This summer residence is conceived as a series of floating horizontal planes, inspired by leaves falling slowly through the breeze, filtering the southern light and opening to northern views of the ocean.

Building in the town of Aquinnah on Martha’s Vineyard entailed several design limitations (height, roof slope, materials), as did the modest budget. The most difficult part of the design was rendering the structure stable, as there are many long/continuous horizontal openings. The chimney was thus designed as a (hidden) large moment core. A lot of thought also went into maintaining a very thin and elegant exterior structural silhouette (columns, porch) and ensuring the roof would remain watertight.

Ioana Urma worked on this project at Maryann Thompson Architects developing the formal design, the structural & construction details, the stairs & railings, the lighting, on material & product research, on assisting clients in meetings with consultants, and on construction administration. Ioana also produced the model and presentation drawings. She worked on this project with Bill Pevear.

The images here belong to M.T.A. Ioana Urma manually produced the ones that aren’t credited to someone else.