What does an architect do when faced with the challenge of building a brand-new structure intended to complement an 1850 Victorian farmhouse in Bridgehampton? Bryan Young, founder of the Brooklyn-based firm Young Projects, didn’t use a stick of gingerbread trim on the modern confection featured here. Yet the 3,200-square-foot Six Square House, completed in 2020, is not at all at odds with the original farmhouse, which the architect also renovated and enlarged.
The two-acre property belongs to activist Colleen Foster, a Detroit native and former investment banker who has lived here for almost two decades (the farmhouse was previously owned by Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick). For years, she had wondered what to do with the lot’s early-20th-century barn and was aching to turn it into something that would increase the capacity of the farmhouse and give her more flexibility for entertaining her extended family and network of colleagues. But the barn, which once served as the home of Bridgehampton’s undertaker, had not been cared for, and restoration proved to be unrealistic.
Enter Young, a Californian who studied architecture at Berkeley before heading east to Harvard for graduate school in 2000 and eventually founding his own firm in 2010. A mutual acquaintance introduced him to Foster, who recalls feeling “really connected to Bryan because of his willingness to think about the property as a whole. I wanted a modern barn structure, but I wanted it to speak to the farmhouse as well. Bryan stuck out both as an architect and as someone who understands the power of family.”
Coen+Partners planted a meadow of local grasses and flowers alongside a bluestone boardwalk leading to the entry. The garage is to the left and the living room to the right.
A canvas by Rashid Johnson hangs on the back wall of the living room, which provides corner-window views of the original 1850 farmhouse. A side table by Estudio Rain is tucked into a pair of Arflex sofas; the marble cocktail table is by Young Projects.
A bench by Nifemi occupies a corner of the living room. The photograph is by Senga Negudi and the mixed-media canvas is by Michaela Yearwood-Dan.
A wall hanging by Sagarika Sundaram punctuates the den, which includes seating pieces and a coffee table by Arflex and a rug by Objects of Tangible Space.
In a corner of the den, a pendant by Lambert & Fils hangs above a table and chairs by Roll & Hill.
The interior walls of the “porch” volume and the adjacent triangular courtyard are clad in Western red.
The countertops and backsplash in the kitchen are honed Calacatta Caldia marble; the island’s “skirt” is made of ash that has been milled to resemble fabric.
In the kitchen, two shelf/tables sit atop one another next to a side table, all designed by Zoë Mowat.
Perched on a raised slab, the primary bathroom is intended both to be viewed and to have a view.
A sofa and loungers by Paola Lenti inhabit the new open-air pool pavilion. The tables and benches are by Fango.
Framed by a massive old oak tree, the structure is clad in Accoya wood, an engineered pine sourced from Pennsylvania-based ReSAWN Timber Co.
“I hope it’s clear,” Young says, “that the house begins with a reference to the simple vernacular language of the barns that are so present in the Hamptons.” The floor plan consists of six 24-by-24-foot squares arranged around a small triangular inner garden. Connected inside, the volumes hold a living room, kitchen, primary suite, and a shared den/second bedroom, as well as an attached covered “porch” and a detached garage. Inside, “the three-dimensionality becomes more complex as the volumes meet. Walking into the house is a bit of a surprise because it’s white and softly curvaceous. The flowing interior lends a great deal of flexibility as to how it can be occupied.”
To finesse the iconic barn silhouette, the architect added softly swooping curves to the rooflines, which provide a timeless, almost Asian feel to the structure. A strong materials palette lends gravitas, particularly to an exterior clad in stained and charred Accoya wood, a durable, eco-sensitive engineered plantation-grown pine. The porch’s interior has been lined with Western red cedar, a direct tie to the shingled farmhouse. And each of the home’s rooms are meticulously fitted with large doors and windows offering broad views of the lot’s majestic oak and beech trees. A small open-sided separate pavilion features an ipe wood overlooking a new pool.
“I think of the Six Square House as my private space and the farmhouse as my public space,” says Foster, “because that’s where I cook and where we do most of our entertaining. My son and I move into the Six Square House in the summer. In the winter, I like the coziness of the farmhouse and its fireplaces.” A board member of Planned Parenthood for 11 years and current treasurer of its Action Fund, Foster has been able to put the Six Square House to good use. The organization’s work, she says, “has never been more important, not only to equality and gender equity, but also to racial justice, because the most marginalized communities are women of color.” She is also on the board of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, whose goals, she says, “are very personal to me as the parent of an African American teenager.”
Foster and Young have formed such a close relationship that she has additionally offered up her new retreat for his latest venture, called Verso, a “collectible design” gallery without a permanent address. Young’s partner in Verso is the Brazilian-born Amauri Aguiar, the former creative force behind Matter, the contemporary decorative arts gallery. Verso has a relationship with Hudson and Duane in Tribeca, but the plan is to keep the showroom moving, from the Hamptons to Uruguay and points in between. “The biggest surprise of this project,” says Foster, “is that the person I hired as a professional turned out to become such a close friend, and I so believe in his talent. Agreeing to have a gallery in my home is a tribute to him.”