Karin Waisman and Carlos Brillembourg built a narrow house on a narrow lot in Southhampton. The sparsely furnished home takes advantage of vertical space and is nestled into the ground to add square footage without overwhelming the property and the neighbors...
The couple, both trained as architects, created a bright, open interior. Get their story and see all the pictures in A Spare Stage for the Spectacle of Life and the interactive floorplan building section graphic.
Images: Eric Striffler for The New York Times
Veronica & Keith's Handmade Chic 
Before & After: A Bathroom Goes From Pinky Peach to Sleek and Chic
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Hunslet Dinner Plate
A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
Easy Pitcher Cocktail Recipe: Strawberry Basil Margaritas
Comments (16)
wow...what a dream!
really nice.
Maybe just a technicality, but one that's annoying.
That's NOT an interactive floor plan graphic.
It's an interactive BUILDING SECTION graphic.
There's a HUGE difference between a floor plan and a section.
Just like so many people refer to columns as "beams".
Columns run VERTICALLY and support the beams which run HORIZONTALLY.
Beautifully planned and designed, but the interior seems cold. Perhaps I'm alone in that thinking (or maybe I just got a chill from the idea of a parent nixing a child's wish for her own bedroom because it would interfere with their own aesthetic. Who knows?).
I agree. What great potential, but such a sterile aesthetic. Reminds me of the Ultraminimalists...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdPrx1q_tLg
Did I miss something? Why didn't they build up instead of underground?
It's like they've never seen a basement before...
Where is the kitchen?
wild-er:
"without overwhelming the property and the neighbors"
scale and consideration won the day.
also, basements often don't count towards taxable square footage and are more energy efficient.
aimi:
how many basements with twelve foot ceilings and 3 foot windows at ceiling level with that light exposure have you seen?
A kid lives here? That's kind of sad.
I like the house alot - but one person's "Sterile and Cold" is another's "Clean and Uncluttered".
If you look at the interactive - the kitchen is right next to the dining room - and the article states that they didn't build "up" because they didn't want the house the focus overwhelming the lot - it's already two stories high from the ground level.
I also don't see the big deal denying their child a pink bedroom - she did get a pink ceiling after all. I was denied a dark blue bedroom and I somehow survived (Yes, I have the blue bedroom now)
I think the house is beautiful, but I find the homeowners' schtick aggravating. It seems like they're trying way too hard to down-play their extravagance. The wife says, "I just needed a place to work," and the husband says, "The spectacle shouldn’t be the house. It should be the life that takes place in the house.†But then they're arrogant enough to dictate the color of their daughter's bedroom (c'mon, there's GOT to be a shade of pink that wouldn't be "too much").
And I'm really having trouble with the idea of a $1 million house--one that's sitting on a piece of the most expensive property in the country--being called "spare". If they just came out and said that they're exacting and love beautiful things, I'd be fine. But a multi-million dollar house IS a spectacle, simply because it's so indulgent.
It does seem that the kid's room is dominated by the parents' aesthetic, and it's a bit sterile, but I do think the idea of painting the ceiling pink is great. And something one could accomplish in a small city apartment, too.
How dare the parents treat their child so horribly......LOL
Are those hammocks in the dining room?
nifty