by Louis Postel in BOSTON MAGAZINE https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2007/02/15/fallen-leaves/
Maximizing light, air, and space was Thompson’s main design test during the four-year project. The challenge was brought home to Thompson and project manager William Pevear on their first visit to the site—though it’s on the beachy “up-island” end, there was no ocean view at all.
“And so William and I stood on top of my car and, lo and behold, it was there: a beautiful view,” says Thompson. “So we made an upside-down house with the living room on the second level. There you see an example of what’s called a ‘borrowed landscape,’ where the foreground view of a neighboring house is cut off by the outside deck to accentuate the distant view—the perfect view of a distant blue stripe of water.”
“What we try to do in our practice is to create spatial sequences that are based on the tradition of landscape design,” says Thompson. “It’s the use of ‘hide and reveals’ letting space unfold. Starting with the driveway. Instead of a direct approach, there’s an unfolding, spiraling sequence. There are these little discoveries and viewpoints, and thereby the experience of the site and the house, as well as its interior, becomes much richer.”
