Moore, Swan house, New-York, USA, 1976.

The Swan House is a little weekend and vacation house perched on a high bluff overlooking Long Island Sound, in Southold, New-York. The owner wished for a room with a large high ceiling in order to capture solar energy. Towards solar the posture is wait-and-see, since although no active solar system has been installed, the roofs are correctly oriented and pitched at a locally appropriate 67 degrees, and the cellar doors are large enough for a heat storage tank to pass through them.

The kitchen and dining room are on the same floor with a fireplace in the middle of the room that enhances verticality. The guest rooms are in a special cottage. The beams used throughout the house to hold the structure come from a barn which was in demolition phase. The furniture is characterized by African rugs. The house is  well ventilated by French windows and large doors, especially in the summer.

References:

• Gerald Allen, Charles Moore, New York : Whitney ibrary of Design, 1980, 127 p
• Swan House, North Fork, Long Island, New York, 1975-76; architects: Charles Moore and Mark Simon, GA houses no. 7 (0, 1980), p. 78-81

Authors:

Alexis Barnabe, Michel Nocture, Gin Joen Yau