House Between Forest and Field is a 3,600 square-foot house at the edge of an agricultural area in Stanfordville, NY.  While compact in its footprint and barn-like massing, the three-story house engages in various ways with the expansive landscape around it. Situated at the boundary between forest and field on its 13-acre lot, the narrow house is also inspired by both, joining together the exterior identity of agricultural buildings with an interior organization inspired by the spatial experience of a forest.

As a result of its slender 27-foot width and large picture windows, the house appears as a filter for the landscape beyond when seen from the exterior, while allowing a continuous connection to the outdoors from every space within.

The family that lives here comes into daily contact with the land, oscillating between the intimacy of the forest and the expansiveness of the changing hills of Dutchess County beyond.

A series of lauan plywood–clad “cores” inside the house contain various uses (storage, kitchen counter and appliances, stair, powder room, library, fan coils), delineating different zones within a fluid continuum. A covered porch extends living space outside, and the house’s cedar rain screen cladding further blurs distinctions between exterior and interior.

Client: Private client
Location: Dutchess County, NY
Status: Phase 1 completed; Phase 2 under construction
Dates: 2019 – 2022 (Phase 1)
Sq Footage: 3,500sf (Phase 1)
Program: Private home for a family of four on a 13 acre property
Environmental: Geothermal

Design Team (Phase 1): Eric Bunge, Mimi Hoang | Isabel Sarasa | Laura Lee, Paul Mok, Jason Kim | Adina Bauman | Michelle Lin, Emilie O’Neill

Collaborators: Site & Civil Engineering: T.M. DePuy Engineering & Land Surveying P.C. | Structural Engineer: SILMAN | MEP: OLA Consulting Engineers, PC | Lighting Designer: Lumen Architecture, PLLC | Cost Estimator: Ellana Inc

Builders: UCE Fine Builders