Montauk Beach House This three ­story, split level house for a young family is nestled atop a densely wooded bluff in Montauk, New York, surrounded by sumac and spruce trees. Space Exploration designed an open kitchen on the top floor of the house to act as a flexible social center for the house, and to maximize the site's dramatic views of Fort Pond and Fort Pond Bay. Floor­to­ceiling sliding doors and a large rectangular skylight flood the space with an abundance of natural light. Space Exploration employed a material palette of light, neutral colors and pale woods, which combine to create a tranquil, airy atmosphere that showcase an eclectic collection of furniture and objects, collected by the owners during travels to Morocco, Europe and Central America. A lone primitive wooden dining chair, abandoned by the house's previous owners, sits happily in the mix. In order to preserve an honest, informal feeling in the architecture, Space Exploration chose to expose and express the house's structure wherever possible, and conceived a new wooden stair that mirrors the simple construction vernacular of the floor framing. On the ground floor, a new recreational solarium featuring floors finished with glossy white epoxy opens directly onto the property's sprawling grounds. photo by Space Exploration Design