项目名称：Osprey House

地点：谢尔特岛，美国

设计团队：Desai Chia Architecture

建筑面积：3700 ft²

竣工时间：2023年

摄影：Paul Warchol, Jake Balston

设计特色：

项目 - 坐落于谢尔特岛马什奥马克自然保护区边缘的“鱼鹰之家”，由Desai Chia Architecture设计，通过与自然环境的巧妙对话重新定义了海岸生活。这座面积3700平方英尺的住宅，从其鸟类邻居——当地鱼鹰的巢穴点缀着整个景观——汲取灵感，在居家生活与原野之间创造了和谐的过渡。

该建筑采用"颠倒"式布局，将公共空间提升至二楼以最大化观赏湿地生态系统的视野。这种布局使居住者能够体验戏剧性的屋顶几何形状和拱形天花板，同时从高处观察自然风光，就像启发其设计的鱼鹰巢一样。

最引人注目的是建筑的外立面：由灰色柏木制成的垂直板条，采用日本传统的"烧杉板"（shou sugi ban）炭化技术处理。这种独特的包覆服务于多种功能——它创造了一种"鸟类隐蔽"效果，减少对野生动物的视觉干扰，鼓励动物在此栖息，几乎不需要维护，同时提供卓越的耐久性。这种质感和颜色，让人联想到沿海岸线发现的浮木，延续到室内，创造了外部和内部景观之间的无缝过渡。

受航海启发的几何结构像船首一样朝水面延伸，在两层楼都提供了有遮盖的户外聚会空间。一个优雅的楼梯从二楼缓缓降下，轻轻触地——这是一个诗意的建筑姿态，连接了住宅的社交和私人区域，同时将结构锚定于场地。

光线在整个建筑中扮演着关键角色，倾斜的屋顶相接处插入了高窗，让阳光洒在裸露的木梁上，产生戏剧性的南向光线。同时，大面积的北向玻璃捕捉了周围树木的垂直感，并以柔和的光线浸润室内，进一步巩固了建筑与景观之间的联系。

为当地建筑商及其家人设计的鱼鹰之家，展示了建筑克制和材料敏感性如何创造一个尊重其环境的和平巢穴——一个真正介于建筑形式和未驯服自然之间的过渡空间。

团队 - Desai Chia Architecture成立于1996年，已发展成为美国最具创新性的建筑事务所之一。由Katherine Chia和Arjun Desai领导，这家总部位于纽约的事务所通过光线、形式和场地特定因素的精妙相互作用，创造出能够雄辩地表达其材质和功能的环境。

该事务所的作品组合包括文化、住宅和商业项目，其特点是概念上大胆的设计方案，模糊了建筑与景观之间的界限。他们的标志性方法——将光线作为统一主题整合进设计中——为他们赢得了众多荣誉，包括享有盛誉的AIA建筑师协会荣誉奖、美国建筑奖，以及《室内设计》年度最佳项目的认可。

Desai Chia的设计哲学建立在三个核心价值观上：对场地特殊性的深入理解、材料真实性的尊重，以及光线与空间关系的精心处理。这种方法使他们能够创造出既回应特定环境又体现普遍设计原则的建筑作品。

Desai Chia以其协作设计过程而著称，他们与客户、工程师、景观设计师和工匠密切合作，以确保从概念到完工的每个阶段都达到最高标准。团队的专业知识涵盖从先进的数字建模技术到传统手工艺，使他们能够解决复杂的设计挑战并创造精致的细节。

事务所的影响力超越了建筑实践，其创始人在顶尖设计学院担任教职并定期在国际论坛上发表演讲。通过将教学与实践相结合，Desai Chia Architecture不断推动建筑设计的边界，并培养下一代设计师。他们深信建筑不仅仅是物理结构，更是能够丰富使用者生活并促进与自然世界更深连接的体验。

Project Name: Osprey House

Location: Shelter Island, United States

Design Team: Desai Chia Architecture

Total Floor Area: 3700 ft²

Completion: 2023

Photography: Paul Warchol, Jake Balston

Feature:

Project - Perched at the edge of Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island, the Osprey House by Desai Chia Architecture redefines coastal living through a thoughtful dialogue with its natural surroundings. This 3,700-square-foot residence, completed in 2023, draws inspiration from its avian neighbors—native ospreys whose nests punctuate the landscape—creating a harmonious threshold between domesticity and wilderness.

The structure employs an "upside-down" layout, elevating communal spaces to the second floor to maximize views of the marshland ecosystem. This inversion allows inhabitants to experience the dramatic roof geometries and vaulted ceilings while observing nature from an elevated position, much like the osprey's nests that inspired the design.

Most striking is the home's façade: vertical slats of gray cypress, treated using the Japanese shou sugi ban charring technique. This distinctive cladding serves multiple functions—it creates a bird blind effect that minimizes visual disturbance to wildlife, encourages animal habitation on the property, and requires virtually no maintenance while offering exceptional durability. The texture and color, reminiscent of driftwood found along the shoreline, continues inside, creating a seamless transition between exterior and interior landscapes.

The nautical-inspired geometries project toward the water like a ship's bow, providing covered outdoor gathering spaces on both floors. A graceful staircase descends from the second level, touching down gently on the ground—a poetic architectural gesture connecting the home's social and private zones while anchoring the structure to its site.

Light plays a crucial role throughout, with clerestory windows inserted where slanted roofs meet, washing the exposed wooden beams with dramatic southern light. Meanwhile, expansive north-facing glazing captures the verticality of surrounding trees and bathes interiors with gentle illumination, further cementing the connection between architecture and landscape.

Designed for a local builder and his family, the Osprey House exemplifies how architectural restraint and material sensitivity can create a peaceful nest that honors its context—a true threshold between built form and untamed nature.

Design Team - Founded in 1996 by Katherine Chia FAIA and Arjun Desai AIA, Desai Chia Architecture has established itself as a formidable presence in contemporary American architecture. The New York-based practice, currently ranked among Architizer's top 100 American architecture firms, creates environments that eloquently express their materiality and function through a sophisticated interplay of light, form, and site-specific considerations.

The firm's portfolio encompasses cultural, residential, and commercial projects, characterized by conceptually bold design solutions that blur boundaries between building and landscape. Their hallmark approach—integrating light as a unifying theme—has earned them numerous accolades, including the prestigious AIA Institute Honor Award, American Architecture Awards, and recognition from Interior Design's Best of Year program.

In 2018, Architect Magazine ranked Desai Chia Architecture #19 nationally for design excellence, cementing their reputation for technical innovation and material expertise. Their work demonstrates a commitment to sustainable strategies and social architecture that transforms communities through thoughtful place-making.

Led by Chia, who previously collaborated with Maya Lin, and Desai, whose background spans projects in New York and Washington D.C., the practice brings multidisciplinary perspectives to each commission. Their projects—distinct, evocative, and enduring—have been exhibited internationally at venues including the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Istanbul Bienniale, and Salone del Mobile Milan.