House on a Point | Elliott Architects

This house, unlike many of our other projects, does not take its precedent from a local building typology. Instead, a different precedent was called upon, inspired by the owners’ love of sailing, this project is grounded in another aspect of Maine vernacular: boatbuilding.

The site, selected for its good water access for boating, is the bowl of an abandoned gravel pit on a lonely coastal peninsula. The disturbed area to the south has been reclaimed as a wildflower meadow, and the house is embedded in the bank to the north. Its primary orientation invites the southern sun into all principal spaces while the slope of the pit is utilized as a berm to protect the house from cold northerly winter winds. Resolutely manmade in its geometry, the structure’s materials—dark-stained clapboards, clear-finished wood windows, and gray metal roofing—nevertheless allow it to merge with the surrounding spruce woodlands.

The house is arranged into five pavilions that separate programmatic functions and break down the overall scale, minimizing its impact from the water. The functionality of a boat hull was employed in section, with the gently curved roof creating spaces that maximize solar gain and encourage cross ventilation. Inside, traditional wooden boat ribs have been replaced by slender steel framework, distilling heavy timber structure into light tectonic form. Bent steel columns in the kitchen support the roof and window system, allowing an entire section of wall to effortlessly peel away. Direct and diffuse light permeates the house, filtered by the clerestory louvers.

The house was designed as a sequence of rooms that presented volumetric complexity, while providing a constant visual dance between interior and exterior exposure. The organization of the house follows a ceremonial progression that begins with arrival and continues through the various daily living experiences, expanding as the spaces grow more public and contracting as they become more private. At times, the view to the outside is framed and limited; at other moments, the corners of the rooms are opened fully, extending the space onto wooden decks that hover above the meadow. All points, however, lead to further investigation beyond the house’s walls—as the ultimate destination in this sequence is always out one last door, down a path, onto the pier, and into the boat.