Dezeen Magazine

Exterior of a large porch of a house with cedar-clad walls and pitched roof

Ryall Sheridan Carroll Architects includes monumental porch on Long Island home

Ryall Sheridan Carroll Architects has created a cedar-clad, pavilion-like house on the North Fork of Long Island that includes a detached garage and pool.

Based in New York City, Ryall Sheridan Carroll Architects designed the 2,500-square-foot (230-square-metre) home, called the Tree Farmer's House, for a one-acre lot.

Exterior of a large porch of a house with cedar-clad walls and pitched roof
The home was informed by Long Island's agricultural buildings

In elevation, the light-coloured home has the shape of a low-lying triangle with the corners cut off, but the plan consists of two rectangular forms that shift past each other.

"We looked to the simple forms of the agricultural buildings of Eastern Long Island and arranged these pieces to create a modern farmstead," the team said.

Exterior of a two-storey home with one-storey extensions clad in cedar and a gravel driveway
The exterior walls were clad in cedar wood

The three-bedroom home "creates a sense of containment and release in the landscape."

The scale and form of the house and detached garage and studio keep with vernacular farm buildings in the area.

The project's exterior material palette references the surrounding agricultural area with whitewashed cedar siding and an aluminium standing-seam roof. Square steel columns rise out of mahogany decking.

Exterior of a two-storey house with a glazed elevation and a roof that slants to one side
Square steel columns support the roof

The interiors are characterized by "a diverse series of spaces with both vertical and horizontal compression followed by areas that open up in unexpected ways," the team said.

A double-height, pavilion-like porch frames one side of the house and has a wood-burning stove. This porch flows inside through floor-to-ceiling class to the primary living space.

This airy living room has west-facing windows that overlook the adjacent tree farm. It features a rough stucco wall that accents the inset fireplace.

Ash flooring continues from the primary room into the more enclosed rooms like the primary bedroom, where large white-framed windows direct views.

Double-height living room with a glazed elevation, white walls, and lounge chairs around a circular coffee table
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook a tree farm

The home's second section includes a kitchen with an eat-in banquet, a primary suite with a connected porch and a staircase that wraps around a powder room as it ascends to the upper floor, where the other bedrooms were placed.

The bathrooms were brightened with colourful tile, rounded mirrors and floating countertops, and include skylights.

Interior of a kitchen with dark wood cabinets along two perpendicular walls and wooden bench seating by a white table
Interior spaces were finished with ash flooring

Across a gravel driveway sits the shed-shaped, two-car garage and studio space with sliding doors that open onto a manicured garden. A rectangular pool sits at the north edge of the property.

The studio prioritised resilient design, integrating energy-efficient aspects such as high R-value walls, roofs, floors and windows; and vapour-permeable membranes for an airtight assembly.

Outdoor porch area overlooking a mono-pitched structure across grassy landscaping
A garage and studio space is located across the gravel driveway

The house uses all-electric systems including a high-efficiency ERV that conserves 90 per cent of energy from the conditioned air. The energy use is offset by a small-rooftop solar panel array.

Nearby, in another project, the studio lifted a holiday home with concrete pillars to raise the living space above the floodwaters of the site's tidal wetland.

The photography is by Keith Scott Morton.


Project credits:

Architects: Ryall Sheridan Carroll Architects (Niall Carroll, Bill Ryall)
Structural engineer: Ed Armus Engineering
Interiors design: Christine Churchill

More images and plans

Ryall Sheridan Tree Farmers House
Ryall Sheridan Tree Farmers House
Timber porch with a sloping roof and sofa and lounge seating around a table
Gravel courtyard with trees and two residential buildings on either side
Two-storey cedar-clad home with a large porch, gravel driveway and grassy garden
Two-storey cedar-clad home with large windows and gravel front garden with trees
Bedroom with a double bed, ottoman, timber floors and double glass sliding doors that open to a garden
Outdoor swimming pool in a grassy garden with with timber decking and three deck chairs
Bathroom with blue floor tiles, white sanitary ware and cream shower tiles
Bathroom with walk-in shower, white basin on a wood worktop and cream marble splashback
Utility room with white worktops and wooden built-in wall storage furniture
Two-storey home with a large porch with a sloping room that overlooks a grassy garden
White bathroom with a large wall mirror, white basin and wood countertop
One-storey timber building with a porch on a grassy garden
Interior living space that opens onto outdoor timber decking with a dog
Interior double-height living space with white walls, glazed facade and wood floors, decorated with a circular table and lounge seating