As a passionate art collector and philanthropist, Allison Berg spends her days searching out and supporting brave new voices. So when it came time to design a getaway in East Hampton, New York, for her and her husband, Larry Berg—who works in finance and is a managing owner of Los Angeles Football Club—​and their two grown sons, she aimed for something that was far more imaginative than a typical shingled cottage.

The artwork in the living room is by Gisela McDaniel. The vintage modular sofa is by Liçeu de Artes e Oficio from Nilufar Gallery, and the rug is by VanGhent.

“I wanted California case-study house meets Mexico City meets São Paulo,” says Berg, who calls Los Angeles home and whose many art-focused activities have included establishing and running the A&L Berg Foundation and a related fellowship; serving as trustee for several museums; writing about the creative world for magazines; and producing the documentary The Art of Making It.

The mezzanine is inspired by Gio Ponti’s Villa Planchart in Caracas, Venezuela. The circa-1925 rug is by Jean Lurçat for Maison Myrbor, the 1960s table is by Jorge Zalszupin, and the chairs are by Pierre Jeanneret.

After finding a pristine lot on Georgica Pond, she called Ariel Ashe and Reinaldo Leandro, the partners of the New York–based Elle Decor A-List firm Ashe Leandro, to see what they would do with the site. She had met the designers years earlier, “when I wrote a story on Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian’s Bridgehampton home,” Berg says, and found their work deeply compelling. When she began talking to Leandro and Ashe about her own home, she almost couldn’t believe how the architect and interior designer were able to divine her every desire. “They brought everything that was in my head to life,” says Berg. “Both Rei and Ariel have such an incredible knowledge of architectural history and art and are sophisticated travelers; we were just speaking the same language from the first minute.”

It didn’t take them long to land on a vision for the 6,000-square-foot house: “We wanted to marry the idea of tropical modernism from Latin America with the architecture of the Hamptons,” says Leandro, who grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, and is well versed in the architectural icons of the region. “Of course, the challenge became that this site is on the East Coast of the United States, so it also needed to feel rooted to its place and respond to the climate.” The resulting design is a two-story building crafted from New York stone, mahogany, and weathering steel that stretches out to embrace sun and water. Its indoor living spaces open wide to the outdoors in the summer but can be sealed by enormous sliding glass doors when winter winds howl.

In the dining room, the custom table is by Ruemmler, the chairs are by Carlo Scarpa for Bernini, and the pendant is by Osvaldo Borsani. The sculpture (on pedestal) is by Theaster Gates, the wall artwork is by Rashid Johnson, and the pots (on table) are by Jim McDowell.

Visitors navigate a walkway of limestone pavers set over a reflecting pool, then arrive at a double-height living space that evokes Gio Ponti’s 1957 Villa Planchart in Caracas. Sandwiched between two walls of glass sliders, the room looks out to the pool and pond in one direction and back to a courtyard planted with trees and grasses in the other. A concrete staircase inspired by one in the Mexico City home and studio of artist Pedro Reyes (whose sculptural volcanic-stone table and chairs are installed on Berg’s bedroom terrace) rises to an open library on a mezzanine, the flooring of which terminates in a Ponti-esque knife-edge above the living room.

Mixed-media panels by Teresita Fernández hang in the primary bedroom. The vintage armchairs are by Martin Eisler and Carlo Hauner, the chairs (on terrace) by Pedro Reyes, and the wall lamps by Viabizzuno. The curtains are by Rose Uniacke, and the bedding is from A Touch of Lace.

Recognizing the diverse tastes of the owners, Ashe sourced vintage treasures from all over the world to furnish the home. A pair of armchairs designed by the revered French architect Pierre Chareau for his masterpiece, the Maison de Verre, in Paris, upholstered with original tapestry by Jean Lurçat, was an early purchase for the living room. Much as a good collector has the patience to wait for the perfect work to come along, Ashe didn’t choose furniture for the sake of filling up rooms; she bided her time and allowed special pieces to work themselves into conversation with their surroundings. The Charlotte Perriand bench in the entrance hall is one of many such discoveries.

Smoke of London stone makes up the floor and vanity in the primary bathroom.

Determining locations for Berg’s breathtaking collection of art—which includes pieces by contemporary phenoms such as Rashid Johnson, Diedrick Brackens, Carol Bove, Eamon Ore-Giron, and Gisela McDaniel as well as works by legends like Jean Arp, John Baldessari, and Sol LeWitt—became the stuff of daily communication. “We exchanged texts and emails every day to talk about new art and ideas on where to move pieces,” Ashe says.

For Berg, that process was deeply rewarding. “With any collaborative creative project, you either share a sensibility or you don’t,” she says. “It has been absolute magic—to create this home and to live in it.” 

This story originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of ELLE DECOR. SUBSCRIBE