Roxbury, Connecticut, USA
Designed as an extension of their NYC gallery, the Roxbury House by Katherine Chia of Desai Chia Architecture achieves multiple scales and perspectives integrating interior spaces with the natural surroundings.
The Roxbury House marries art and landscape in intimate and broad moments.
The house is located on an existing site and positioned on the edge of a 12-acre site to minimize site disturbance and allow the existing open meadow and forest to support local wildlife.
For its nature-inspired design, the Roxbury House has recently been awarded a 2023 Future House Award by Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
The form of the house is organized by a series of undulating roofs that express a variety of programs and capture respective views of the landscape.
Two courtyards serve as outdoor galleries, allowing the clients to showcase sculpture and site-specific installations throughout the year as an extension of their NYC art gallery.
The house plays with changing terrain and uses native tree species to allow the surrounding forest to weave through the project.
Indoor and outdoor spaces oscillate at different scales with long axial views through the house, merging spaces with layers of materials and light as well as distant views of the landscape.
Tighter spaces such as hallways have integrated display shelves for art and are flanked with windows, creating new extensions to the outdoor courtyard galleries.
“Shou sugi ban” wood is used as an exterior material for its sustainable qualities, while structural steel and structural wood materials were minimized to reduce material waste.
Project: Roxbury House
Architects: Desai Chia Architecture PC
Lead Architect: Katherine Chia
Design Team: Katherine Chia and Arjun Desai
Client: Roxbury Family
Contractor: Berkshire Wilton
Photographers: Paul Warchol
