Tasteful Friends, what do you think?

Hard to believe they have a business.

I think we need an archived version of the story:

It looks ... spare.

Come to my cube.

The land itself looks very nice. Just a shame they put that oversized tool shed on it.

I look at it and just think fire.

"Indeed, the whole house functions almost like a clock, he said, as the sun moves around it, illuminating various spaces at different times of days."

Doesn't this happen in all houses with windows when the sun is out?

I KNEW I was going to hate it when I saw the window situation. It was confirmed to me when I saw the intentionally wavy wood siding. I HATE it. Except the pink aluminum cabinets, those are pretty cool. Everything else actually pisses me off. WHY are there post it notes all over the upper wall by the basketball hoop?

I wouldn't live in that place if they gave it to me -- and I live in a trailer built in 1972.

Marginally better than living under a bridge with literal rodents and cockroachs.

We hate art.

Well, it's an interesting use of plywood.

I do not want a house with the wiring on the outside of the walls, even if it is a pleasing shade of yellow.

And I can see why the architect-owners are happy that the price of corrugated metal increased so much that they had to go with the cedar siding; were it metal, it would look like a pre-fab tool shed from Home Depot on steroids. As it is, a flat roof is going to be a big enough nightmare when they get a foot of snow. The plus side is that the plywood they used is strong and has good insulation properties; the bad news is that it is lumber and won't last very long given the wet climate of the region and high sustained humidity. And note that there's no portico, porch or any shelter from the elements outside wherever the front or any door is located; not even a concrete slab, so all of the dirt/mud/snow/crud will form wet piles inside each door. I'm sure that right now it has a pleasant woodsy aroma; in five or 10 years, it will smell like all musty basements in the Northeast do with all of the framing, joists and sub-flooring exposed. It will only get worse from there.

This was an expensive home to build. If I were the architects, I'd put it on the market and dump it before they lose the entire investment and end up selling it for the price of the land less the costs to demolish the shack and start over.

They spent 1.45 million to build this? The property was 300,000, so....total of 1.75 million?

Is it just me or do the walls look like cheap press board? They wanted to try new construction ideas, so I'm assuming the CLT wood panels were extremely expensive? But they look like SHIT.

Looks like an unfinished shed. And that green staircase is the wrong color green.

I don't understand what on earth could have cost 1.45 million to build this box? Also - who is going to buy that for almost 2 million?

It's ugly as sin.

They couldn't afford a stone or concrete step up into those sliders. Looks unfinished.

They named their company nArchitects? How about nonArchitects..

R8, the post it notes are showing how high a person can jump.

I like the wavy cedar siding but whooo boy, good point about the flat roof. The interior is too minimalist for me but I put that down to being a vacation home where you really don’t want to be doing a lot of housework.

Sheepishly, I actually like it. I would add some very cool and comfortable furnishings, but I like the space and surfaces. And I also like the staircase a lot.

I was hoping someone on DL would create this thread.

I don't like this kind of design or this kind of people. I think the glamorous terrazzo bathroom is striking but it does not belong in that house.

The house does not have secure feeling spaces for entertaining and relaxing, neither inside or outside. It's very "pusy". Strange thing to build as a getaway.

You have to wonder if this is a trust fund kid's dalliance. His last name is Bunge. There is a very large $60 BILLION company called Bunge based in White Plains NY just outside of NYC.

My bet is that's his family and he's just sitting on millions. Because they just poured money into innovative design elements that didn't really add much - which means I don't think budget was too much of an issue.

Sterile and austere. The bathroom is the stuff of nightmares. Can you imagine having a hangover or being sick in that bathroom?

It's our perfect platonic cube.

There are no transitional spaces from outside to inside.

No part of the house gives shelter unless you step into it.

It's kind of arrogant and dumb, designed in an echo chamber.

Where is the storage? Vacation house stuff?

Wonder why nobody builds a flat roof in that climate?

R18 here - Yep - I think this guy is related to the founders of the Bunge company. There just aren't that many people with the last name of Bunge in the United States - or even in its native Germany.

He's a good looking guy actually. But I do believe this is a trust-fund kid's 'experiment' with new design - nothing else makes sense for anyone who is on a budget. 1.45 million is crazy - particularly because architects know where to source materials, usually cheaper than an average person.

Too many architects like the square, minimalist cube look. You should see what they are doing here in our historic areas. Tearing down old Victorians and Craftsman bungalows and building huge gray bunkers with windows on tiny lots.

The green staircase seems a little much and overpowers as a point of focus. The rest of the home I like including the furnishings.

I hate it. And I can usually find something to like about Tasteful Friends postings.

That bathroom is a two-toned galatic nightmare.

The beige of the wood in all the other rooms is calming and pleasant to me. Bonus points if the whole place smells like sawdust

I love it.

It's the exterior I especially hate. It looks like a segment chopped out of a larger house. The refusal to lend any order or balance to the fenestration tells me all I need to know about them. Many other architects have placed fenestration solely in accord with the interior plan, but they were able to make a case that randomness can be beautiful. Here, no.

The interior is better, at least aspects of it have some small appeal, hardly the kind of appeal that costs just shy of $2M.

[quote]that green staircase is the wrong color green

So are the comforters.

The one really furnished area of the house looks like a jumble of furniture and textiles waiting to be properly arranged.

If IKEA made houses...

typical NYT article these days

My -ex, an architect, would love this cube. And I like some of the choices they made--I like the randomness of the windows, the stairwell (wrong shade of green as someone upthread noted), and the yellow electrical conduits. But there's no warmth to the "home"--not even in the furnishings--and no paved/sheltered exterior areas for outdoor living--FFS it's supposed to be a vacation home. Minimalism is fine, but here it feels sterile and unwelcoming. I cannot imagine anyone having a hot fuck in this box.

Why did their design work dry up? It's such a mystery

You could dress up as Borg on Halloween whilst you dispense your candy to the children.

Their work dried up because they are talentless. This “house” is hideous. It looks like a modified storage container. The furniture looks ikea level. Depressing. The bathroom is abjectly ugly.

Take $1.75 million and put it into a fund. Even with today's modest 4% interest rate - you would have $70k a year. Let's say that's $40k after taxes.

$40,000 a year for vacation rentals could go pretty far, couldn't it? And you have new locations and different experiences each time.

Let's also remember the monthly costs of this home - property tax, utilities, internet, snow removal, etc. That's at least another $12000 a year into it just for it to sit there.

I don't believe them when they say they started looking around and just found the lot across the street. If they want to be next to their friends - that makes sense. But the huge expense to be in....Rhinebeck?

I know the Hudson Valley has its charms but -

I'm fond of rooflines that are straight when they should be, because otherwise one has shoddy construction fobbing the incompetence off as faux rustic.

Hideous place. It's a dishonest fishing shack.

I looked up their home in Brooklyn - a surprisingly modest brownstone in Carroll Gardens.

But the front door is the SAME PUKE GREEN COLOR as the stairs!

It must be their 'signature color'. Barf.

I still say this is the handiwork of a trust-fund baby who can afford to throw away almost 2 million on an 'experiment' with no thought to resell value.

[quote] It looks like a modified storage container.

So does all the new construction where I live—mostly university buildings and "luxury" apartments, replacing 19th and early 20th-century houses.

$1.4 million and they couldn't find decent wallpaper?!

Architects as a rule create sterile, impracticable, unlivable interiors. This is especially evident when designing their own homes because their egos won't allow them to consult with an interior designer.

"Impractical" not impracticable.

I like it but it seems they used way too much money, for what it became. It's a cute small dwelling for a retreat, but the minimalism would not be ok to live in ongoing- for me. I don't mind the materials used and I think it has good light and spacing. I just think it's more arty than practical living space.

[quote]This “house” is hideous.

Normally I laugh at DLers putting their hands on their hips and issuing verdicts like this and then flouncing away, but in this case it's accurate. That is an incredibly cold, unattractive house inside. They literally have no taste.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

I absolutely LOVE that I don't live there.

Imagine a cocktail party at that house. 😱

[ ]

If you like a Victorian home R22, you should move to Toronto. There are thousands of them throughout the city. Bring lots of money with you though....

Plenty of Victorian homes in rural NY still to be had (and some fairly cheap). However, you are paying a cheaper price because location, location, location.

Maybe the forest will reclaim man’s mistake

Totally agree with r40 - but don't you also think that architects build places like this to impress their architect friends?

That's what I get from this place - LOOK WHAT I DID!

And their architect friends will be like - oh yeah, this is GREAT - because no client would allow them to do this in real life.

It can't be fun shoveling snow off that flat roof.

Have any of you ever lived in a space with a concrete floor? I have. It's incredibly uncomfortable and destroys your knees.

It reminds me of when I was younger and my friends all had their first places. They were furnished with whatever the could find, had no real style and just looked like a mix of whatever.

In my area, people build/buy weekend getaway houses on the local lakes (reservoirs). Many are built with little attention given to their placement in the natural environment. They use cheap materials. The rooms typically seem like a hodge-podge of add-ons, often narrow or awkward shaped. They're furnished with hand-me downs and thrift-store finds. I rarely see one that looks liveable, at least for more than a few days.

That's what this house reminds me of.

"Sterile and austere."

Yes, but it also looks messy at the same time. They've somehow achieved taking the worst parts of opposite looks and combining them into something more horrific.

I don't know if you could even get much as a rental? They'd probably want $1000 a night and I don't see anybody saying - WORTH IT!

I like the green stairs. I like the kitchen counter. That's about it.

Once we're done trashing the house, can we ridicule the Adirondack chairs?

[Quote] Sheepishly, I actually like it.

Yeah I like it too, but was afraid I’d be attacked if I said so!

A $1.75 million house with expensive terrazzo in the bath but a fucking SHOWER CURTAIN?

I like it but not $1.75 million dollars worth of like.

What a lovely modern candle.

Looks like 70s Fire Island. Lots of PTSD queens on thread?

I can hear those stairs in use and I will find the foot stomper and slap them viciously.

Otherwise, that split on the exterior is annoying. It pretends to be a DIY error, but the setup is so twee, I believe it’s PROVOCATIVE bullshit.

Will this very white family survive plywood?

What "split"?