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Drumlin House, living room, open to the dining area and entry

Drumlin House

Five Room Campus is a collective of new and renovated buildings on a glacial hill outside of Germantown New York for a pair of painters re-establishing themselves on the east coast after many years of working and teaching in California.

Schedule

location
Germantown, New York
type
ranch house renovation
general contractor
Lydon Builders Inc.
landscape design
Tami Banh
photography
Michael Vahrenwald / ESTO

Combining living, working, and gathering spaces for the painters and their extended family, construction work concentrates around a set of five “rooms” scattered across the hillside. The first is a large, open-concept kitchen and living room; the second and third are painting studios in a newly-built outbuilding; the fourth is a currently unfinished garage that will house overflow working and sleeping quarters: and the fifth is a lightly-organized clearing in a re-wilded meadow that occupies the remainder of the site.

The modest mid-century ranch on the lot was well kept but over-partitioned, with many small rooms that separated the common areas from the landscape and views of the Catskill and Berkshire mountains. The first room was created by removing excess walls and inserting a series of plywood volumes for storage and cooking. A tiled fireplace with a color scheme and layout devised by the clients complements the forested landscape outside the oversized living room window.

Room four occupies the other original building on the site, a cinderblock garage adjacent to the studio beneath an apple tree. The fifth room was created in tandem with landscape architect Tami Banh: together, we devised a planting list that looks towards the Hudson Valley’s future climate, while also supporting the native flora of the present. Anchored by a gravel triangle seating area at the high point of the site, the outdoor room is a clearing in the new landscape at the heart of the Campus meant for relaxation, dinner parties, kiddie pools, and absorbing panoramic views north towards Frederick Church’s Olana estate.

Taken together, these five rooms form a cohesive compound, and a base for new paintings and expanded communities of friends and family.

Figures

Drumlin House, kitchen and living room as one open room
fig. 02 · kitchen and living room as one open room
Drumlin House, tiled fireplace, colors and layout by the clients
fig. 03 · tiled fireplace, colors and layout by the clients
Drumlin House, living room from the kitchen
fig. 04 · living room from the kitchen
Drumlin House, dining area beside the plywood entry screen
fig. 05 · dining area beside the plywood entry screen
Drumlin House, kitchen island
fig. 06 · kitchen island
Drumlin House, plywood shelving between kitchen and living room
fig. 07 · plywood shelving between kitchen and living room
Drumlin House, shelving volume at the stair
fig. 08 · shelving volume at the stair
Drumlin House, stair to the entry
fig. 09 · stair to the entry
Drumlin House, coat hooks and reeded glass at the entry screen
fig. 10 · coat hooks and reeded glass at the entry screen
Drumlin House, entry stair and garden from the drive
fig. 11 · entry stair and garden from the drive
Drumlin House, the house above the meadow garden, photograph by tami banh
fig. 12 · the house above the meadow garden, photograph by tami banh
Drumlin House, stone path through the meadow to the house, photograph by tami banh
fig. 13 · stone path through the meadow to the house, photograph by tami banh
Drumlin House, stepping stones toward the house, photograph by tami banh
fig. 14 · stepping stones toward the house, photograph by tami banh
Drumlin House, gravel clearing and planting beds, photograph by tami banh
fig. 15 · gravel clearing and planting beds, photograph by tami banh
Drumlin House, meadow planting in bloom, photograph by tami banh
fig. 16 · meadow planting in bloom, photograph by tami banh

Drawings

Drumlin House, house plan
fig. 17 · house plan
Drumlin House, campus drawing, the five rooms
fig. 18 · campus drawing, the five rooms
Drumlin House, site plan
fig. 19 · site plan

COPA (Cordero Pardee) is an architectural design practice with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Santo Domingo.