Blue Hill, Maine (population 2,686), is currently home to Elliott + Elliott Architecture. The organization’s office occupies a home constructed in 1835 that the architects say was “restored and renovated, added to and subtracted from according to the demands of its people” over the course of its long life. It’s easy to draw a parallel between the building, which has evolved over the years but still exudes qualities that are rooted in Maine, with the output of the small practice.
The organization’s architecture — six jobs are collected in Homes of Maine, published in May 2013 by Princeton Architectural Press — is unmistakably modern nonetheless also born of Maine’s harsh yet beautiful climate; the houses are even named for their natural features (House at a Meadow, House around the Barrens, House to a Pond etc.) rather than bearing the customer’s name or some subjective label. The houses also have a certain informality that’s evident in the respective volumes which contain every undertaking, like they evolved over the years but also like their strategies have been driven by wider issues, like preserving important site features and fitting into the larger Maine context.
This ideabook examines three of the six houses in the handsome publication. Each home is recorded through a description, a site plan, a floor plan and many of exterior and interior photographs; the book contains more than are shown here. Historical precedents are often shown from the publication too, like the barns and grange halls of Maine. A preface by the architects further elucidates how the firm responds to the context of Maine and why they like the nation so much.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
House on the Neck
This home is situated where, as the architects put it, “a mature forest of oak, birch, and fir gives way to filtered views of Blue Hill Bay.” In this view from the south, the water lies to the right, past the frame of this photograph. The home follows the topography of this site as it descends toward the water.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
On the approach to the home from the driveway, the water can be glimpsed through the glass walkway linking the bedrooms on the left with the living area on the right. The careful composition of wood frames, rock walls, copper siding and stained cedar shingles enables the home to be well integrated with its environment.
Princeton Architectural Press
The architects explain that the choice to break the home into three volumes originated from the narrow lot and the proximity of neighboring houses. The plan generated an intimate, personal outdoor area between the bedroom and living volumes. The most glass is located on the south side, so the north side is predominantly closed off from the components. Massive windows also look east to the water from the living area and the master bedroom.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
The architects were motivated by the timber-framed structures of Maine’s earliest buildings, and a simplified arrangement of exposed wood permeates the home. This perspective of the living area, looking west toward the entrance, also reveals how the inside follows the site’s topography; measures are found in a few spots so people are able to browse the incline.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
The informality that comes with breaking up the home extends to smaller moments within each volume. One such moment happens close to the kitchen, where a breakfast nook juts out from a south-facing glass wall. Little windows provide some privacy whilst framing views of the water and trees.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
House on a Point
This house’s site contrasts with that of this House on the Neck, even though both houses are near the water. House on a Point sits at the bowl of an abandoned gravel pit with water on either side. The most open portion of the site is to the south east, as well as the architects reacted appropriately by opening up the home to sunlight. Here we are taking a look at the north side, which can be more closed off but also shorter, provided the curved profile of the roofs.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
Large windows on the southern side incorporate louvers to filter sunlight. In the foreground are the windows of the living space, and outside are sliding doors to the kitchen.
Princeton Architectural Press
Like the former home, this one is divided into smaller parts to “break down the general scale, reducing its impact from the water,” according to the builders. Three of those five pavilions are connected tangentially: the kitchen, the living area and the bedrooms. Detached are the workshop and garage.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
The curved profile of the roofing would be the job’s most distinct design characteristic, one which was motivated by boatbuilding. This is appropriate, provided the customer’s love of sailing. The shape of the roof is picked up with these Y-shaped curved members that land in the middle of some custom millwork.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
Here is the perspective of the water from the tall living area. The lower part may be laminated with drapes, and operable windows in low, mid and high positions allow for plenty of natural ventilation.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
House on a Hill
This last home is among the most overtly traditional of Elliott + Elliott’s homes from the publication, but even though the design was motivated by a 19th-century Cape Cod that used to sit down on the site, modern touches are evident and split any regularity which happens in the composition. In this view from the west, two of the house’s three gable volumes can be seen. The entry is found in the glass piece which juts from the home at far perfect.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
One way to think about this House on a Hill is just as three gabled volumes scattered about the site, linked by glass bits. The glass walls bump out from the shingled volumes to produce the spaces larger and more open to the environment.
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The curved part connecting two of those volumes becomes the heart of the project — the living area and a dining area which lumps out from it to the north. The juxtaposition between the walls with shattered windows of this Cape Cod style and the thin glass walls with slender columns is incontrovertible in this plan.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
Elsewhere I have talked about this home and its small glass boxes. It is simple to be drawn to the expansive 270-degree perspective from the dining area. The distance advantages out of a glass door and direct access to the outdoors.
Elliott + Elliott Architecture
However, the home also exploits the potential of the gables, as may be found from the skylit family room that sits on the top floor of this westernmost volume. Again we’ve got 270-degree views, but here they are through punched openings rather than full-height glass walls.
Princeton Architectural Press
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Read more about the publication on the Princeton Architectural Press Site.