This courtyard house on the edge of the Berkshires offers both grand vistas and plenty of privacy, thanks to its custom rain screen.
What drew Seth Grosshandler and Kim Wainwright to their 20-acre property in rural Hillsdale, New York, were the extraordinary unobstructed views of the Berkshires to the east and the Catskills to the west. The challenge on the completely exposed hilltop site was protecting their planned 2,800-square-foot, two-bedroom courtyard house from the occasionally brutal weather. In response, architect Lea Cloud, of New York City’s CR Studio, created a “superinsulated building envelope” intended “to feel light and airy,” Cloud says. So instead of the clapboard siding or shingles common in the region, the architects devised a rain screen of Atlantic white cedar that floats four-and-a-half inches off the structure. The clever cover allows the house to breathe, drains away moisture, and conceals the “cheap and hideous foam” covering the house’s multilayered insulation sandwich with light-handed elegance.
An Eames lounge and ottoman hold court in the master bedroom upstairs. Plenty of natural light and a muted color scheme give the space a wonderfully light feel.
The house's L shape permits a considerable courtyard, and plenty of space for lounging behind the rain screen. The stairs sit at the intersection of the two volumes and lead down into the more social of the two: the dining room, living room, and music room.
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