Copper House / Della Valle Bernheimer

© Richard Barnes

Architects: Della Valle Bernheimer
Location: Town of Hillsdale, Columbia County, NY, USA
Partner in Charge: Andrew Bernheimer
Project Manager: Erik Helgen
Project Team: Brian Butterfield
Client: Andrew, Nicole, and Isaac Bernheimer
Contractor: Andrew Bernheimer with Dean Contracting
Project Area: 2,590 sq ft
Project Year: 2007
Photographs: Richard Barnes

ground floor plan

sun diagram

The Copper House is located in the Hudson Valley on a wooded, six-acre site two hours north of New York City. Clad almost entirely in corrugated copper siding and a mixture of flat-seam and standing seam copper roofing, the skin will age and develop a patina that reflects time through material changes. The three-bedroom house features distinctive, sculpted south-facing skylights that allow light into various public and private spaces.

© Richard Barnes

The ground floor contains two bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, and a home office. An eight-foot tall, 30-foot-long, open bookshelf system runs the length of the ground floor creating a sense of delineation between rooms, while retaining visual connections across the various spaces. The second floor contains a master bedroom, playroom, and attic space, with windows overlooking the sculpted copper skylights.