American Dream: The Houses at Sagaponac: Modern Living in the Hamptons [Hardcover]

Harry (Coco) Joe Brown Jr. (Author), Alastair Gordon (Author), Richard Meier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2003

American Dream documents the Houses at Sagaponac, a groundbreaking architecture project initiated by real estate developer Harry J. Brown. The project features homes designed by internationally recognized architects on a 10-acre site near the tip of Long Island. THe region has nurtured modern housing in previous decades, and the weekend homes and artist studios of the 1960s and 1970s serve as early precursors to the project. Additonal sources of inspiration for the Sagaponac houses include Case Study Houses in California commissioned by Arts + Architecture magazine in the 1950s and the famed 1927 Weissenhof Siedlung experimental housing in Stuttgart, Germany.

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier is creative advisor to the initiative and is also designing one of the houses. Meier collaborated with Brown on architect selection, bringing together well-known figures like Michael Graves, Philip Johnson, and Richard Rogers with acclaimed younger practitioners, including Gisue and Mojgan Jariri, Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umenoto, Lindy Roy, and Deborah Berke.

The designs of all the Sagaponac Houses are illustrated in full-color and are accompanied by floor plans, architectural drawings, and computer renderings.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harry (Coco) Joe Brown Jr. has been a fixture in the arts since his landmark 1960 production of Beckett's "Knapp's Last Tape" and Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story." Mr. Brown initially supported himself and his endeavors with real estate investments which have now grown into a large and successful holding company. Educated at Yale and Oxford, he was tutored in writing first by Robert Pen Warren and then in philosophy and writing by Iris Murdock.

Richard Meier established his office in New York in 1963. He received numerous prices for his work, including the Pritzker Prize in Architecture in 1984, the Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1988, the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 1997, and the Praemium Imperiale in 1997.

Alastair Godon is an architectural historian and journalist who contributes regularly to The New York Times and Dwell. His most recent book is titled Weekend Utopia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications (October 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084782568X
• ISBN-13: 978-0847825684
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 10.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,707,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 6 Houses under construction-one completed, January 27, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: American Dream: The Houses at Sagaponac: Modern Living in the Hamptons (Hardcover)

I purchased this book over a month ago and I have picked it up every night since. Being an architect myself, I have found the designs of these homes intriguing, and more importantly, state of the art - Not only are they creative in style but, unlike many "modern" houses of this nature - they seem very much livable. You can visit the website www.housesatsagaponac.com for more information and for updates on the project's construction - with photos.
I praise this project - Coco Brown and his "in-house team" for fighting the odds (working with all these renowned architects and the building dept cannot be easy)and realizing it - I look forward to seeing it through. By far the most avante-garde architectural project happening today.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional architectural reference book, July 22, 2004

By 

Ping Lim (Christchurch) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Dream: The Houses at Sagaponac: Modern Living in the Hamptons (Hardcover)

Everything in this book is conceptual in design. One would think that with progress in time and technology, people would opt for advanced method and cutting-edge design to be applied in their homes. On the contrary, the rich and the renowned are building themselves huge Georgian & Palladian homes at the Hamptons. Those homes have no relevance to its surroundings, no bearings to the lifestyle of occupants & that they don't capitalise upon the views. It's simply an avenue for the homeowners to flaunt their richness & their status. The book explains further that the Hamptons of present days is a far cry from the olden days when the liberal and the intellectuals come to congregate to engage in arts discussion. Sagaponac is within easy reach of the Hamptons and Coco Brown, both the author & the developer decided to do a development that is a breath of fresh air, a development that challenges the people to be non-conformist, a development that is going to polarise people's opinion. Whilst the book said that the houses here are to be liveable and affordable, it is rather a subjective point to define the word affordable. I have been reading about Sagaponac regularly and US$1.8 million to US$2.1 million for a house there is not relatively cheap for common people. There is also a contradiction about what we read in books and what we find out for ourselves in reality. One good example, I referred to Shigeru Ban, the architect from Japan. He worked with CoCo Brown on this project but upon consulting him about his willingness to work together for a speculative project, he commented that he doesn't work on speculative project at all. There's also talk about the reality that Sagaponac is within airport zone and that detracts a lot of buyers from this project especially when the developer is expecting people to part company with a substantial amount of their lifetime savings. However, what shines in this book is not the egos and the personas of the architects but the merits of their works. Some are over-the-top, some are user-friendly, some are environmentally-friendly, some are understated but useable, and the list goes on. There seem to be a home for every tastes imaginable. Richard Meier, Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, Dean Matiz, Michael Graves are some of the big names here. Overall, a very satisfying book to read and a book that I have come back to again & again for reference purpose. Highly recommended.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nothing yet built, November 24, 2003

By 

misterbeets "misterbeets" (Safe Harbor, MD USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Dream: The Houses at Sagaponac (Paperback)

These houses are all still in the development stage, and what you get are presentatations that are reminiscent of the WTC proposals, showing the sorts of things possible with CAD programs these days. The book concentrates on these illustrations, and usually includes only a floor plan. For those with a couple million dollars to spend, it provides the lastest in cutting-edge design.