Project Name: House in a Meadow

Location: North East, New York, United States

Design Team: Group Projects Architecture

Floor Area: 2,800 ft² (approx. 260 m²)

Completion Year: 2024

Photographer: Nicholas Venezia

Feature：

Project - Black-clad gabled volumes emerge from a meadow in upstate New York, where Group Projects Architecture has designed a residence that masterfully navigates the dialogue between architectural intervention and natural landscape. The 2,800-square-foot House in a Meadow demonstrates how thoughtful site positioning can enhance both the building's functionality and its inhabitants' experience of the surrounding environment.

Rather than placing the structure at the property's highest point, the architects made the strategic decision to nestle the home at the meadow level along the base of an existing ridge. This unconventional choice not only preserved the site's mature trees but also created a natural windbreak and established a compelling spatial narrative that unfolds as visitors descend from the arrival point.

The project's most distinctive feature is a bold excavation move: a 100-foot-long slice carved into the ridge creates a dramatic concrete-retained courtyard that serves as an intimate counterpoint to the expansive meadow views. This engineered "outdoor room" exemplifies the project's sophisticated approach to landscape integration, where architectural intervention enhances rather than diminishes the site's natural qualities.

The building's form takes cues from vernacular barn architecture but elevates it through precise material execution. The exterior is unified by black corrugated metal that wraps continuously from facades to roof, creating a monolithic appearance that's subtly animated by the material's wave pattern and exposed painted rafter tails. Large glazed openings pierce this dark envelope, offering strategic views while adding depth to the simple gabled profile.

Inside, four Douglas fir-clad millwork blocks float within the open plan, functioning as both spatial organizers and service elements. The interior palette is restrained yet rich, combining white surfaces with concrete floors and bronze-framed sliding doors. A gently vaulted ceiling above the communal spaces adds a cloud-like softness to the interior volume, while lower ceilings in private areas create more intimate zones – demonstrating how subtle spatial modulation can enhance the domestic experience without compromising architectural clarity.

Design Team - Group Projects, established in 2018 in Brooklyn, represents an emerging force in contemporary architectural practice that exemplifies a rigorous approach to design through collaborative methodology. The practice, while relatively young in its institutional timeline, leverages the extensive expertise of its founding partners who bring experience from prestigious firms including Gensler, SOM, and LEVENBETTS.

The firm is led by a triumvirate of accomplished architects: Andrew Feuerstein, Jonathan Man, and Bret Quagliara. Feuerstein, serving as the Lead Architect, brings significant institutional and residential expertise from his tenure at LEVENBETTS, complemented by his environmental design background from the University of Colorado and advanced architectural studies at Parsons. Man contributes his comprehensive experience from Gensler and SOM, backed by his Berkeley education, while Quagliara adds a multidisciplinary perspective that bridges architecture and graphic design.

The practice's design philosophy emphasizes a holistic approach to project delivery, fostering intensive collaboration among clients, technical consultants, contractors, and fabricators. This integrated methodology enables the firm to develop bespoke architectural solutions that respond precisely to project-specific parameters while maintaining high standards of technical execution and aesthetic refinement across various scales and typologies.