Design: Adding On To A Meier House

Only weeks after Anita and David Hoffman bought their acre of land in 1966, Mrs. Hoffman was browsing through the magazine section of The New York Times and spotted the house of her dreams. "David," she recalls saying to her husband, "we have to find this architect no matter who he is."

Within hours she was on the telephone with Richard Meier.

"I told Richard that I wanted an all-white house," Mrs. Hoffman said. "He said I'd come to the right place!"

The featured house was the one the architect had designed for his parents in South Orange, N.J.

Completed in 1967, the Hoffman house became an instant architectural icon. It was one of Mr. Meier's early works and his first house in East Hampton. Taut and white, it appeared as a three-dimensional abstraction of interlocking geometries.

Clean And Spare

Mr. Meier has said that the Hoffmans asked only that the three children's rooms be very small to encourage outdoor play and that the house be finished by the following summer. "Both requests were met," he said.

"It was clean, spare, just what I loved," said Mrs. Hoffman. "It was a perfect house for a family with little children." But as the family expanded, the space became too tight.

Three years ago Mrs. Hoffman approached Mr. Meier about doing an addition. He recommended the architectural firm of Peter Stamberg and Paul Aferiat.

In the new book "Stamberg Aferiat Architecture" (Rizzoli, 1997) Mr. Meier explains that the firm "had done outstanding renovations and/or additions to three of my buildings - the only three projects of mine that have been altered in any way without my involvement." Mr. Aferiat had worked with Mr. Meier from 1975 until 1979.

Exterior Walls

How to add to the Hoffman house without destroying it was the challenge. According to Mr. Stamberg, when it was finished, Mr. Meier told Mrs. Hoffman that the design was complete and could never be added to.

At first the architects were stymied. "In studying the plan for this structure we came to feel that it was quite different from Meier's other houses," Mr. Stamberg said. He added that Mr. Meier's works have always been "collage," that is, open-ended, overlapping areas that leave possibilities for expansion. "We saw this design as a clear and complete, somewhat locked, geometric system, a pair of exquisitely carved rectangles rotated about each other."

Examination of subsequent Meier designs led the architects to discover many "sprouted landscape walls" - exterior walls without roofs that merely define an outdoor space.

New Triangles

Thus, by adding a landscape wall to one of the rectangles, from which they could clip on rooms, the architects felt they had unlocked the system.

The new wing, which contains a master bedroom and dressing room and bath, presents a solid, unfenestrated facade to the road. The former master bedroom was pushed out a bit to add a fireplace. It became a den-guest room. And by incorporating a patio and tool shed in two separate triangular areas that were part of the original geometry, the architects also expanded the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

In his introduction to "Stamberg Aferiat Architecture," Paul Goldberger writes: "This is not so much an addition as a rewriting of architectural history, making Meier's original concept bigger and considerably more gracious, but all blending in so seamlessly that it is difficult for the visitor now to distinguish between what was added in 1996 and what Meier did in 1967."

Still Modest

"Paul's perception was correct," Mr. Stamberg said. "In a sense the space had always been there, but it was implied."

The house, once 2,000 square feet, is now 3,000 square feet - all added to the first floor. "The space flows so much better now," Mrs. Hoffman said. The kitchen has four workplaces so everyone can do a task, and the living room has space for an English farm table that easily seats 12.

Through some minor reconfiguration upstairs, the three tiny bedrooms have been made into two somewhat larger rooms. An open balcony over the living room has been enclosed in plexiglass to provide another sleeping area.

"The original house was built in a time that appreciated simple living," Mr. Stamberg said. He added that it is to Mrs. Hoffman's great credit that, while the addition increases the size of the house, the rooms are still very modest.

Still Dominant

"Keeping the scale of the new master bedroom wing very tight permitted the original Meier house to be the dominant element of the completed project," Mr. Stamberg said. "We were able to keep the addition subservient to the original masterpiece."

Mrs. Hoffman is pleased that the architects replaced the original white ceramic tile floors with wood. "The house is much warmer this way," she said. The rest of the house, though, is still strictly white - ceilings, walls, all the new furniture. "I very much wanted the same look," she said,

It is a look she has loved unwaveringly for 30 years. "When I wake up in the morning out here, I'm one very happy person," she said.

New Generation

Although the Hoffmans are now divorced, the house continues very much a family house. Two of their three grown children are married and three grandchildren have arrived since the completion of the addition. In fact, Mrs. Hoffman has begun to talk to Mr. Stamberg and Mr. Aferiat about another addition.

The only problem Mrs. Hoffman describes is the new exterior surface, an artificial stucco which she says is easily dented by garden machinery and also streaks. "It's not everything we hoped it would be and we hope to find a solution," Mr. Stamberg said. "On a minimalist house any imperfection becomes more noticeable."

As for Richard Meier, he had this to say:

"I think they did a very sympathetic addition that suits Anita's needs now. The proportions of the small children's bedrooms, which were designed for babies in the original house, are much better. It certainly is a very different house than when the Hoffmans moved in."