A Designer’s Catskills Home Wears a Shou Sugi Ban Skin
The light box also features well-placed windows that keep temperatures in check and views unobstructed.
Late on an October afternoon, near the Catskills village of Claryville, New York, daylight was starting to fade. Rain fell from skies the color of smoky quartz. And still the weekend house that Spanish-born, New York City–based designer Maria Milans del Bosch created for herself and her husband was anything but gloomy.
The home’s charred-cedar rain screen facade blends in with the forested 15-acre site.
Photo by Montse Zamorano
The remaining light flowed through large windows, penetrating the double-height central living space, with its plywood trim and ceiling panels, and warming the poured concrete walls and floor. Bright flames in the fireplace cut through the mellow illumination like the clear notes of a flute.
The second-story studio overlooks oak, maple, and birch trees to the east. The Ypperlig table lamps are by Hay for IKEA, and the desk and floors are made of Viroc, a composite material formed from cement and wood fiber.
Photo by Montse Zamorano
Imagine a rectangular building with a pitched roof. Then imagine slicing the building into two unequal parts and placing them end to end so that the roof now slants in two directions. This shape defines the home, which is set into a slope and cradled by a concrete retaining wall. The shou sugi ban skin lets the house visually melt into the wooded landscape. "On a clear day, you can see the mountains," Maria says, looking west into the mist.
Maria Milans del Bosch’s Catskills home is attuned to the changing seasons. Sunlight pours into the double-height living room, where a Stûv fireplace and radiant floors keep the space warm in winter. The Can sofa is by HAY and the wall sconces are by Schoolhouse.
Photo by Montse Zamorano
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