Near to One's Art

Serenity CONCORD / BREWSTER / NEWTON

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100 DESIGN IDEAS FOR PEACEFUL LIVING

Granite pavers lead to a reflecting pool at this Concord home.

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BOSTONMAGAZINE.COM SUMMER 2020

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Near to One’s Art A Connecticut couple relocates their family—and extensive contemporary art collection—to a bright and airy new build in Concord.

BY JULIE SUR ATT — PHOTOGR APHS BY MICHAEL J. LEE

this page The kitchen’s sliding glass doors overlook the surrounding meadow, which stretches to a stone wall and a historical barn on an adjacent property.

“It’s a very storied New England setting,” the wife says. opposite Granite pavers lead to a reflecting pool just off the kitchen, where the owners like to sit with a cup of coffee in the morning. Off to the side, a screened porch doubles as a covered terrace when the screens are rolled up.

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Parallel quartz-topped islands “invite our guests to be a part of what is going on in the kitchen,” says the wife, who loves to cook but didn’t want to feel trapped behind a big island while entertaining. She preps food on one island and offers tastings on the other.

The pathway to the front door feels like “walking through a garden,” Levin says.

The design team oriented the building around three oak trees on the property. “We had to pivot the house to get this perfect frame,” associate Erin Levin says of the view from the reflecting pool.

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The home’s only twostory section includes an art studio and an office for the husband, accessed by a custom staircase with a glass railing. A seated Buddha in the studio serves as a “reminder to enjoy the process of creating” and “not to focus on the end result,” the wife says.

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of art to complement the design of their house. These homeowners did it the other way around: They designed a house to complement their art collection.

Their story begins in 2017, when the Connecticutbased couple purchased several acres of farmland in Concord to move closer to extended family. To help create their forever home, they sought an architectural firm that understood the region’s historical significance—particularly its proximity to numerous Revolutionary War sites— and wouldn’t design “some mammoth home that didn’t suit the area,” the wife says. After reviewing numerous portfolios, the couple chose Hutker Architects because the firm’s houses “really speak to their locations,” she says.

The couple had one proviso: The project had to be completed by the following year, when their daughter would start 11th grade. The clock was ticking.

Jim Cappuccino, a principal at Hutker, and his associate Erin Levin got

to work immediately. Cappuccino visited the clients’ then-home, which overlooked Long Island Sound in Fairfield County, to observe how the family of four used their space. He and Levin walked the Concord property with the couple, visualizing the building together. And they took copious notes, detailing the clients’ requirements for their new home. At the top of their list? Ample space to display their extensive collection of contemporary art. “We wanted art in every room and all around us; we wanted to be able to live with it,” the wife says of their collection, which they’d acquired during their travels over the years, as well as from the husband’s sister, who owns an art gallery in Barcelona. At the same time, the couple wanted “tons of windows and the ability to open the house entirely to the outside.” The question was: How do you design a bright house with big windows and enough wall space to hang art?

The Hutker team rose to the challenge: Their SUMMER 2020 67

plans called for a sprawling, single-story dwelling facing south across the meadow toward town. At the center would be a barn-like structure housing the living and dining areas, with wings on either side for bedrooms and workspaces. “We were absolutely blown away” by those first drawings, the wife says. “It was so close to what we wanted.”

The resulting house stands delicately atop the meadow, which is dotted with lush trees. Upon entry, a gallery corridor spans the width of the central living space, offering plenty of real estate for paintings and sculptures. A combined living and dining room lies beyond, outfitted with vaulted ceilings and dormered windows that let in light. Sunshine also floods the adjacent kitchen, where— in the company of a large skylight and twin quartztopped islands—the wife often hosts informal gatherings for family and friends.

“I love to cook,” she says.

The kitchen comes with other perks, too. During the early planning stages, the wife told the Hutker team 68 BOSTON HOME

that she’d miss living on the ocean—specifically, the sound of lapping water—so the designers incorporated two reflecting pools into the scheme: one outside the kitchen and another outside the den off the living room.

Now the family can open the kitchen’s sliding glass doors to listen to trickling water while preparing dinner. “[It’s] been phenomenal,” the wife says of the new space.

At the end of the day, the couple and their kids retire to opposite ends of the house to unwind before bedtime. The children’s wing is to the left of the main living area, just past the den. Each bedroom features an adjoining sitting room, which the kids got to personalize. Their teenage daughter chose to create a makeup room with a vanity area and lots of built-in cubbies, while their son, currently in college, requested a secret door between his bedroom and the sitting room “with a retinal eye scanner,” he added jokingly. Hutker’s compromise—a door disguised as a bookcase—hit the mark.

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The dining room, accented by a custom pendant light from Jamie Harris Studio, comfortably seats up to 12 people.

A 2006 piece from artist Anselm Reyle’s foil-painting series greets visitors in the gallery.

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Light floods the living room through dormered windows and a glass bump-out.

The team designed the honed marble surround to complement the artworks on either side.

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1 bedroom suite

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3 side entry 4 bedroom suite

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5 den

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6 living room 7 outdoor seating

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8 screened porch 9 outdoor seating 10 master suite 11 outdoor shower

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12 art studio 14 laundry room 15 mudroom 16 garage 18 sitting room 19 dining area 20 gallery hall

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The couple’s son had an unusual request for his bathroom: a wooden bathtub. The Hutker team obliged with this Japanese-style soaking tub by Zen Bathworks.

In the enclosed outdoor shower, located off the master bathroom, the height of the wooden wall provides privacy while allowing glimpses of the meadow and farm beyond.

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In the master bathroom, a large picture window next to the soaking tub by MTI Baths offers bathers a view of the garden.

A multi-panel screen acquired from an antiques dealer in Japan hangs above the couple’s custom platform bed and upholstered headboard.

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ARCHITECT/INTERIOR DESIGNER

CONTRACTOR

HUTKER ARCHITECTS

BROOKES + HILL CUSTOM BUILDERS

KITCHEN DESIGNER

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

VENEGAS AND COMPANY

HORIUCHI SOLIEN

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A sunlit, floor-to-ceiling glass bump-out in the living room provides a cozy nook for the family’s game table. The patio outside includes a fire table and a second reflecting pool.

Giant windows on either side of the art studio and second-floor office help connect the spaces to the outdoors. opposite

Cedar shingles and vertical planks clad the home’s exterior.

The couple’s master suite, meanwhile, sits on the other side of the living area, along with the garage, mudroom, an art studio, and two offices. The wife appreciates that she and her husband can “shrink the house” by closing the doors to the children’s wing when the kids aren’t home. “We wanted a house that would be comfortable for just the two of us or extended family and guests,” she says.

Reflecting on their new home, the clients say they’re thrilled with how it turned out. They’re especially enjoying all the space they have for displaying artwork, which they’re no longer forced to keep in storage. The couple speaks fondly of the building process, too: Despite the project’s tight time frame and an interstate move, the experience “wasn’t stressful,” the wife notes, thanks to the effort of everyone involved. In fact, she uses a phrase rarely called upon to describe such a multifaceted project: “It was a lot of fun,” she says.

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