Olnick Spanu House
Alberto Campo Baeza

Photo: Javier Callejas

Olnick Spanu House in Garrison, New York, a plane is established that underlines the landscape, seeking to enhance it.

The house is a 122 feet by 54 feet long box, 12 feet high, with sturdy concrete walls that accentuate its relationship to the land. The roof is flat, paved in travertine, serving as a terrace for the living quarters contained in a glass box above.

This glass box is divided by two white boxes, that do not reach the ceiling, containing the stairs and service spaces. The living area occupies the central space, the kitchen is on one side closer to the swimming pool, the area around the hearth, in the manner of a pensatorio, is on the other side.

Photo: Javier Callejas

Photo: Javier Callejas

Photo: Javier Callejas

Photo: Javier Callejas

A place where twilights are a thousand colors as the water on the Hudson River breaks into a thousand reflections. A place where the air is clean and calm, and mild. One could say a place that is very close to heaven. In this impressive place, we establish a plane, a platform that underlines the landscape before us, seeking to enhance it./Alberto Campo Baeza

Photo: Javier Callejas

Photo: Javier Callejas

In order to accentuate its transparency the back row of columns, supporting the cantilevered roof, are contained within the glass box, leaving the front columns outside.

The bedrooms and baths are housed in the cement box below. In its central vestibule, connecting the main entrance and the access to the garden, Arte Povera and other pieces of contemporary Italian art are displayed.


Sketch courtesy Aberto Campo Baeza

Sketch courtesy Aberto Campo Baeza
Drawing courtesy Aberto Campo BaezaBasement Level Plan
Drawing courtesy Aberto Campo BaezaGlass Box Plan

Drawing courtesy Aberto Campo BaezaSection