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Vulnerable Curtains Presage Amazing Texture Plays

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There’s a wonderful absurdity to these ephemeral curtains in the roughcast concrete block exterior of the East House by Peter Rose and Partners.

Sited at Marth’s Vineyard in Chilmark, Massachusetts, the boxy residence has a rugged concrete shell of 10″ walls.

By contrast, rich Douglass Fir and Alaskan Cedar interiors give the home a lantern-like warmth.

Even the concrete is rough-cast in place; giving each block a hand-made appearance.

The interior is warmly lined with with thermally warmed stone floors, and what appears to be some kind of pink stone walls.

These walls are actually wood, but cut wide and placed to look like thick stone walls.

Just as the thick internal walls are designed to resemble stone, the stone floor is planked in unusually long pieces, resembling wood.

All the interior materials are intimate, soft and warm but extremely durable in the rough coastal weather.

Almost like a sauna, an internal passageway is totally devoted to the Alaskan red cedar – except for a surprising slice of sunshine and blue sky above.

Curtains move freely, suspended from the ceilings on unusual long strings.

The bathroom is clad in tiny glass tiles and continues the same unique long suspension curtain treatment seen throughout.

An Alaskan cedar box skylight inverts the box bathtub – and in turn all placed within a boxed alcove.

Under the traditional planking of the Alaskan Cedar ceiling, the thermal warmth and comfort of the interiors suggest permanence.

But in a surprise finding, the rate of coastal bluff erosion revealed a risk about the permanence of the site.

So the 4,000 square foot house was designed to make it movable should the cliff erosion put it in harms way.

The house is divided into wood-lined concrete boxes, including concrete under the floor and on the roof, as well as on the walls.

The concrete box structuring meant each box could be individually lifted by crane with all the interior cladding held perfectly in place.

Ten-inch thick cast concrete walls are relieved with sustainably harvested Spanish Cedar window frames.

The house is designed sustainably with radiant flooring and geothermal heating and cooling – which, along with wide ventilation, cools the house in summer and keeps it sustainably warm in winter.