“No project is the same, no site is the same, no client has the same requirements or demeanor and they are always excited to embark on their dream – so the excitement is invigorating.”
Geography and history also influence each home design, Mann said, which in the Northeast often includes heavy European influences. “This history often underpins our clients’ vision and expectations as well as those of planning and development authorities. And there are, of course, environmental factors that affect sustainability and durability and accordingly site selection, orientation, material, and system selection.
But Mann said that rather than be hampered or confined by history or traditional context, his firm works to go beyond those constraints for a more modern aesthetic. This was certainly the case for a beachfront home OMNIA designed recently in Long Island, New Jersey. The clients had spent many summers at the New Jersey shore and were in a position to create a special legacy for themselves and future generations, Mann said. The property occupies a relatively high point, with long oceanfrontage and a good degree of privacy, ideal for family gatherings and casual entertaining.
While the site was stunning, it was susceptible tohurricane-force winds and powerful storm surges. Mann and his team designed the 8,000-square-foot house with reinforced concrete and massive steel frames for the piers, walls, floors, and roof.
The structure was designed in an “H” form, with concrete, wood, and tempered glass forming multiple bays. The first floor includes dramatic design touches like a sculptural stair of stainless steel and white oak. Also on the first floor are a service kitchen, bar, and six guest suites that flank the gallery, along with 18-foot sliding glass doors open to sundecks, pool, and path to the ocean.
On the top floor, the expansive and private owner’s suite offers stunning views, with a balcony, dressing room, andocean-view tub. Also on the second floor are dining room, balcony, and upper deck, along with a sleek kitchen, which features a 14-foot marble and steel island. The kitchen opens to the great room, which offers expansive ocean views and wraparound window seating.
“I cannot help believing that there are fundamentals underlying great living spaces that are rooted in the few hundred thousand years humans and our nearest ancestors spent living enmeshed in nature,” Mann said. “Beauty in architecture too, I think, has some absolute character, albeit mysterious and not a simple surface effect but rather more internal and emotional like music.”
— Excerpt from New View: A Curated Visual Gallery: Twenty Magnificent Homes by Northeast Architects
Photography by Matt Wargo
Photography by Matt Wargo
Photography by Matt Wargo