Modernism Returns To Long Island

Forty years after Charles Gwathmey house in Amagansett inspired a mini-boom in modernist houses, developer Henry "Coco" Brown and architect Richard Meier have brought more than 35 archictects to create a modernist haven in Southampton.The houses are being constructed despite the overwhelming presence of more traditional housing forms. Charles Gwathmey, for one, is no fan. "It's a terrible thing that's happened out there, the shingle-style, gigantic spec building on tiny lots. It's a terrible comment on our culture and our intellectual laziness,” he said, "Our fast times and fast money. They don't make art.”