Stay Awhile At This Luxurious Vacation Compound In Southampton

The parents live on one continent. One of their grown sons and his own family live on another. The other son and his crew make their home in New York. But the big, far-flung group wanted to spend summers under one roof. So the parents bought a piece of waterfront land in a quiet corner of Southampton, on the South Fork of Long Island, New York, and commissioned Bates Masi + Architects to build a house that could accommodate everyone, approximately 10 people—often more when guests join the gatherings.

But it wouldn’t be just any house. With so many people involved—spanning three generations, with the children ranging widely in age—the program grew to be extensive, eventually including an indoor pool, a gym with a sauna and steam room, communal home office, home theater, playroom, and guest bedrooms. Accommodating it all would involve a staggering amount of square footage. “The challenge was how to integrate this program into the landscape,” recalls Interior Design Hall of Fame member Paul Masi, who cofounded the local firm with the late Harry Bates, devising homes that live lightly on the land. The solution for him and Bates Masi partner Aaron Weil sprang from “the idea of weaving,” Masi adds.

A Home By Bates Masi + Architects and Bart Verhelle Interiorarchitect

Rising only two stories but encompassing nearly 18,000 square feet and resting on a stone plinth so it’s lifted above the flood plain, the home’s interiors and exterior are indeed woven together in a patchwork. It is divided into five glass-sided sections with terraces and courtyards in between—like the courtyard on the north side of the house that leads to the front door. And with each section bordered on three sides by open areas, the interiors gain maximum daylight, cross-ventilation, and views. “With the doors open, indoor and outdoor are all connected into one,” Weil explains.

The outdoor spaces aren’t only on the ground level, either. The upper level cantilevers over the lower, providing room on the second floor for outdoor showers and intimate decks enclosed by screens made of live-edge cedar boards. The cantilever also shades and shelters portions of the ground-floor open areas, which are outfitted with lighting, radiant heating, and cooking equipment so they can be in use—and members of the family outside—even when the sun goes down or the temperature drops. An expansive terrace of Italian Repen marble skirts the south-facing rear of the house, extending the living space out into the landscape.

Embrace Quiet Luxury In This Vacation Compound

The same marble was used liberally inside too, helping tie the expansive house together and to its setting. The stone—which has “subtle, muted” veining, Weil notes—is found on ground-level flooring, a towering fireplace in the double-height living/dining room, and in the steam room, where it’s finished three ways: flamed for walls, honed for seating, sandblasted for floor. Elsewhere inside, Bart Verhelle Interiorarchitect, a Belgian firm that had worked with the clients on previous residences, took the lead in specifying furnishings and collaborated on finishes. Director Bart Verhelle chose lime plaster for walls and the enclosure of a spiral staircase leading from the underground parking area to the two guest bedrooms. In the kitchen, the plaster merges nearly seamlessly with a sleek Corian backsplash. Oak was used for stair treads and upstairs flooring. The limited palette of materials creates a calm, neutral backdrop that “at the same time, radiates sufficient character,” Verhelle says.

A sophisticated selection of furnishings adds to the feeling of quiet luxury. Some pieces—such as slender aluminum pendant fixtures by Michael Anastassiades and comfy sofas by Francesco Binfaré—are used repeatedly. Verhelle also designed a few items himself, including an 18-foot-long walnut dining table that provides plenty of room for everyone in this clan—plus a couple of guests—to gather round. Eight so-called Hand Grenade pendants, designed in 1952 by Alvar Aalto for the Finnish Engineers’ Association Building in Helsinki, light the table from above.

The understated setting focuses attention on views of the landscape as well as on the owners’ prized pieces of art. It also allows the life of the family to take center stage, which, after all, was the whole point of the house in the first place. Upstairs, four bedrooms and baths for the grandkids are clustered in their own wing, encouraging cousins to bond during summers together. Another wing is devoted to two suites for the sons and their wives. The eldest members of the family have their own domain, of course. The house was carefully designed to accommodate them as they age, with thresholds that are level with floors and an elevator tucked inconspicuously away—all to ensure that they can comfortably use the house, and join in all the fun, not only now but for many years to come.

Walk Around This Vacation Compound On Long Island

BATES MASI + ARCHITECTS: RYAN BERRY. MICHAEL BOUCHER LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. RADIANCE LIGHTING: LIGHTING DESIGN. SL MARESCA & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING ENGINEERS: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. DULA: WOODWORK. MEN AT WORK CONSTRUCTION: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

FROM FRONT EDRA: SECTIONALS (LIVING AREA, THEATER). CONDEHOUSE CO.: CHAIRS (DINING AREA). ARTEK: PENDANT FIXTURES. MICHAEL ANASTASSIADES: PENDANT FIXTURES (STAIRWAYS). BENCHMARK: STOOLS (KITCHEN). MIYAZAKI CHAIR: ARMCHAIRS. DuPONT: CORIAN BACKSPLASH. ARCWAYS: CUSTOM STAIR (GUEST STAIR). BASSAM FELLOWS: STOOLS (POOL BAR). SUTHERLAND: CHAIRS (DECK). AGAPECASA: TABLE. KASTHALL: CARPET (THEATER). PROFILS: PANELING. MINOTTI: SIDE TABLE. BOFFI: TUB (BATH­ROOM). OUTDOOR SHOWER COMPANY: OUTDOOR SHOWER. THROUGHOUT SPARK: CUSTOM FIREPLACES. LEVOLUX: WOOD SIDING. POLICH TALLIX: METAL SIDING. SCHUCO: CUSTOM DOORS, CUSTOM WINDOWS. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.: PAINT.