Grazia Casa (August / September 2010) "World Houses: On Shelter Island (NY) - A Modern Farmhouse" by Fiammetta Bonazzi Shelter Island, on Long Island, is a strip of land protected from the winds overlooking the green-blue cove of the Peconic Bay. It is here that the architect Harry Elson use to rent a cottage to escape to during the summer season and weekends, from the chaotic rhythms of New York. "My idea" - explains the architect - "was to eventually find a piece of land to build our dream house." One day in the summer of 2001, during a bicycle trip with his wife, Elson stumbled upon a large meadow surrounded by woods. For sale. "I looked at Lisa and I knew it was the right place for us. When I asked Lisa what kind of house she desired, she said she thought of a modern farm." In fact, Elson's project revisits in a contemporary form the typical structures of the New England farm: a simple rectangle - "as if it were carved from a bar of soap" - says Elson - playing with tones of white and gray, warmed inside by the Brazilian walnut floors and by the contemporary furniture, artisan textiles, fine art photographs, all of which create a space that is "casual and not at all minimalist", says Harry Elson. "We wanted a house to live in, and not an exercise in style. That's why every time we go there it always seems new."