This house was designed by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood, the founders of architecture practice WORKac, for themselves and their two children. The house is located within a protected river corridor in the rural landscape of Rhode Island, USA.

The house reflects the architects’ commitment to a broader cultural shift toward a reduced ecological footprint, environmental responsibility, and a more conscious relationship with the surrounding environment.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, a moment that led many families to reconsider how and where they live, the house acquired an even deeper significance for its authors. At once a family home and an architectural experiment, the project replaces a modest, deteriorating structure whose renovation proved impossible. 

WORKac designed a compact rectangular floor plan for a house that maximizes spatial efficiency, featuring a diagonal roof ridge and an intense blue metal roof that folds down over portions of the façade, creating an interior landscape organized around a double-height living space.

The geometry of the roof generates a sequence of changing spatial conditions inside the house, where varying ceiling heights create distinct domestic atmospheres. This configuration culminates in a central double-height space that establishes a direct relationship between the family’s daily life and the surrounding views of the river and forest. At the same time, strategically positioned windows encourage cross-ventilation and frame shifting views of the landscape throughout the day and across the seasons.

Riverhouse by WORKac. Photograph by Bruce Damonte

Riverhouse by WORKac. Photograph by Bruce Damonte.

Petra Blaisse designed a spectacular curtain spanning the living room, modulating light, privacy, and the seasonal atmosphere, while the artist Austėja Walter created the linen curtains for the bedrooms.

The house also incorporates a significant collaborative dimension. A custom dining table designed by MOS Architects organizes the main gathering space, blurring the boundaries between furniture and architecture. In addition, in collaboration with Karim Chaya, a friend of Amale Andraos from her native Lebanon, the project incorporates tiles featuring traditional Lebanese motifs that introduce additional layers of cultural memory and ornamentation into the house interior.

Riverhouse by WORKac. Photograph by Bruce Damonte.

Riverhouse by WORKac. Photograph by Bruce Damonte.

The resulting house meets the demanding energy-performance standards of Passive House design. Triple-glazed windows, rooftop photovoltaic panels with battery storage, and 35 cm insulated walls allow the house to operate year-round entirely on electricity, dramatically reducing its environmental impact. The exterior is clad in thermally treated ash wood, handmade Lebanese tiles introduce touches of color and pattern, and unfinished plywood surfaces define parts of the interior.

Riverhouse by WORKac. Photograph by Bruce Damonte

Riverhouse by WORKac. Photograph by Bruce Damonte.

Beyond its condition as a single-family residence, the project can be understood as a contemporary domestic prototype that explores how architecture can simultaneously respond to issues related to climate change, communal life, and transformations in everyday living. In this sense, the house belongs to a long tradition of architects designing homes for themselves as spaces of research and experimentation, using the domestic realm as a laboratory for testing new ways of living with greater ecological awareness and collective imagination.

More information

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Architects
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WORKac. Principals.- Amale Andraos, Dan Wood. 
Project Architects.- Kristina Dittrich, Matt Voss.

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Project team
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Reuben Cheeks, Din Din, Ryan Fagrie, Jenna Hussain, Madha Nawal,Smiley Scott, Rondela Spooner, Henry Wotowicz, Men Yushan.

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Collaborators
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Structural, Engineering and Consulting.- Augeri Engineering.
MEP, Passive House and Sustainability.- Jordan Goldman, Zero Energy Design. 
Lighting.- Tillotson Design Associates.
Landscape architecture.- Anne Penniman Associates, Golden Root Inc.

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Contractor
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Main contractor.- Alan Hill, Eze Bongo R&R.
Concrete.- Cagin Concrete.
Electricians.- Bruce Kenyon and Kurt Holman.
Excavation and Civil.- David Benn.
Metal Cladding & Roofing.- Jason Senior.
Plumbing.- Ron Zanella.
Pool.- Chuck NeJame, Pools RI.
Masonry.- Gary Williams.

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Area
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297.3 m². (3,200 ft²).

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Dates
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2025.

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Location
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Hopkinton, Rhode Island, United States.

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Manufacturers
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Adjustable Shelving: RAKKS
Appliances: Subzero/Wolf/Cove
Bathroom Fixtures and Fittings: Duravit
Cladding: Americana Thermally Modified Hardwood
Door Handles and Door Pulls: FSB North America
Events Pavilion: Sunward Steel Building
Indoor Bathroom Faucets and Shower: VOLA
Outdoor Showers: Outdoor Shower Company
Lighting Controls: Lutron
Lighting Supplier: Illuminico
Millwork: OVI Ébénisterie, Montreal
Solar: Newport Solar
Stainless Steel Curtain: Cascade Coil
Windows and Doors: Fenêtres MQ.

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Photography
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WORKac is a New York–based architecture and urban design practice founded in 2003 by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood. The practice operates at the intersection of the urban, the rural, and the natural, advancing architecture as a tool to address environmental and social challenges through inventive and collaborative forms of design. Their work spans public, cultural, civic, and educational projects across the United States and internationally, with a strong emphasis on integrating architecture, landscape, ecology, and community-centred design. WORKac has received international recognition for projects including the Edible Schoolyards in New York, the Miami Museum Garage, the Rhode Island School of Design Student Success Centre, and a series of innovative public libraries in Queens, Brooklyn, and Boulder. The office was recognised as the AIA New York State Firm of the Year.

Dan Wood (Rhode Island, USA), FAIA, LEED AP, co-leads WORKac’s international projects, ranging from urban master plans to institutional and cultural buildings throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He has taught widely and held the 2013–14 Louis I. Kahn Chair at the Yale School of Architecture. His academic appointments have included Princeton University School of Architecture, Cooper Union, Columbia GSAPP, Ohio State University’s Knowlton School of Architecture, and the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as the Friedman Distinguished Chair. Before founding WORKac, Wood worked in Paris and the Netherlands, experiences that continue to inform his global and interdisciplinary approach to architecture and urbanism. He is a licensed architect in the State of New York and a LEED Accredited Professional.

Amale Andraos (Beirut, Lebanon, 1973) is an architect, educator, and writer. She served as Dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation from 2014 to 2021 and is currently Dean Emerita and Professor at Columbia GSAPP, where she also advised the university’s Climate School initiatives. Andraos has taught at Princeton University, Harvard Graduate School of Design, the University of Pennsylvania, and the American University of Beirut. Her research and publications explore architecture’s relationship to ecology, representation, and contemporary urbanism, particularly in relation to the Arab city. Her books include Buildings for People and Plants, The Arab City: Architecture and Representation, We’ll Get There When We Cross That Bridge, and Above the Pavement, the Farm!. She serves on several cultural and architectural advisory boards and has lectured internationally on architecture, climate, and the future of cities.

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Published on: May 1, 2026
Cite:
metalocus, ANTONIO GRAS
"Personal interpretation of domestic architecture. Riverhouse by WORKac" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/personal-interpretation-domestic-architecture-riverhouse-workac> ISSN 1139-6415
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