Davis House by Sharon Davis Design

Sharon Davis from the Sharon Davis Design studio is the architect behind a new house built on the foundations of an old, abandoned house in the Hudson river valley. Architecture that engages with a traditional building and with the nature around it.



Sharon Davis, principal of Sharon Davis Design is known to Livegreenblog readers for her contemporary language that is always attentive to the context of her various projects, from the USA to Africa, with a focus on sustainability.





For Davis House, the designer knocked down an old rural building almost closed in on itself, with very few windows and a pitched roof and retained its foundations to build a new house. This one has a vernacular appearance on the street facing side, where it is clad in Douglas fir, while the opposite side has large, glazed sliding doors that open everything to the outdoors. 




A single-storey volume with a rooftop patio extends from the rear and from here a pathway leads to the old barn and through the garden filled with native plants and flowers, and lawn by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects.  





For Sharon Davis, this engagement with the environment is never just visual, it permeates through all her design choices from the start so she can create a building that is green to its core. So, for the interiors, the architect went with recycled, repurposed and local materials, enhanced by the fine craftsmanship. The house's carbon footprint is reduced even more by the climate control provided by a geothermal pump, and the soy-based foam insulation, a valid eco-friendly alternative to chemicals.



Sharon House by Sharon Davis Design is just one of the many examples that demonstrate this designer's great sensitivity towards the environment, and towards the day-to-day requirements of the end users, with top quality architectural results.

Christiane Bürklein

Architects: Sharon Davis Design
Location: Garrison, NY 10524, USA
Architect in Charge: Sharon Davis
Project Architect: Jeff Wandersman
Project Year: 2014
Photographs: Elizabeth Felicella