Nantucket’s aesthetic charm is no accident. It is the result of a notoriously rigorous building code. So, if you’re designing a home on Nantucket, it pays to work with an architect with local experience, which is one of the many reasons this homeowner hired Workshop/APD—an architecture and design firm based in New York City that had already built several homes on island.
On Nantucket, Workshop/APD is partial to pavilion-style architecture, in which the home is broken into several smaller, connected structures instead of one large mass. Andrew Kline, a principal at the firm, says that it mimics historical precedent: In the past, when people needed more space, they added onto their existing homes.
“We’re being informed by that history of additive massing,” he says. “The secret of doing work on Nantucket is you need to be referential in a way that’s respectful to the history.” Kline points out pavilion-style architecture also has contemporary advantages, including desirable separation of spaces, the ability to have windows on three sides of rooms, and a strong indoor-outdoor connection.
For this client, Kline envisioned three simple volumes coming together with flat-roofed passages connecting the structures. Visitors enter into a vast great room with cathedral ceilings that encompasses the kitchen, dining and living spaces, and leads out to a pergola and pool. Flowing off the main structure are two private pavilions: In one is the library and primary suite, and in another are guest spaces with recreation spaces in the basement level.
Landscape design by Miroslava Ahern surrounds the home designed by Workshop/APD and built by Reid Builders. Beneath the pergola, Harbour dining chairs surround a teak RH dining table, while RH daybeds and Harbour lounge chairs mingle by the pool.
Workshop/APD designed a custom console table, bench and mirror for the white oak–clad entry. The bench is upholstered in a Métaphores fabric. Underfoot is a wool-linen area rug by Merida.
Lune flush mount by Atelier de Troupe illuminates the hallway in the central building mass. The flooring, which is used throughout the home, is a Belgian oak sourced from Madera.
Gray tones infuse everything in the living room from the bespoke coffee table from Workshop/APD’s furniture collection to the upholstery on the Dmitriy & Co. sofa and the Lawson-Fenning armchairs.
Kitchen countertops are Cote D’Azur Blue stone sourced through Bas Stone. Fireclay tile adorns the backsplash behind the Viking range. Waterworks faucets and the Bright Group pendant lights are the jewelry in the cookspace.
In the center of the main structure, a custom dining table is surrounded by chairs from Harbour. The pendant lights are from Pinch.
The hanging sofa is a unique design in the library, while the playful Puzzle coffee table hails from Blaxsand. Ottomans sport a lemon Dedar fabric.
The u-shaped staircase features a burnished steel railing.
A pair of Dmitriy & Co. chairs upholstered in a white Holland & Sherry fabric and concrete accent tables by Bodega sit at the foot of the bed. The pendant lights are from A Emotional Light.
In the primary bath, the stone on the countertops and floors is sourced through Bas Stone. An Articolo sconce hangs between mirrors from Modern Mirrors.
A pair of Strut tables from Blu Dot and a Rove Concepts sofa furnish the pool cabana, where Benjamin Moore’s New York State of Mind was used to create an ombré effect on the interior walls.
As both an architecture and interior design firm, Workshop/APD has a unique way of working. Rather than an architect passing the baton to the designer when the architecture is complete, the design team considers furnishings early on. “We’re putting furniture in these rooms right after concept—changing the shape and size of rooms to react to the furniture,” explains Kline, who collaborate with interior designer Nicole Ficano, another principal at Workshop/APD.
Outside, the house is clad in traditional cedar shakes with black Georgian-esque windows. On the inside, Kline and Ficano walked a transitional line, leaning slightly toward a modern aesthetic. For example, the kitchen cabinets are a pared-back interpretation of a Shaker style, rendered in warm wood tone and paired with richly veined marble counters. Likewise, in the almost all-white library, the perfect lines of the tight-jointed shiplap are juxtaposed with the wire brushed texture of the wood. “You get these modern lines, but you’re doing it with a material that has life and texture in it,” explains Kline.
For the fabrics and furnishings, Kline followed the client’s preferences for grays and cool-toned woods, introducing accents of yellow and blue. But, Ficano notes, it’s not the traditional Nantucket blue. “We wanted to have a lot of grays and soft blues,” she says.
While the homeowner primarily desired an aesthetic of comfortable sophistication, he was open to moments of whimsy. For example, for a wayfinding device for the guest rooms, they settled on stenciling the doors with iconic Nantucket beach cars, so the homeowner, a car aficionado, can say, “You’re in the Land Rover room.”
The homeowner also requested a hanging couch for the library, which was a playful gesture that required serious construction. “We’ve never designed a hanging indoor sofa of that magnitude,” says Ficano. “A lot of engineering went into it because of the scale and the amount of weight that it needed to hold.” For an extra layer of playfulness, Ficano and her team hand-dyed the cables that the couch hangs from a lemon yellow. It’s just one of many custom pieces that make this home truly bespoke.
While a swinging sofa suspended from yellow circus cables is hardly traditional Nantucket style, the house feels very much at home on the island. This contemporary style inspired by history is a balancing act not every firm can execute, but Workshop/APD has perfected it. It helps, says Kline that, “At its core, Nantucket architecture was always very simple and modern.”
