EDGE OF WETLANDS

Nantucket, MA

Combining several inspirations – a bird house, a boat-building shop – this compact house packs a wallop.  Sited to the rear of a crescent lot, it is perched on an upland, overlooking an expansive wetlands landscape, humming with birdlife and further beyond to a white church steeple in historic Nantucket Town that shines bright after dark.  A screened-entry porch welcomes with a gracious entry experience.  Along the west side, an efficient service core of bathrooms and stairs frees the other 3 sides for views of nature.

THE GREAT ROOM

In the spirit of the island vernacular, the Great Room has the simple character of a working boat shop, with centered French doors facing north and south.  The living areas are modulated spatially with a higher ceiling at the Dining and Entry and a lower, more intimate scale at the Living room and fireplace inglenook.  Less visible is the built-in ‘captain’s bed’, a favorite secret hideaway by the fire.  The stepped section gives the Master suite higher ceilings than bedrooms located above the Dining area. Overhead, white-washed timber-framing gives the structure an understated muscularity, expressing its architectural tectonics for a sense of authenticity.