Fly Over Country

Paul Gates’s first visits to the Mid-Hudson Valley had him looking skyward. “My father used to bring us here to visit the Rhinebeck Aerodrome for the airshows,” he explains. “Even then, I was taken by the beauty of the area.” It’s probable that, on one of those visits, as one of the airshow’s historic, open-cockpit biplanes looped across the sky, the plane passed right over Turkey Hill, where Gates would one day build his modernist take on a simplified nature retreat. The home and studio, two shed-like structures clad in black metal and tucked against the hilltop tree line, merge contemporary design with the natural rhythm of sunlight, open skies, and surrounding fields.

The design’s simplicity is deceiving. Sited carefully on the hilltop, the 2,200-square-foot main house and separate 500-square-foot studio were precisely calculated to maximize efficiency and erase the boundary between the interior and its setting. The angled roofs, calculated for maximum solar harvesting and to capture the expansive northern views, mimic the hawks constantly swooping over the surrounding fields. “The structure is designed like an airplane wing,” explains Gates. “We had to add 25 bolts holding the house into the earth so it doesn’t fly away.”

Photos courtesy of Gates Merkulova Architects