The Cottage by Gray Organschi Architecture.

Today we’re off to the Long Island Sound, which is near where they make all that delicious iced tea.

They also do a line in lovely timber guest houses.

This particular one is by a firm called Gray Organschi, a practice based in New Haven, where I assume the proximity of the School of Architecture at Yale keeps local architects up to scratch.

I like a couple of things about this project. One of these things is that it reminds me of the beautiful Killiney House by Ireland’s O’Donnell and Tuomey, a masterful cascade of concrete with wonky roofs and trees and views a lot like this. This example, in far off Connecticut, takes a similar architectural stance but deploys timber and a fab green roof to nestle into its thickly wooded setting.

Another thing I like about this project is its small scale. I am a great fan of follies, eye-catchers, caprices, and all sorts of odd little structures dotted in landscaped gardens. I suppose a guest house like this is a modern extension of the oeuvre. For occasional use, for special times, there is scope for architectural experimentation (even frivolity) that one wouldn’t or couldn’t sneak into the brief for a more substantial home.

The upside of this is a unified architectural result like we see here – a ‘compleat’ little structure where the outside walls turn into the inside ceiling and the inside floors run up to become transom beams, and even the rooftop looks like the rolling lawn outside. It’s the sort of geometric landscape fusion you just can’t buy (well, obviously one can…).

The timber interiors and the lovely corner window put me in mind of Louis Kahn‘s Fisher House, but I’m pretty sure that’s for no better reasons than both use timber rather well, both are North American, and that I don’t think hard enough… where was I?… did someone say Long Island Iced Tea?

We’ll leave it here. To my eyes, this looks like the sort of synergistic serendipity that architects dream of – a combination of clients with vision, architects with ability, and a setting so beautiful that the result sings. We are left with but one burning question – can I stay over in your guest house please?

Ende.

– Luke.

[Images courtesy of Gray Organschi and dwell.com.]