Young Projects complete Six Square House in New York

Designed as a contemporary counterpart to the property’s farmhouse, the studio set out to create a new residence that nods subtly to the historic architecture of Long Island, while radically reimagining a traditional barn typology as an elegant, innovative home.

The completion of Six Square House coincides with Young Projects’ addition to the lot’s historic 1850 farmhouse, which is located at the front of the property, and a new pool house, gunite pool, and ipe deck at the property’s rear. Sited at the lot’s centre, Six Square House becomes the nucleus of the property as well as the client’s primary on-sire residence, with the farmhouse becoming the guest home.

The residence is made up of six 24”x24” gabled modules, arranged to align roof ridges and create continuity from one module to the next. Each module’s roof eaves flow upward and downward, resulting in a variety of undulating surfaces and unexpected sightlines across the home’s exterior and interiors. The home is clad in deep grey, slatted Accoya wood, whose striations enhance the roofscape's dynamic edges and arcs.

Approaching Six Square House from the front of the property provides a view of the garage and living room modules, separated by a polished concrete path that leads directly into the home’s focal point: a triangular courtyard. The slatted roof aligns with slatted exterior walls to create long, vertical striations that begin at the roof ridge and cascade to the ground.

In terms of the plan, the six modules that makeup Six Square House tessellate around the central triangular courtyard. This arrangement offered a compelling visual balance between symmetry and asymmetry, depending on the inhabitant’s point of reference in the home. The tessellated arrangement also creates strategic programmatic divisions across the home, with each module loosely tied to a different use: living, kitchen, main bedroom, secondary bedroom, porch, and garage, all of which encircle the triangular courtyard. This layout takes advantage of the surrounding landscape, with each module offering a different view of the lush property. 

Bedrooms feature framed views of the site’s mature and gnarled trees for privacy. In particular, the main bedroom offers a direct view of an old purple beech tree, which is very dear to the client. Living spaces open directly onto a landscape designed for entertaining: central courtyard, meadow, and pool house. The kitchen, located at the centre of the house, is adjacent to the “left-over” triangular courtyard and looks through the open porch that frames views of the landscape beyond. 

The living areas and kitchen are linked, resolving as a large open space that emphasizes the undulating flow of the ceiling; a result of the irregular roofscape above. While the ceiling undulates through the common area, it is marked by a ruled geometry; the wood framing itself is not bent, rather each straight rafter rotates slightly relative to its neighbours, developing a curving surface in aggregate. 

Throughout the home, material selections and their corresponding colour palette follow a neutral, organic spectrum, codified by a given space’s use. Black and platinum grey materials define the home’s exterior: the polished concrete patios and charred Accoya facade and roofscape. Ochre-hued cedar clads the home’s hybrid indoor/outdoor zones: the triangular courtyard and porch, as well as the frames for all exterior-facing doors and windows. Finally, the interior is sheathed in alabasters and whites: walls and ceilings are gypsum plaster, flooring and millwork is white oak and ash, and countertops and selected shelving are light marble (Calacatta Caldia, Calacatta Gold, Mountain White, Olympian White).