Bespoke Home

To respond to the unique opportunities of each client and site, Bates Masi + Architects has developed an approach rather than a devotion to a particular style. Careful study of the needs of the site and owners uncovers a guiding concept particular to each project. It may be derived from the owner’s interests, the site’s parameters, or the character of the place. That concept is distilled to its essence so that it can inform the design at all scales, from massing to materials to details. The consistency of the concept is evident in the finished product. It imbues even small details and simple materials with meaning, thus making the mundane memorable and timeless. The result is an architecture that is cohesive, innovative, contextual, and full of details that delight.

Bespoke Home is the first comprehensive survey of Bates Masi’s fifty-plus years of work, including several never-before-published works. It focuses on the firm’s residential portfolio, specifically second homes on the East End of Long Island. Using each house as a case study, the book documents Bates Masi’s design process with concept images, diagrams, and narratives for each project. This book demonstrates how influences of the physical and historical context, as well as the client, are distilled into a guiding concept for each project. With a foreword by noted architectural critic Paul Goldberger and over 200 pages of photos and drawings of extraordinary second homes, Bespoke Home will appeal to architects and design devotees alike.