TAG Ruhl Walker
Making progress on the Westport River House
A few Thursdays ago, we closed the office and the seven of us headed down from Boston to see how the Westport River House was progressing, and to discuss and resolve various interior and exterior details. The house was a flurry of activity, with almost twenty craftsmen on site, everyone working inside and out with the June deadline on their minds.
The brushed aluminum window system was nearing completion after a substantial manufacturing delay, but beautifully fabricated and well worth the wait; the matching frames for the screened porch were on site and will be installed soon. Most of the white cedar shingles were installed on the eastern “bar” of the house, as well as the red cedar window and door trim, all exquisitely mitered and finished. The charcoal-gray stained cedar slats — intended for the lower level rain-screen — were stained and ready for installation, as were the cedar lap-siding boards — prepped with bleaching oil — and the clear-finished walnut boards for the fireplace enclosure on the river-side elevation. The grilling and river decks were framed and the FSC certified mahogany flooring nearing completion, with NHL regulation hockey pucks used as spacers to allow water to shed between the deck and house. Working with Gilman Guidelli and their excellent crews has been a real pleasure!
And to cap the day off, we headed out of the cold drizzle to the Westporter for a warm lunch by the fire, complete with home made vegetable soup, fresh turkey sandwiches, and an assortment of wines selected by our clients / good friends, for whom the design of this house has truly been a labor of love…
 The house as seen from the river.
|  The red cedar frame and brushed aluminum window system is complete other than at the screened porch in the upper right corner.
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 The clear finished walnut fireplace siding and lower level rain-screen will be completed next. |  The flat abstraction of the house becomes more three dimensional as you approach the house from the river. |
 The two “bars” of the house as seen from the north. |  From the east, you can see the river-side “bar” sliding out past the shorter and lower shingle-clad eastern “bar." |
 The eastern “bar” with cantilevered front porch and recessed foundation. |  The high clerestorey windows bring morning light into the laundry room, guest bath, and home office. |
 View of the screened porch, soon to have their brushed aluminum framed screens and doors installed. |  The corner window of the kitchen, adjacent to the grilling deck and front porch. |
 Between the living/dining room and screened porch is a bi-folding door system, allowing the two spaces to flow together in good weather. |  The view from the home office, looking through the woods towards the river. |
 Detail of the inset windows. |  Detail of the front door and windows. |
 Both the master bedroom and living room are cantilevered out beyond the existing foundation – the living room only by a foot, and the MBR by 3’ – and the volume in between will be sheathed in walnut lap siding. |  View of the screened porch and river-side deck; below the screened porch will be a storage space with slatted siding. |
 | Kathryn Pakenham has recently joined our studio as a designer and project manager. Kathryn received her undergraduate degree in architecture from Northeastern University. She then spent two years in New York City with Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects designing for Marc Jacobs stores in Las Vegas, Chicago, and London. After completing her Masters in Architecture from Rice University, Kathryn returned to Boston where she and the Ruhl Walker team happily found each other.Kathryn is currently working on a condominium renovation in the Esplanade in Cambridge and a modern update of a house in Newton, MA. |
The Best of Old and New in Duxbury
Having recently completed construction of this renovation and addition in Duxbury, we are currently working with the owners on the last phases of furnishings and interior design.
The owners’ previous home − a commanding ship captain’s house built in 1851 − was just around the corner, and they had grown tired of maintaining its 17 rooms and extensively landscaped grounds, including a five−acre arboretum designed in 1939 by Woodward Manning. The couple and their twin sons wanted to substantially downsize, and to create a more light−filled, contemporary house in keeping with their modern lifestyle and passion for cooking. When a fixer−upper essentially in their backyard came on the market, they leapt at the chance to create their dream house.
The house they purchased – an 1850s “Cape” – had not aged well, and several ill−conceived 1960’s vintage additions as well as a crumbling, attached barn, had to be removed. This left the original small house to be restored to its former glory and transformed into bedrooms and baths for the boys in the original living and dining rooms, a library with wide−plank pine floorboards and wainscoting salvaged from the original barn, and two guest rooms and a bath upstairs. We then designed a fresh addition to the rear, intended to be perceived as an attached, modern barn from the street. It’s virtually all glass towards the south, away from the neighbors’ prying eyes. Within the addition are an open, two−story−high living / dining / kitchen, a screened porch, a sitting room that could serve as a bedroom in the future, a master suite above, and a garage and billiards room below. The main living space is awash in sunlight virtually all day long, modulated with a distinctive vocabulary of interior and exterior architectural slats. On the inside, the slats form an architectural screen made of horizontal cherry wood louvers, wrapping the fireplace surround in the living room, a stair wall behind, a balcony railing above, and a partial height screen wall in the sleeping area at the top. The shed roof of the “barn” addition is curved on the inside in order to enhance the diffusion of light both day and night, and also conceals ductwork.
Off of the screened porch is a new landscaped courtyard with swimming pool, walled off from the street and defined to the side by a Ruhl Walker designed pool house, and open towards the new tennis court in the backyard. The wife, now relieved of her previous maintenance regimen, including her dump truck and commercial mowers, is especially enjoying this new, low−maintenance landscaping, and the time she now has to concentrate on her family, her catering business and creating edible wonders in her light−filled kitchen.
 Digital model image showing "barn" addition at left and original house in upper right. |  Digital model views of interior slatted enclosureside view of house with original Cape at right, new barn addition at left, and master bath tower in the middle. |
 Southern end of barn addition with cantilevered breakfast room. |  View of barn addition with shed roof and continuous clerestorey windows that bring southern daylight deep into the house in winter original house, from the street, with additions beyond. |
 The entry hall doubles as dining space, with new living room up 3 steps. |  After leaving the limestone clad foyer and stepping up the 3 steps, you enter the double height living space, awash with sunlight and wrapped on 3 sides by the cherry wood slatted enclosure the cherry wood slatted enclosure wraps around the master bedroom loft; below is the catering kitchen and pantry by Arclinea. |
 The glass walled breakfast room cantilevers out 6' from the house. |  Behind the slatted enclosure of the new living room is an open riser stair leading up to the master suite, and down to the billiards room and garage. |
 A sitting room on the main floor provides some quiet space, and is designed so that some day it could become an accessible bedroom. |  Slatted walls of the guest bath follow the exterior detailing. |