Skew House Fire Island
Located on a striking yet compressed beachfront site in Ocean Bay Park, Fire Island, the Skew House transforms a beachfront cottage into a sustainable, resilient home for year-round living.
The home is skewed and oriented off-axis from the waterline to capture perspective views down the beach and Atlantic Ocean. Like a wave approaching, the A-frame roof ridge maintains a parallel relationship with the shoreline. Functionally, the design’s defining skew allows for a large, beachfront sun deck. The house's closeness to the beach was embraced and conceived as an audience-stage relationship where the beach is the stage and the house is the audience. The home’s southeast corner is fully glazed, bringing ocean views directly into the living space.
The future-proofed design leverages our shrewd understanding of building within the context of a seasonal barrier island, drawing on deep knowledge of FEMA, floods, relevant construction methods, and sustainable materials. The design was crafted with careful attention to the neighboring residence, Michigan Street House, resulting in two private homes that are both intimately woven together and separate, designed in rhythm with one another.
A small section has been removed from the clean roof line to include a smaller second deck space while creating an unobstructed sightline to the ocean from the neighboring North House.
The house's closeness to the beach was embraced and conceived as an audience-stage relationship where the beach is the stage and the house is the audience.
Credits
Team: Paul Coughlin, Annie Scheel, Michelle Schneider