ESSENTIALS
Firm Name: Koning Eizenberg Architecture
Principals: Julie Eizenberg, Hank Koning, Brian Lane, Nathan Bishop
Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
Accolades: Forbes Architecture’s “America’s Top 200 Residential Architects,” 2025; Forbes Architecture’s “America’s Best-in-State Residential Architects,” 2025
House Name: Shelter Island House
Location: Shelter Island, New York
Area & Layout: 2,500 square feet; 3 BR, 3 BA
Architectural Photographer: Michael Moran Photography (moranstudio.com)
Koning Eizenberg Architecture was started by a scrappy pair of young married architects laboring over their kitchen table at the dawn of the Reagan era. Nearly half a century later, the Santa Monica, California, firm is still at it, producing unpretentious contemporary homes that place a premium on community, sustainability and modesty.
All three qualities are on display in a weekend retreat the firm designed on Shelter Island, a bucolic haven wedged between Long Island’s North and South Forks, just up the road from The Hamptons. Given their proximity to that exclusive enclave, the clients’ wish list was surprisingly unassuming: They just wanted a small place with shaded decks, an outdoor shower, big fireplaces and good natural ventilation. “It made perfect sense, given the hot, humid summers and snowy, blustery winters,” says co-founder Julie Eizenberg, who started out designing the porch and let the rest of the design evolve from that.
“Porches are particularly effective at putting people at ease,” notes the architect, whose work tends to emphasize the power of informal spaces to bring people together. The Shelter Island porch stretches the entire width of the house, which nestles in a grove of trees about 250 feet from the shore. The porch provides shelter from the elements and frames views of the water and the ruins of an old masonry boathouse that dominate the vista.
The porch’s roof is supported by a procession of cedar beams that continue inside, uniting interior and exterior and establishing a rhythmic texture that is repeated in slatted walls, window screens and window vents. A blue tile wall anchors the rear of the galley kitchen, which is illuminated by a clerestory window above. Photovoltaic cells atop the roof help power the radiant-heated Douglas fir floors throughout the 2,500-square-foot home.
While the pavilionlike design pays homage to International Style, the simple, unpretentious finishes recall the beach houses of yore. In blending the two, Koning Eizenberg keeps the emphasis on the surroundings—but ensures that the view inside is pretty special, too.
ABOVE: “The front door tucks into one end of the wraparound porch that looks across a rolling lawn to the adjacent beach club,” says Eizenberg. “Adding a level drop at the property line helps to differentiate private space from the community resource next door.”
Michael Moran Photography
ABOVE: The bedroom wing facing the street is wrapped with a cedar rainscreen that creates a gap between the cladding and the inner wall to improve thermal efficiency and minimize moisture infiltration. Wood slats covering the den’s window enhance privacy without obscuring the view from inside.
Michael Moran Photography
ABOVE: “The primary bedroom is set back from the living space with its own outside deck,” Eizenberg says. The room is elevated to enhance views of the water through a cleared easement that runs along the property’s eastern edge.
Michael Moran Photography
ABOVE: “Simplicity, horizontality and rhythm proved key to creating social and physical connections between building and place,” says Eizenberg.
Michael Moran Photography
ABOVE: The front entry hall includes a bench (at right) for removing summer or winter gear, and an alcove (not shown) for storing it. The bedroom hallway opposite the front door is painted white from floor to ceiling, creating a kind of retreat within the retreat.
Michael Moran Photography
ABOVE: “The project benefitted from a great contractor and woodworker who made customizable details affordable,” says Eizenberg. “His craft can be seen in the seamless integration of glass, posts and operable wood ventilation panels.”
Michael Moran Photography
ABOVE: “The kitchen anchors the social spaces of the house,” Eizenberg says. “A clerestory above brings daylight deep inside, reinforcing the connection to the outdoors. Rugged natural materials reinforce a sense of informality and ease.”
Michael Moran Photography
ABOVE: “Beams extend some 30 feet from the kitchen wall to the exterior posts, creating an ambiguous boundary between inside and out,” Eizenberg says. The stairs lead to the primary bedroom.
Michael Moran Photography
ABOVE: The remains of a crumbling masonry boathouse dominate the shoreline, giving the house a compelling focal point without obscuring the views of the water on either side. An easement to the right of the boathouse provides easy beach access from the house, which was designed to meet the clients’ request for a modern, unpretentious retreat that prioritized craft over size.
Michael Moran Photography
Koning Eizenberg Architecture
Koning Eizenberg Architecture