On a March afternoon in New York’s Hudson Valley, you might find yourself in a treacherous, liminal moment of thaw. The snowdrifts, long piled up over the winter, are finally beginning to recede. Grass is starting to poke its fingers through the slush. Things are muddy, slippery, and still very, very cold. But at one residence in Accord, New York, the thaw takes on the feel of a zen retreat—the melt drips from galvanized gutters down rain chains, which in this context appear more like Brutalist sculpture than a functional piece of hardware.
New York City–based architect Neil Logan is the visionary behind this monastic property. During the pandemic, he was approached by an existing client to create a small campus of residential structures on a newly acquired property in Accord, New York. The site already had two buildings, which would serve as the footprints for a rebuilt guesthouse and studio. And eventually, the site will feature a third house as well—envisioned as a more robust residence that would accommodate the homeowners and their family in the long term, as they spend weekends and summers there. “He liked the idea of spreading out buildings on the site,” said Logan, who is now designing the third building for the family. (He also picked up the project’s neighbor as another client during the process.) The two structures that have already been constructed—a 1,000-square-foot, one-bedroom guesthouse with a kitchen, living room, full bath, and office, and an 860-square-foot studio for piano practice and writing—divide uses across separate, purpose-built spaces, like a summer camp. The guesthouse is spartan but warm; the studio—a 30-second walk away, even in the slush—co-locates nonessential amenities.
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