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THE OCEAN STEALS THE SHOW IN A SPRAWLING, CUSTOM-DESIGNED CONTEMPORARY

A few years before Philip Johnson died in 2005, the famous architect delivered a lecture to 300 young colleagues in the field. Much to their surprise, instead of discussing his six-decade practice, Johnson offered advice. "First, get the client," he began. That admonition is more relevant than ever, as proved by the story of an unusual Westhampton beach house.

A New York investment banker was looking for an architect to commission a house for his newly acquired oceanfront property. He had already decided to tear down its existing ramshackle house, the former home of Addams Family cartoonist Charles Addams. He interviewed several architects. Some showed him structures they had designed in their favored architectural styles, while others boasted they could copy any house he admired.

Only when the banker interviewed Doug Horst, president of Horst Design International of Cold Spring Harbor, did he find someone who inquired what he, the client, actually wanted. And Horst isn't even an architect.

"Horst was the only one who asked," recalls the banker, who hired him on the spot to design a 6,000-square-foot, six-bedroom house along with its interiors and landscape.

The complicated plan for the house reflects the owner's love for the ocean. He demanded ocean views from the living room, kitchen, master bedroom and from his own personal shower—"I'm very view-driven," he says—despite the fact that the dunes in Westhampton are very high. Horst's solution? He put the house on stilts and raised the ground floor 21 feet above sea level to ensure unobstructed sightlines.