Old Yacht Club Private House

Renovations always present design challenges, particularly when historic preservation is involved. In the case of the Old Yacht Club, we wanted to draw a clear line between past and present. We left the salvaged and reused material as untouched as possible. When it comes into contact with new materials or work, we referenced the old in the new but also created a distinction between old and new. This clarifies what is historical and what is contemporary allowing both to coexist in a state of clarity, respecting history without blurring the line.

The original Yacht Club was an interior-centric structure. It was designed as a space for gathering and conversation around the fireplace; not as a space that was connected to the site or sea. Our clients' desire to engage the site to a much greater extent, both visually and physically, led to the extension of the Club Room onto the deck and the dissolution of the corner. The sliding doors retract fully, without a corner post, extending the interior space outside. By recessing the door track into the floor and using the flooring material as decking, we were able to blur the line between inside and out.

The largest climate or environmental risk that the Old Yacht Club faces is flooding. To counter this, the wood structure was removed and set aside and the foundation was reinforced. Concrete footings were placed beneath the walls that were not ledge-bearing, and the entire base was encapsulated with a concrete footer that was pinned to bedrock. Additionally, a system of concrete buttresses coupled with a wide footing transformed the water-facing stone wall into a reinforced retaining wall, capable of resisting storm surge. A drainage system was installed beneath the foundation and original apertures in the foundation were left open, allowing the foundation to act as a sieve and avoid trapping floodwater inside.