NestingOn Shelter Island, Osprey House by Desai Chia Architecture looks to the native bird to inform material, form, and lightingByPaige Davidson January 23, 2025(Jake Balston)SHAREOn New Yorks Shelter Island, a quiet and stately home lies at the cusp of the areas interlacing tidal creeks, woodlands, and marshes of Marshomack Preserve. The Osprey House designed by Desai Chia Architecture was built for a local contractor and his family. The two-story home is perched up high above the marshland, a nod to how native ospreys have made their nests in the telephone poles and treetops nearby. But the home is informed by the local birds in more than just the site, avians also inform the residences materials, organization, light, details, and of course, its facade. Clad in vertical slats of gray cypress, charred through the shou sugi ban method, the Osprey House is aptly bird blind, minimizes visual noise for neighbors along the coast, and helps encourage wildlife to occupy the lot. Conceptually and visually, the home connects to its surroundings. The home is located on the edge of Mashomack, a 2,039-acre coastal nature reserve. This guided, as well as challenged, the structures relationship to the land. Desai Chias cofounding principal Arjun Desai shared with AN Interior, The homes construction could not significantly impact the site, meaning that earthwork, tree removal, and brush clearing had to be minimal. We were also focusing on having a minimal footprint on the land. In the end, these restrictions ensured that the home felt deeply embedded in its context.Read more about the residence on aninteriormag.com. New York StateResidential Architecture