Project: Sound House
Architects: Roger Ferris + Partners
Location: Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
Area: 1,500 sf
Photographs by: Woodruff/Brown
Sound House by Roger Ferris + Partners
The Sound Home is an eccentric loft-like home placed on an unusually narrow site on the Long Island Sound. Designed by Roger Ferris + Partners to take advantage of the spectacular waterfront views while preserving privacy from the nearby properties, this modern home complies with the strict land coverage and setback requirements as well as the FEMA guidelines. An angled entry wall captures the sunlight and orients views while an interplay of solid stained cypress siding and open and screened glass balance privacy and transparency. The living room and master bedroom occupy the volumes with water views while the kitchen and guest bedroom are set within the angled spaces that are oriented to receive morning sun.
This waterfront home on an unusually narrow site takes advantage of spectacular views while preserving privacy from adjacent properties. The loft-like interior spaces open to glass curtain walls at each end. Screened side walls provide visual separation from neighbors.
The design responds to strict site land coverage and setback requirements, as well as FEMA guidelines regulating first floor elevation and setbacks from the shoreline. Side yard zoning rules limit the building width to less than twenty-eight feet. The angled entry wall creates, within these constraints, an opportunity to capture sunlight, orient views, and provide formal interest.
The house is clad in stained cypress. Its glazed volumes contain feature the living room and master bedroom on one end and the kitchen and guest bedroom on the other. The low rectangular mid-section, clad in contrasting dark cypress, contains the entry hall, staircase, bathrooms, and support spaces. The glazed end rooms offer framed views to the water to the south and inland down the street to the north. The windows integrate retractable shades for sun control or privacy. The bedrooms have cypress louvers for these purposes.
The angled north elevation leads to the front door at the midpoint of the house. This angled wall also orients the kitchen and breakfast room to the morning sun and captures a view down the street and across an adjacent property. The water view one sees entering the house is framed with a perspective defined by the angled stair. The open first floor plan provides interior spaces with loft-like proportions, increasing the scale of the major interior spaces.
The interior finishes continue the loft aesthetic, with kitchen cabinets of natural white oak and ribbed glass doors. Counters and back splashes are granite. Floors are white oak throughout. Interior illumination includes indirect uplights and recessed down lights.
