Inlet House

House Renovation
Darien, Connecticut

Small projects are often testing grounds for new ideas. In this renovation we had an opportunity to experiment with materials and fabrication processes. The project consisted of a number of discrete interventions throughout the house, both inside and outside.
The kitchen is the most detailed portion of the renovation. Cabinets are sheathed in solid matte polycarbonate. Door handles are custom CAD-CAM cut into their surface. The polycarbonate allows the new kitchen to read as a taut, ephemeral volumetric insert into the existing structure. It complements the existing house design yet clearly sets it apart. The new kitchen re-organizes the way one moves through the house, but more importantly it allows one to make abstract connections between interior built elements and exterior natural landscape features. Corners are dissolved by foldaway panels, cutouts, and bold cantilevers, turning the millwork into a metaphor for the landscape beyond.

The project was published in the July 2007 issue of Architectural Record.