zag house 2 :: ground-up single-family residence :: 2020-2023 :: Castleton-on-Hudson, NY

This project is the second in a series of ‘zag’ houses derived from iconic residential forms interpreted in unexpected ways. Zag House 2 is designed for a retired couple needing modestly sized spaces for themselves, and two additional bedrooms for children and grandchildren who come to visit. It is located in a suburban neighborhood of Castleton-on-Hudson, NY, a small town along the Hudson River where the clients have lived for many years. The surrounding context is of single-family houses that present an American image of domesticity to the street – this is a familiar image of hip and gable roofs, vinyl siding, brick and stone veneers, styrofoam moldings, asphalt driveways, and garage doors. The clients were receptive to a design that did not conform to these conventions of American domestic architecture, but they did want a house that remained recognizably domestic. They were willing to move beyond the prevailing suburban residential design ethos of ‘more is better’ that generally results in a mishmash of design elements clad in cheap materials. But as lifelong residents of their small town, they were explicit in their desire to build a house that respected the context of their neighborhood.  

 This desire for a contextual, but potentially somewhat unconventional, design was addressed by combining an iconic residential form with a simple diagram of the clients’ programmatic needs. The residential form is a gable roof, which is typical in the language of the surrounding context. The clients required the program of the house to be on a single level and to be separated into three distinct parts: one for living, a second for sleeping, and a third for the garage. The massing diagram is generated by first extruding the gable, and then bending the ends of the extrusion at 45 degrees in opposite directions creating the ‘zag’. This divides the mass into three sections with sleeping and garage at two ends and living in the center. Two chunks are cut out of the center living section at the kinks of the zagged mass, one at the front of the house creates an entry vestibule, and another at the rear creates a screened-in outdoor dining area.

 The site is located back from the street, behind the neighboring houses. Rather than pushing the house into the forested ravine at the back of the property, it is situated on flat land at the edge of the ravine keeping it visible from the street and a part of the context of the neighborhood. In response to the client’s desire for a feeling of privacy, areas of glass on the perimeter of the footprint are limited, with the largest openings being located in the entry and outdoor dining cut-outs where they are less directly exposed to the surroundings. These two cut-out chunks frame the living spaces with large amounts of natural light and blur the distinction between indoor and outdoor spaces. Natural light flooding the living space draws inhabitants around the bends of the zag from the sleeping and garage wings toward the center of the house.

design team :: Adam Dayem, Nick Sideropoulos

structural and environmental engineering :: Taconic Engineering

contractor ::  Lorne Dawes Construction

photography :: David Hiepler