This unique site features a defunct rock quarry and a circa1900 brick fire command station from a converted military complex on an Island in Casco Bay just off the coast of Portland, Maine. The clients wanted an equally unique home that responded to the complex site conditions. Their desire was to have a compact getaway that would double as a boat workshop with a contemporary feel and lots of light, as well as privacy from a bustling summer vacation community. A new independent structure is sited directly adjacent to the FCS, the highest spot on the island, and connected the old structure, left as an artifact, to the roof deck of the new workshop. The old brick building is respected and remains dominant; the 2-story workshop is set down into the deepest part of the quarry seemingly growing out of the earth. Natural, maintenance-free materials are used: bolted corten-steel plates weather to a natural rusted orange matching the fallen leaves at the workshop level, while transparent, triple-wall polycarbonate sheets rise vertically to the upper level bedroom/studio, allowing maximum light in and allowing this “light box” to become completely illuminated, yet private, at night. Interiors include weathered, galvanized sheet steel, hemlock timbers, Baltic birch plywood and concrete flooring with integral radiant heat.