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ArchDC Winter 2017.qxp_Fall 2017 11/17/17 5:54 PM Page 53

Exterior of the Rockport Residence. Photo © Rob Karosis Photography

Among the residential projects honored by the juries this year are central pavilion, which offers its own line of sight toward the
three houses in the countryside—two of them new-construction water, encloses the entry, the stair hall, and the living/dining
projects, the other a renovation and addition. Although different in room. A separate structure provides a two-car garage with a
their detailing, together they provide a short course in how the second-floor “getaway” room.
archetypal domestic form of a gable-roofed house—a triangle on On the house’s exterior, driftwood-toned shingles combine
top of a square—can be adapted in varying ways to create modern with darker trim, a gray metal roof, and a gray stone foundation
exurban residences for households with diverse programs. to create a muted, neutral-color palette in keeping with the house’s
shore-side setting and the region’s maritime heritage. (If the term
Merit Award in Architecture “shades of gray” didn’t have its own peculiar meaning nowadays,
it would neatly summarize the house’s exterior hues.) A partially
Rockport Residence inset porch and windows that wrap around some of the corners
Rockport, ME erode the house’s basic rectangular volumes, moving the design
away from a simple regional saltbox shape and toward a subtle
Hamilton Snowber Architects geometric complexity that rewards careful study.
Interior Designers: Jodi Macklin Interior Design The interior color scheme is similarly muted: White walls
Landscape Architects: Mohr & Seredin Landscape Architects bounce around daylight while suggesting a relaxed, summertime
Structural Engineers: Shemro Engineering lifestyle. Blond wood flooring provides a soft contrast that anchors
General Contractor: Cold Mountain Builders the interior design without feeling too heavy. The living room’s
fireplace wall, surfaced in rusticated and smooth gray stone, provides
For a peninsular site on the coast of Maine that slopes easily down the main contrasting point of focus while tying the interior design
to Penobscot Bay, Hamilton Snowber Architects designed a new, to the hues on the outside. The kitchen’s island counter and the
4,200-square-foot, five-bedroom house as a summer destination for stair hall’s railings, finished in darker wood, provide additional
a couple with four grown children. The design draws on the area’s punctuation marks to the interior color scheme. Trim and detailing
architectural traditions while taking advantage of spectacular on the inside combine a traditional, country-house look with a
water views. more modern, spare design aesthetic.
The house consists of two parallel, gabled pavilions that are The overall impression of the design, both inside and out, is one
staggered front to back so as to open up views from both of them, of restraint and balance. The house’s modernity and sophistication,
connected by a third pavilion running perpendicularly between initially veiled by its use of traditional forms and materials, sneaks
them. On the first floor, one of the parallel pavilions houses the up on the observer, emerging over time as the design’s details are
kitchen while the other encloses the master suite. On the second cumulatively discovered.
level, the parallel pavilions provide four additional bedrooms. The

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