Private Estate Renovation
Greenport, NY
daSILVA Architects converted a rustic carriage house into a modern office and guest house as part of a master plan to redevelop an early nineteenth century, six-barn farming complex in the hills of upstate New York.
daSILVA worked with the owner to preserve the rustic feel of the barns and surrounding vernacular architecture. The exterior façade detailing and proportions—including sliding barn doors and window fenestration—remain, but a modern living and working space is exposed when the barn doors are opened. The design incorporates a new solid ‘box’ that include the private functions of the house, such as a bathroom and storage room on the first floor, and a guest bedroom and bathroom on the second floor. The box is juxtaposed with the elements working around it; a methodology useful in controlling and organizing the playful openness of the barn’s interior.
Wood framing removed from the interior of the barn was refinished and used as flooring, inlaid between new sections of concrete and hardwood finishes. The simple, clean details of the new steel and woodwork parallel original construction themes. This fusion of modern architectural forms with the barn’s original materials and structure gives the carriage house a comfortable character.
Addititonally, the farm house was completely renovated, the barn and chicken coup were converted for the family's use.