Coastal Residence
ABOUT
Client Private Residence
Typology Residential
Location Maine coast
Year 2016
Design Team Timothy Lock, Matthew O’Malia, Riley Pratt
Consultants Structural Engineer: Albert Putnam Associates
Contractor Peter Robinson
EUI 0.4
A wild, undeveloped site deeply informs this new house on the coast of Maine. Twenty acres of rolling meadow and rocky, wooded shorefront, it presents distant saltwater views on three sides. Its owners, who share a keen environmental ethic, were intent on optimizing their experience here while minimizing the impact of their presence, and their new house embodies those goals.
The building’s form, a shed-roofed wedge, is oriented to maximize views. We manipulated the volume’s basic geometry by shifting the high end of the wedge, creating a covered entry at the north side of the house and a second-floor deck at the south. Two subtly clipped corners create wall surface that points toward solar south without reorienting the entire footprint.
Along with its simple geometry, the building’s spare detailing and rugged materials reflect the austere beauty of the site and its exposure to severe weather. Eastern white cedar shingles clad the above-grade walls; corten steel covers the small area of exposed basement wall. Window and door openings also respond to the site’s dual nature, framing and focusing views rather than blanketing the facade in glass.
The interior’s loft-like format locates the entry and guest suite at the building’s east end, with the primary suite stacked above. First-floor common spaces occupy the westerly half of the plan, under the long, sloping roof plane. The resulting range of ceiling heights, along with strategically located soffits, helps differentiate functional spaces in the otherwise open plan. Interior details are nearly as spare as the exterior, with whitewashed ash paneling and floors and custom ash kitchen cabinets and millwork adding material warmth and practical storage.
Designed and constructed following Passive House principles, the project employs a pole-mounted, grid-tied photovoltaic array to achieve net-zero energy consumption. By minimizing site disturbance during construction, we facilitated natural reseeding, which rapidly restored the natural vegetation to its original state.
