How these beach homes in New York challenge traditional architecture

A view of Mecox Bay behind a home in Water Mill, New York. Photos: Ashok Sinha/The New York Times

An infinity pool at Furness Jackman's waterfront compound in East Hampton.

In 1980s Sagaponack, a village in the Hamptons, New York, the United States, new houses were awash in shingles and classical columns, to the dismay of the architect Fred Stelle.

“It was raging post-modernism,” he said, still sounding bewildered.