This exhibition shows a new house, studio, and workshop designed by architects Robert Kraus and Robert Marino, built in Schoharie County. Architectural photographer Richard Lewis Lee put together this photographic essay when he was a graduate student at Columbia University. The house is neither complete nor for sale, hence our uncharacteristic presentation.

A 4’ X 8’ module allows for efficient use of materials, and is the basic unit of this design. These modules are massed into bays. The house pictured is five bays wide and three bays deep. The design is scalable and can be adapted for a variety of projects, both domestic and commercial. For example, the model, below right, is from a proposal for an art gallery that comprises 4 bays.

The house is heated mostly by active and passive solar energy, and a radiant wood stove. The shutters of the sleeping lofts located below the roofline on the pond side of the house can be left open in summer to allow breezes from the pond and woods to cool the space. All possible configurations of the design elements preserve the energy-efficient features of the original.

Robert Kraus is an architect, artist, and furniture designer and maker. He has a BA from Yale (1976), and a MArch degree from Columbia (2004). He moved upstate from New York City several years ago to manage construction of the house, and work on regional design projects.

Robert Marino has held many teaching positions, including at the École d’Architecture at Nancy, the Technische Universität at Munchen, and Harvard. He currently has a design office in New York City, and teaches at Columbia. Rockport Press released a monograph on his work in their series, “Contemporary World Architects.”

If you are interested developing a project with them, please get in touch with Nicole Vidor, 518 929 6003, who is happy to help you with ideas and questions.

Technical note: The design deploys a system of columns and “built-up beams” that resists lateral loads and defines programmatic zones. The massing of the house “unfolds”; a frieze located at the level of the exterior fenestration of the north elevation, which faces the entry from the road, references the ubiquitous manufactured homes in the area, while the private south elevation is larg