How a Strangely Shaped Summer House Revived One Artistâs Practice
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/t-magazine/double-diamond-house-design.html
How a Strangely Shaped Summer House Revived One Artistâs Practice
In the aftermath of loss, Jason Bard Yarmosky sought refuge within an unusual 1950s home on the shore of Long Island â and found both respite and inspiration.
The Double Diamond house, in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., has drawn comparisons to a brassiere, two kites and even a pair of binoculars gazing out over the Atlantic Ocean.Credit...Angela Hau
By Kate Branch
Feb. 18, 2021
Often referred to as the architect of happiness, Andrew Geller is best known for designing a handful of small, unique houses that dotted the shorelines of Long Island, N.Y., in the late 1950s and â60s. There was the Grasshopper, built in 1966, an abstract wood-and-glass structure that, with its sharp, tilting angles, looked as if it were going to jump off the beach in Southampton; the Milk Carton (1958), a rectangular box turned at a 45 degree angle to the sea in Ocean Bay Park on Fire Island; and the Double Diamond (1959), made of two congruent 17-foot-tall cedar cubes, balanced on their edges, that resemble a pair of binoculars pointed toward the horizon in Westhampton Beach. In the latter home â one of the few projects of Gellerâs thatâs still standing â the void between the two pods is filled with triangular windows at both the north and south sides, and a tall brick chimney painted in swirling sky blue and white stripes rises from the facade like a candy cane. These buildings were celebrated not only for their playfulness and practicality â Geller, who died in 2011 at age 87, believed homes had a better chance of weathering gale-force winds if their leading edges faced the water â but also for their accessibility, given that most of his designs cost under $10,000 to build.