Robert Frost wrote a famous poem about how a good wall is a way to maintain good relations.   For East Hampton homeowners Ed Fogarty and Tim McMullan, the best way to keep and even strengthen friendships and familial relations is with a breezeway.

The house of five gables that appear to pierce and vault across the sky on their meadowed property, a short walk from the village of East Hampton, is one of the more dramatic architectural statements found on the East End.   Workshop/APD’s Tyler Marshall designed a deliberately dark house, composed of dramatic peaks, with whole facades of shou sugi ban, an ancient Japanese technique that involves charring wood, in this case Western red cedar. 

The lush lawn blends directly into the edge of the pool, and Marshall designed the roofline to be cantilevered, which creates outdoor areas protected from inclement weather, softens the harsh summer sun, and also creates large column-free living spaces. The house adjoins a 17-acre horse farm, and the homeowners commissioned landscape designer Abby Lawless to plant the meadow, so the focus inside the house is on the landscape. 

To add a more natural feel to the main outdoor décor, the couple blended the edge of the pool directly into the grass. When you're in the pool, you're fully immersed in nature, and when you're in the water, nature comes to you.