Both the architect and interior designer have long known the very land this house occupies in Water Mill. Where there had once been a residence on two lots overlooking the Atlantic Golf Club, there is now this new house on one of those sites. By sheer cosmic coincidence, both architect Jason Poremba and interior designer David Scott worked, independently of one another, on that former house years ago. To keep the story simple, this homeowner later commissioned Poremba and Scott to create a new modern masterpiece of a house.
Poremba has worked almost everywhere in the Hamptons. He affectionately refers to himself as “a homegrown unicorn,” referencing that he grew up in Southampton—with his parents having owned a once-popular auto-parts business in town. Although Poremba cites his Italian and Polish roots, he can trace part of his ancestry back to the 1640s in Southampton. “I am truly a homegrown architect,” he emphasizes, “and I admit that I have special pride in designing houses that have the right impact and footprint out here.”
The client and his wife wanted a decidedly contemporary house to occupy this site within a putt of one of the club’s greens. While the resulting L-shaped house features seven bedrooms, it occupies a mere portion of the site. “So many new houses out here have no breathing room,” says Poremba. “This homeowner wanted his house to breathe, have space around it.” Broad cantilevered decks and overhangs, some cut with filtering brise soleils, terraces off bedrooms, and moments of transparency where one can look through the house front to back work to minimize the structure’s presence on the land. Scott echoes that sentiment by emphasizing that the homeowners “wanted a lot of air around things. Their intention was to keep the views open and foster a sense of lightness inside. When configuring interiors in a modern house with big windows and rectilinear lines, designing rooms is not so much about layering but about carefully focusing on each item.”
Jason Poremba and David Scott create a new light-filled modern masterpiece of a house.
Architect Jason Poremba of Jason Thomas Architect designed this house from the ground-up. A wall covering from Wirth & Company covers the walls by the staircase.
A custom rug from Doris Leslie Blau complements a sofa from Dmitriy & Co. in the living room. A coffee table in shade Almost Teal is from Bari Ziperstein.
A custom rug from Doris Leslie Blau complements a sofa from Dmitriy & Co. in the living room. A coffee table in shade Almost Teal is from Bari Ziperstein.
In the kitchen, the cabinetry, range, hood and island are by Boffi. The pendant above the island is from Roll & Hill.
Chairs from DDC surround a custom table from A.R.S. Antiqua Co., LLC in the dining room.
A sectional and armchairs from B&B Italia are paired together in the outdoor seating area.
Armchairs from Lawson Fenning complement a custom sofa covered in a Holly Hunt fabric in the den.
In the primary bedroom, the sofa and side table are from Matter, and the floor lamp is from Aqua Creations. The window fabric is from Cowtan & Tout.
In a bedroom, the window fabric is from Cowtan & Tout and the side table is from TRNK.
A ceiling fixture by Wood Lighting Design from 1stDibs hangs above a table by Natan Moss Designs.
Among the most arresting architectural elements is Poremba’s two-story glass entry, akin to an atrium, that fosters a sense of transparency. The dramatic arrival point, zippered with a floating staircase, is flooded with light and serves as adividing line between private and public parts of the house. While many of the floor-to-ceiling windows throughout are fixed, some in the bedrooms function as sliders, creating a laseamless connection between outside and inside.
A thoroughly contemporary home should also embrace cutting-edge technology. The “smart-glass” windows and doors incorporate a technology that enables them to automatically respond to the light outside, darkening as sunlight increases. Concomitant with these subtle changes, the lights inside are programmed to brighten as the light outside fades. “In that sense, the house itself feels organic, maybe even breathing,” says Poremba.
Scott, meanwhile, responded to the house’s rectilinearity by furnishing rooms with organic forms. Sinuous, seemingly amorphous sofas and chairs, lighting fixtures and coffee tables occupy the interiors, at once spare but not stark. “When you have hard architectural lines,” says Scott, “I love to soften them with organic shapes. Softer forms are easier on the eyes. They create a sense of flow.”
For the living room, Scott chose Stahl and Bend’s “Sunnyside Up” walnut coffee table, noted for a shape that harkens to a frying egg, in addition to rounded sofas and chairs. He also has a penchant for using recyclable materials, evidenced in a sculptural chair made of wood and plastic that presents itself as a series of ribbon folds. A multicolored table in a sitting area is composed of discarded plastics that were melted and poured into a circular form.
Both Poremba and Scott cite the collaborative, open-minded nature of the clients as the key variable in the success of the finished house. “I thrive when a client allows me creative freedom,” says Poremba. “and this project really was the first opportunity I had to showcase my skill set.” Scott concurs. “I really feel that this house embodies the best of contemporary design in that everything in it will still feel good over many years. Jason tells a great architectural story and I hope the interiors do the same.” As for the site on which the residence sits, Poremba adds, “It’s remarkable that years later, David and I found ourselves working together on a project where we had both been before.”