height of the structure so it didn’t interfere with the view of the ocean from
the main house a few hundred yards up the gentle hill.
Within a 60-by-20-foot outline, Foster made space for a greenhouse, liv-ing-dining area, simple kitchen, and full bath and gave the structure’s western facade a signature feature: a series of glass doors that glide along a track
installed in stone to create a 40-foot-wide opening oriented toward the grassy
slope. With the doors open, the entire structure essentially becomes one outdoor room.
“The intent was very much to focus all attention on the garden areas just
outside the structure to the west,” says Foster. Because a busy road lay immediately to the east, the windows on that side of the house are less expansive
and set higher for privacy. The windows in the greenhouse area are slightly
larger and lined with shelving that holds potted plants with the foliage serving as a screen.
To enhance the connection between greenhouse and living space, Foster designed an interior wall of multiple sliding glass doors. “That way, even
when the greenhouse needs to be sealed off for climate-control reasons, someone in the living area can still see what’s going on in the greenhouse,” says the
designer.
There is no ocean view from the ground floor of the one-story structure,
but there is from the deck Foster designed for its flat roof. “It’s a great spot
for cocktails on a summer evening before heading up to the main house for
dinner,” she says. The space has Ipe decking and a powder-coated steel pergola. There is also a 4-foot-wide bed of mixed sedum along the eastern and
