Architecture on the Cutting Edge: East End Firms Stand Out at Archi Awards

Every year since 1964, the Long Island Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has celebrated architectural achievement through the annual Archi Awards program.

East End projects and the local firms behind them are no strangers to the winners’ circle — and this year is no different.

Bridgehampton-based Stelle Lomont Rouhani came away with four awards, the first for Forest Edge in Sag Harbor, designed for a multi-generational family on a wooded slope overlooking Sag Harbor Bay, with views of a protected shoreline beyond.

“The design goals were to develop a precisely organized and enduring home,” partner Viola Rouhani said in a press release, “to promote family gatherings, celebrate seasonal change and foster a deep and lasting connection with its rich landscape.”

The design — which won an Archi Award for new construction of a residential single-family home over $3 million — draws subtle references from a dilapidated and abandoned mid-century house that previously stood on the site for many years, echoing the horizontal lines and extended overhangs of early American modernism. It aims for timelessness over novelty, clarity over complexity, Rouhani said.

“Materials have been chosen for their durability and natural character, assembled with care and restraint,” she said. “Detailing is precise with an emphasis on craftsmanship, rhythm, texture and longevity.”

The complete gut renovation of Norman Jaffe’s Hillman House in East Hampton earned the firm an award for historic restoration/adaptive re-use — taking it from a mold-ridden home to the Stillwater property that it is today.

“Jaffe, an incredibly talented architect, with a sometimes cult-like local following, designed houses throughout the East End of Long Island starting in 1968 until his death in 1993,” Rouhani said. “He was infatuated with the play of light, its healing powers and a master at incorporating it into his architecture.”

The Hillman House, designed in 1977, is located on an inlet harbor with miles of unspoiled wetlands. Rouhani said she assured her clients that they could carefully restore and add on to the existing house, “celebrate its simple and honest beauty, while modifying what was needed to fit their needs and lifestyle.”

“We used this opportunity to carefully streamline the interior details and materials to follow Jaffe’s celebration of light and simplicity,” Rouhani said. “A flat-roof addition pierces the east side, allowing the space needed to redesign and enlarge the kitchen and add a much-needed screened dining porch.”

The Sunset Cottages in Montauk won an Archi Award for hospitality and the Neptune project in Quogue was also recognized with a commendation for new construction of a residential single-family home over $3 million.

“When first purchased, this long, narrow oceanfront property was full of dying non-native vegetation,” Rouhani said. “At the end sat a leaky house and an oversized pool perched on the brink of an eroding beach. After many back-and-forths, we were able to convince the owner to remove the existing pool and house and embark on a major dune restoration.

“The area where house and pool once existed was filled with sand, native grasses and shrubs,” she continued. “The new house and much smaller pool were designed landward of the coastal erosion line, with a long winding driveway surrounded by native salt-tolerant trees and shrubs leading up to them.”

Several other East End firms also earned commendations, including Oza Studio Architects in Bridgehampton for its Breezeway Beach House in East Hampton; Bridgehampton-based Barnes Coy for Tidal View House in Cutchogue; Westhampton Beach’s Joseph Pagac Architect for a modern poolside retreat; and BergDesign Architecture in East Hampton for Escher House.

BMA Architects in Bridgehampton won an Archi Award for its Sag Harbor Bay project — a one-story residence that was a quiet study in restraint and reverence for nature, craft and spatial clarity, according to the project description.

“The design emerged from a deep respect for the site, where strict regulations required the preservation of existing vegetation along the bluff’s edge,” the description said. “Rather than compete with the tree canopy, the architecture nestles beneath it, embracing filtered views of the water through the rhythm of tree trunks. This decision ultimately shaped the home’s low, horizontal form.”

London Architecture and Design in Hampton Bays also received an Archi Award for its Path Residence project in Amagansett, and a number of special awards went to East End firms: Best Use of Wood to Southampton’s Jason Thomas Architect for its Guyer Road project in Bridgehampton and the Kitchen Design Award to Martin Architects in Bridgehampton for its Shinnecock Bay project.

The President’s Award, given to a project that exhibits design excellence in all aspects — including social, economic and environmental issues — went to We+ Architecture & Design in Water Mill for Bay Bluff in Southampton.

“Perched on a hillside overlooking Shinnecock Bay in Southampton, this residence connects seamlessly to the original waterfront cottage through an underground passage,” the project description said. “A dark exterior forms a bold contrast to the light, airy interiors, where a panoramic operable glass façade dissolves the boundary between indoors and out. The dramatic grade shift from front to back allows for a modest street-facing presence that unfolds into three levels of expansive waterside views at the rear.”

The final East End firm to win an Archi Award is Bates Masi + Architects in East Hampton for its Amagansett project, Walking Dunes. The single-family residence turns the necessities of coastal buildings into advantages, allowing the structure to be elevated above the flood threat while maximizing the views.

“It was interesting to explore a building type, on the ocean and in the flood zone, in a new way,” partner Paul Masi said, “creating a design language that handles the requirements of the site with an artful, delicate expression of the structure.”