renderings courtesy of grant homes custom builders.
70 Lafayette road Marketed by Wendy Merkovitz, Broker Associate at Gloria Nilson & Co. Real Estate
Society of Princeton for Beatty House on Vandeventer, a Carriage Barn on Winant, and an addition and renovation at 19 Linden Lane. Wei has designed homes in San Francisco, Montreal, Miami, New England and on the Jersey Shore. “I’ve always been interested in modernism, with its sense of space, light, simplicity and minimalism,” he says. “I’m attracted to things that don’t have visual static, but have a sense of calm and serenity.” Taking their shoes off before walking on the pristine floors, Wei and Pinneo discuss how, in traditional architecture, molding serves a hidden purpose of resolving where one plane or condition meets another. “The challenge in a house like this is greater,” says Pinneo. Another challenge is the scale of a modern building in a historic neighborhood, and setback variances had to be secured. If the house were surrounded by open space, there might be more glass walls, but the windows facing the street are smaller, saving the large glass walls for views of the garden. “I see my work as an assemblage of components, and I’m fortunate that I have clients who have art collections,” says Wei. “We talked about how many cars, bedrooms, bathrooms, but the important thing was going to their house and looking at their artwork and furnishings.” The front of the house had to fit in on the street, being symmetrical, proper and formal. Once inside, a wall, tiled in an Italian ceramic that resembles corten steel, becomes an organizing element around which all the space is spun off—the “bridge.” Extra-large white porcelain floor tiles, with radiant heat, extend from inside to the outside parterre, pavilion, pool and terrace. The first thing that strikes a visitor upon entry is the Buddha set into a wall—just one example of how the house was designed for the owners’ artwork. “The design didn’t spring full blown from my head like Athena, but it was organic over time,” says Wei. Even the lighting design, by Eve Quellman of Narberth, Pa., was sent to Boise Cascade so the framing could work around it. “We get excited about things that make it work that the client doesn’t even think about,” says Pinneo. “This is the biggest house in my 27-year building career,” says Mike Danna, the project manager. “Everything has a purpose and I wasn’t used to it and had to learn it. Wes is unique and has a vision. The owners are peaceful, quiet and warm, and when the project was finished they had a soirée for everyone who worked on the project.” “Doing a custom home is like couture, not off-the-rack but tailored,” says Wei. “I had to find a good home for the elements of their lives.” The cabinets, from Hoffman’s Bultaup Studio, are a smoked oak, minimal and clean,
and it’s hard to believe any cooking goes on here, but when the cabinet doors are opened one finds, indeed, the hidden tools of a passionate cook. The smoked oak extends to coat closets and the cabinet surrounding the TV in the sitting room, which also houses a fireplace. On the lower level, even the gym and the fully stocked wine cellar have paintings on the walls. The artwork continues upstairs, where every window frames a view, as if these, too, were landscape paintings. Before Pinneo became a builder, he was studying philosophy with the goal of teaching Taoism, but the greatest lesson he learned was from a carpenter: “What we know in this life we know from doing,” he recounts. “I had no training in building, but I had life training, knowing how to pull together the right people and step back.” Wei, too, has learned to work with consultants. He is deliberate about calling the house’s design “modern” rather than “contemporary.” “For me, modern is an attitude, whereas contemporary is a style,” he says. “I hope my work is not a style but an attitude. I tend to stay away from design magazines. I’d rather read about fly fishing.” spring 2017 prinCETOn MAgAZinE
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