass
- wood-trim
- stone-wall
Visual identifiers
- wood-shingles
- gabled-roof
- lunette-window
- dry-stone-wall
- exaggerated-scale
Style tags
- postmodern
- vernacular
- shingle-style
- playful
Visual tags
- coastal-architecture
- postmodernism
- vernacular-adaptation
- shingle-style
- playful-scale
- Geometry
- Two distinct gabled volumes with steep roof pitches, featuring oversized, exaggerated window geometries including a prominent semi-circular lunette window on the larger volume.
- Facade system
- Wood shingle siding with integrated custom wood-framed glazing units.
- Structural guess
- Lightweight timber framing
- Spatial scale
- Small-scale residential pavilions, designed with oversized openings that playfully distort the reading of their true scale.
- Lighting
- Twilight/blue hour sky with warm interior light glowing through large glazed openings.
- Atmosphere
- A quiet, glowing coastal retreat that balances traditional regional materials with whimsical, oversized architectural features.
- Environmental context
- Coastal meadow with a historic dry-stone boundary wall and low-lying scrub vegetation.
- Spatial experience
- The structures sit as isolated, scale-shifting pavilions behind a rustic dry-stone wall, overlooking an open coastal landscape.
- Composition rhythm
- Two offset gabled masses paired side-by-side, creating a dialogue of scale and window patterns.
- Style reading
- Postmodern Vernacular
- Program
- Residential house and studio
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- wood-shingle, glass, wood-trim, stone-wall
- Visual identifiers
- wood-shingles, gabled-roof, lunette-window, dry-stone-wall, exaggerated-scale
- Style tags
- postmodern, vernacular, shingle-style, playful
- Visual tags
- coastal-architecture, postmodernism, vernacular-adaptation, shingle-style, playful-scale
- Geometry
- Two distinct gabled volumes with steep roof pitches, featuring oversized, exaggerated window geometries including a prominent semi-circular lunette window on the larger volume.
- Facade system
- Wood shingle siding with integrated custom wood-framed glazing units.
- Structural guess
- Lightweight timber framing
- Spatial scale
- Small-scale residential pavilions, designed with oversized openings that playfully distort the reading of their true scale.
- Lighting
- Twilight/blue hour sky with warm interior light glowing through large glazed openings.
- Atmosphere
- A quiet, glowing coastal retreat that balances traditional regional materials with whimsical, oversized architectural features.
- Environmental context
- Coastal meadow with a historic dry-stone boundary wall and low-lying scrub vegetation.
- Spatial experience
- The structures sit as isolated, scale-shifting pavilions behind a rustic dry-stone wall, overlooking an open coastal landscape.
- Composition rhythm
- Two offset gabled masses paired side-by-side, creating a dialogue of scale and window patterns.
- Style reading
- Postmodern Vernacular
- Program
- Residential house and studio
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture