living space. Here, a vaulted ceiling sheathed in

Owner Kelly Hnatt, who designed her own kitchen cabinets, enters the
main living space. Here, a vaulted ceiling sheathed in yellow-pine decking is held aloft by enormous ribs made of an engineered wood product
called Glu-Lam; floors are bamboo. Opposite: Interior designer Jennie
Gruss (at door), Hnatt and her husband, Brad Randall (in the pool), with
the couple’s two dogs. To minimize the impact of the structure on the
site, architect Dennis Wedlick tucked the home into the hillside.
Ahead of the Curve
Old MacDonald meets urban cool in architect Dennis Wedlick’s synthesis of
Shaker-inspired barns and city-loft modernity for a young couple’s country
retreat in Dutchess County, New York.
MET HOME JULY/AUG 2007 123
On a visit to
Britain some years ago, attorney Kelly Hnatt, a partner at a prominent law firm, was struck by the beauty of English country homes,
particularly the way they hugged the land. She also liked that they
had wings, that “the rooms weren’t all in one box.” At the time, she
and her real estate broker husband, Brad Randall, were living half an
hour from Manhattan in a faux English Tudor. To Hnatt, its warren
of rooms made it feel uncomfortably crowded.
So in 2002, when the couple decided to build a country retreat on
40 acres of Dutchess County, north of New York City, Hnatt says,
“we scribbled some notes on a napkin and said we wanted an oldbut-new English something.” A bit vague, perhaps, but sufficient
instruction for their architect, Dennis Wedlick, right? Not exactly.
It turned out there were other ideas his clients wanted him to graft
onto their “English something.” They admired the work of Frank
Lloyd Wright—his use of natural materials, built-in furniture and
ample glass. “We wanted to see the land around us,” says Randall,
and Hnatt loved “the semi-industrial look, open plan and clean
lines” of city lofts. “Before Dennis showed us his drawings,” remembers Randall, “he asked us to keep an open mind.”
Wedlick coined the term “urban ruralist” to describe the result: a
shingled, 5,000-square-foot, barnlike structure with a standing-seam
roof and glass walls—a home so aesthetically pleasing in its composition that the model was included in the Cooper-Hewitt Design
Museum’s second design triennial. “It’s built for people who like the
look and feel of city lofts,” explains Wedlick, “with innovative technologies and the sophistication of an urban environment but in a
rural setting and with references to Wright and craftsman style.”
Left: The living room features chairs by Eames and Mies van der Rohe, a
Platner coffee table and a Thomas O’Brien Studio sofa for Hickory Chair.
Right (from top): Materials had to be low maintenance, says Hnatt, pictured in the master bedroom’s corner window (“It’s the country,” she says.
“There’s dirt.”); Randall with Molly and Bowen in a courtyard, where a glasswall grid pays homage to Frank Lloyd Wright’s trademark Cherokee Red.
Produced by SuSan Tyree VicToria. PhoTograPhS by Jeff
McnaMara. WriTTen by Jorge S. arango.
MET HOME JULY/AUG 2007 125
Open
to
Master
Suite
Loft
Pantry
Kitchen
Living
Room
Dining
Room
Screened
Porch
Entry
Foyer
Guest
Room
What the Pros Know
When siting a house, many owners choose high ground for views,
and builders level the ground for ease of construction, which is
both expensive and potentially damaging to the environment.
Dennis Wedlick built this house into a slope, which means that anyone inside experiences actual variations in the topography of the
land, climbing or descending, and views the landscape from different levels and aspects. Associate Joe Koelbel says that because
part of the downstairs is earth-sheltered, “there is less heat loss
or gain,” which allows for the use of more glass on exposed walls.
But for anything built below grade, he warns, you must insure
proper drainage and install retaining walls.
Inspired by barn
construction, the great room of the Hnatt/Randall house has a
vaulted ceiling supported by massive structural ribs. Project architect Joe Koelbel suggested building them from yellow-pine Glu-Lam
instead of solid wood. So even though the process of erecting those
ribs resembles a barn raising, observes Wedlick, the ribs themselves
are “thicker and deeper where you need them to be structurally
stronger, unlike simple barn beams that are the same strength
throughout.” Hnatt’s desire for a semi-industrial feel, adds Wedlick,
allowed the use of exposed brackets, stairs with steel cable banisters
and a curved hangarlike roof, constructed of Galvalume, a galvanized
steel coated with acrylic.
Koelbel used a modular system of steel-framed windows that
resembled those used by Frank Lloyd Wright at Falling Water and
simply multiplied the modules throughout the design. Their coral
color is a customized version of Wright’s signature Cherokee Red.
Hnatt designed the living room benches, which, though removable
for maximum versatility, look like Wrightian built-ins. (She also
designed the kitchen and bathroom cabinetry.)
As for the “English something,” the home hugs a slope, so its
volume is only apparent when you’re inside it. The layout “is like a
pinwheel,” says Wedlick, with various wings radiating from a central
axis. Upstairs and downstairs are also both on grade, with direct
outdoor access, and Hnatt installed a garden in the courtyard
inspired by—you guessed it—English parterres. m
See Resources, last pages.
Above: Architect Dennis Wedlick’s “urban ruralist” design combines
Frank Lloyd Wright’s craftsman-inspired Prairie style, Shaker barn vernacular, loftlike openness and a new twist on the English country manor
house. Left: A screened porch off the kitchen. Right: Hnatt and Randall
love to cook and entertain, so Hnatt knew exactly how she wanted the
kitchen configured. The island–breakfast table is her own design.
126 MET HOME JULY/AUG 2007