The quiet hamlets of New York’s Hudson Valley have long made it a special place for Marica McKeel, AIA, and her husband, who for years divided their time between there and New York City. After she founded her New York City firm Studio MM Architect, which is skilled at designing modern homes that connect intimately with their environment, they began spending more time at their Hudson Valley house with the goal of shifting her practice there. In 2021, the couple made plans to put down permanent roots, purchasing a third-acre clearing with views of the Catskill Mountains. The intent was to build their dream home—one that included a studio large enough for her team of eight, and a separate bunkhouse where the city-based contingent could stay while they worked on local projects.
“When I first designed the house, we had more of a team in the city, and knowing they could come up to the office sometimes, I wanted a place where we could all be together,” Marica says. The resulting detached bunkhouse, which sleeps six, is now used regularly by several employees. “The whole team pretty much lives up here,” she says, including several are who local. “There are two of us here every day, and three days a week there are four and sometimes five. The office is a good flex space where people can come together and work.”
Designed as two volumes linked by an entry gallery, the main house is laid out north-south near the top of a hill. To the left on approach, the southern volume houses the couple’s living quarters on the first floor and their bedroom above. The northern volume contains the garage, guest room, and gym. On the second level, the spacious architecture studio leads to a rooftop deck.
Separating the studio from the couple’s living space was a deliberate move. “During Covid, I could see my desk from my bed, so here I wanted a lot of separation,” Marica says. “It’s also why there are two staircases—I have to go downstairs and through the gallery to get from my bedroom to my office. I can step away from work and am less likely to feel the computer sitting there.”
Inside Out
In many cases, the optimal solar orientation is at odds with a site’s best views, as it was here. With bright living spaces a priority, Marica placed the kitchen, dining, living room, and media room on the southern end of the house, where they open to decks on three sides. “The place we were before was nestled into a valley; I realized I needed sunshine and open space,” she says. The living room pushes into the backyard to capture views of the Catskills chain to the north. Near the office and guest room on the northwest, she preserved an old stone firepit with stunning mountain views through the tree trunks—a feature that informed the siting strategy.
The push-pull footprint creates voids that invite extensions for outdoor living. The doglegged living room floats within cedar decks that are continuous with both the dining room and the kitchen. One wall of the corridor connecting the two sides of the house is used as an art gallery, while the glassy exterior wall faces a rear courtyard stretching between them.
“The courtyard becomes this outdoor living room; at night the glass goes away and you can see that art wall from the courtyard,” the architect says. “We have a 16-person table in the courtyard so people can experience that space, feeling the gallery and courtyard and views on either side.”
White oak floors warm the interiors, including the living areas with their sliding glass doors, walls of windows, and fireplace made of thin stacked bluestone. The fireplace volume extends to the outside, where a thin steel structure holds the wood. Because the living room is farthest from the entry, and you walk through the kitchen to get there, Marica wanted a bespoke kitchen that read as furniture. To that end, white storage cupboards are integrated into the walls, and two walnut islands—one with a bold marble countertop and waterfall edge—elevate the space. The living room was outfitted with modular furniture that can easily be shifted to face the fireplace, dining room, or decks.
Upstairs, the primary suite feels grounded and serene. The bedroom looks down on the living room’s planted roof. In the bath, a long teak vanity, pocketing doors, and translucent glass add a sumptuous touch. In the opposite volume, the second-floor office contains a kitchenette, conference room, and powder room.
Partners in Craft
While Marica is a stickler for early decision making—her staff often directly manages the subcontractors and craftspeople, as they did here—she took the opportunity to brainstorm with them in real time. The plumber on the project soldered the light fixture above the brass-accented dining room table, also custom, that was brought from their previous residence. During construction she sat on the office stairs with a metalworker and a woodworker—both friends and fellow Hudson Valley creatives—and sketched a design for integrating the railing into the stair. The top of the stringer was routed to create a channel for a steel bar system to which wood rails were bolted—a play on the slats that create a rhythm outside the house. “This allowed for a stable yet slim connection,” she says. “It’s a structurally elegant solution that celebrates each material.”
In the opposite volume, the stair to the primary suite incorporates mini tapestries made from parachute cording woven into a wood frame. They were inspired by an artist that Marica admires, who creates “ephemeral, colorful, and tactile art pieces with string. The handrail is metal and the wood is the frame that I could weave,” she says. “The way the wood frame connects to the steel gives the wood square its rigidity.” Their gradient hues of orange, pink, blue, and green are a nod to her husband’s love of color.
“A lot of the things in the house are better because of the collaboration with amazingly talented craftspeople,” she says. While some of the objects reflect pure creative experimentation, others carry personal stories. Hanging over the stair to the primary suite is a radio-controlled plane that her husband flew as a kid.
Likewise, the glass-box bunkhouse is detailed like a boutique hotel. Compact while providing privacy in a single space, its four built-in bunk pods and a queen bed each face a different direction and form the core of the space, along with a small kitchen tucked behind the queen bed, between the bunks. “It can house a lot of different groups—family or work team or individual,” she says. “One bunk faces the fireplace and can act as couch.” The building has three sides of glass, with a cedar-clad entry and bathroom creating an opaque façade facing the main house.
A sense of weightlessness prevails. “In a charrette we discussed how to make a thin roof on the glass box,” Marica says. “By moving the columns inside the glass, the windows continue up past the ceiling, so it feels like the roof is floating over the glass box.” A small reveal keeps the bunk edges from touching the floor and ceiling, as if they were suspended in space.
For Marica, these moments embody her collaboration with all the designers and makers who were involved. “I had no idea the house would be this wonderful,” she says. “After about a year, I realized there is an extra calm we have here. People talk about forest bathing and how nature lowers blood pressure. Watching the wildlife every day from the office has made such a difference in our lives.”
VIA43
Olivebridge, New York
Architect: Principal in charge: Marica McKeel; technical director: Colbi Campbell; project managers: Gina Kim and Marisa Kaugars, Studio MM Architect, Olivebridge, New York
Builder: Max Stratton, Cherry Hill Construction, Accord, New York; owner / construction manager: Marica McKeel, Studio MM Architect
Stair Railings: Sandro Niessen, Orchard Group, Highland, New York
Landscape architect: Guilded Leaf, Saugerties, New York
Structural engineer: Geoff Smith, TYLin, New York, New York
Project size: 4,645 square feet (house), 680 square feet (guest house)
Site size: 36 acres
Construction cost: Withheld
Photography: Brad Feinknopf/OTTO
Key Products
Cabinetry and built-ins: Braxton Alexander, Vernacular Design, California Closets
Cooktop and vent hood: Wolf
Cladding: Pioneer Millworks, Accoya (house); cedar STK (guest house)
Countertops: Marble, teak
Decking: Cedar STK
Dishwasher: Miele
Engineered lumber: LVLS
Entry doors and hardware: Marvin / Modern Swinging / Harbrook
Faucets: Blanco, Hansgrohe, Vola, Kohler
Fireplace: Steel, bluestone, Bodart & Gonay (wood built-ins), Morso wood stove
Flooring: Hudson Company (white oak), EConcrete
Garage doors: Overhead Door Company
Green roof: Hudson Valley Green Roofs
Grill (built-in): Grillworks
Home control system: Google
HVAC system: Mitsubishi, hydronic radiant
Insulation: Rockwool, ZIP
Lighting: Ledge, FLOS (exterior); Koncept, Juniper, Louis Poulsen, Soco, Muuto, Pablo Lighting
Lighting control system: Lutron
Ovens: Miele
Passage doors/hardware: Emtek, TruStile
Roof truss system: BLI Joists
Roofing: EPDM
Other fittings: Infinity Drain (primary bath shower)
Paints/stains/coatings: Benjamin Obdyke Homeslicker, Benjamin Moore
Refrigerator: Sub-Zero, Summit (undercounter)
Security system: SimpliSafe
Sinks: Franke, Duravit, Kohler
Sound system: MonitorAudio, Sonos
Surfacing: Fireclay Tile, Nemo Tile, WOW Tile
Toilets: Toto
Tubs: Signature Hardware
Underlayment: ZIP
Wallpaper: Calico, Molteni
Washer/dryer: General Electric
Windows: Marvin
Window wall systems: Marvin / Modern Multislide, Harbrook