Vipp, the Danish design brand, expands its guesthouse portfolio with the launch of Vipp Upstate New York—a sculptural pavilion by Johnston Marklee, shaped as two tangent ellipses on a sixteen-acre meadow in the Catskills.
Opening in January 2026, the property marks Vipp's first ground-up project in the United States and its fourteenth guesthouse worldwide. The geometric structure, inspired by two tangent ellipses, opens to panoramic views of the surrounding meadow and pond, offering an immersive and tranquil escape where the boundary between architecture and nature is deliberately dissolved.
The pavilion is conceived as a sculptural object in the landscape. At 1,200 square feet, the interior includes an open living space, two bedrooms, one bathroom, a covered porch, and an exterior courtyard. The modesty of the program is deliberate—each space is calibrated to the experience of dwelling rather than display. Johnston Marklee's celebrated approach, which the Los Angeles Times has described as having a "more-than-meets-the-eye experiential quality," finds full expression in the interplay between compact volumes and expansive views.
Interiors are furnished with Vipp's latest designs, including the brand's anodized aluminium V3 kitchen, complemented by curated artworks and a warm, natural palette inspired by the surrounding forest. There is no conflict between the domestic technology and the pastoral setting—the kitchen becomes a sculptural element within a larger gesture toward dwelling in landscape, consistent with Vipp's evolution from a single waste bin designed by founder Holger Nielsen in 1939 to a complete design universe of furniture, lighting, accessories, kitchens, and guesthouses.
A green roof designed by Larry Weaner Landscape Associates extends the architecture into its meadow setting, emphasizing native plants and low-maintenance ecology. The pavilion seems to emerge from the terrain rather than impose upon it—a quality reinforced by the elliptical form, which avoids the sharp angles that would declare the building as separate from its surroundings.
Third-generation owner Sofie Christensen Egelund has overseen the brand's expansion from Copenhagen to a global network of one-room-wonders, each unveiling a locally rooted architectural archetype. Vipp Upstate continues this trajectory, proposing that hospitality at its most meaningful is not about luxury but about the quality of attention paid to space, material, and the land that holds them.
