Shifting Perspectives

THIS CHATHAM HOME REACHES TOWARDS THE SEA WITH AN INVENTIVE SHAPE AND SEPARATE WINGS FOR OWNERS AND GUESTS.

BY JENNIFER SPERRY » PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRIAN VANDEN BRINK

fter purchasing an idyllic lot off Chatham’s iconic Shore Road, the new owners wanted to make the most of its water views and summer living potential. They turned to Polhemus Savery DaSilva (PSD) for the firm’s expertise in interpreting the essence of the coast while facilitating modern living through memorable architecture.

From the start, the owners wanted a home with two distinct sections: a main wing to accommodate their core family and a guest wing for visitors. “The lot’s existing house was set up that way and the clients liked it, so they asked for a similar layout,” says PSD Design Principal John DaSilva. As part of its integrated approach, PSD acted as the project’s architect, builder, and landscape architect, providing the owners with turn-key ease. Chatham-based Simpler Pleasures handled the furnishings and décor.

To connect as many rooms as possible with the property’s distant but still dramatic water views, DaSilva and the PSD team masterminded a brand-new home with a unique, shifting silhouette. “Each side responds to the site with its own distinct character,” DaSilva explains.

The street-facing façade is smaller in scale, in keeping with the neighborhood’s feel. The guest wing’s roof meanders down to just one story in the front for a more modest presentation; an eyebrow dormer breaks up the descending roof’s scale. Simplest in design is the side farthest from the water, comprised of a sidewaysfacing garage and guest room windows. A driveway of pavers lets grass grow through for a more natural, casual look.

In the rear, the home’s two wings achieve two full stories. Opposite top: Detailed millwork is a hallmark of PSD architecture. Opposite bottom: The view from the guest wing towards the main volume includes a wave-shaped opening and another with a pointed arch.

Meanwhile, the architecture increases in drama to the rear, where both wings embrace their surroundings with a full two stories and maximum glazing. But the most dramatic elevation of all is the home’s view-facing side: “Here, the playful wave shape that gestures toward the ocean on the front façade reaches its crest,” says the architect. The façade includes an acorn cut-out (“a fanciful historic detail,” he notes) in the shingled wall. In this end, the kitchen, dining room, and family room below and primary bedroom above all enjoy front-row seats to the best sightlines.

“I call the overall effect balanced asymmetry,” summarizes DaSilva of the home’s morphing shape. “Shingle Style is a broad term, and this is a more inventive versus truly classical approach.”

Between the main wing (which has two bedrooms in addition to the primary suite) and guest wing (which has its own family room and two guest bedrooms) is a shallow connecting piece. “The owners didn’t need the function of a full front porch, so we opted for a more symbolic version,” says DaSilva of the abbreviated porch entry, complete with abstracted Gothic columns and window muntins. A cupola with copper finial punctuates this horizontal stretch with vertical emphasis directly above the front door. The cupola introduces light from above into the entry hall.

The shallowness of the connecting piece allows plenty of sunlight to permeate the interior at all times of day. Besides a long corridor connecting the home’s two wings, this section houses more functional, compact destinations like a study, laundry room, and mudroom. To the rear, a courtyard with statement tree nestles into a neat U formed by the connector and the two projecting wings.

DaSilva continued the exterior’s welcoming playfulness inside. Abstracted Gothic arches and columns add interest to the stairwells on either side of the connecting hall. The stair in the main wing rises through a pointed arch and passes by an interior window that lets natural light into the pantry. “It’s a modest version of a Piranesian space,” notes DaSilva of the main stair. “The idea was to create a dynamic, asymmetrical journey that is interesting to move through.”

The homeowners love and appreciate this extra intrigue: “When you stand in the dining area and look through to the guest area, which is a long way, you see a very light-filled space,” says the owner. “Also, the October sunset aligns perfectly with the window at the top of the guest stair and the whole house glows in the evening. The archway and soft shapes leading up the main stair are extraordinary, and we love seeing them every day.”

“Playful architectural form, space, and detail like this do not just come from me as the designer,” notes DaSilva. “It was really gratifying to have a client interested in these ideas as well.”

Now that the project is complete, the clients’ preference for two wings is working out beautifully. “We are never on top of each other, and you can always find some privacy for calls, work, or reading,” says the owner. “Having the family space somewhat separated makes it much less stressful when we have guests, which is often, especially with two generations inviting friends.”

For family and visitors alike, the home is playful, cheerful, and casual—inside and out. In other words, it’s the perfect spot for enjoying life’s simpler things.

DISCOVER THE MYRIAD BENEFITS OF PASSIVE magine your next electricity or heating bill having no balance due but your home environment remaining utterly comfortable. Or envision making an impact by reducing your home’s carbon footprint to net zero. The right kind of environmentally conscious construction could provide both if you choose the right company.

This ultra efficient home sits on a wooded lot in Sandwich. Dark cementitious panels, sustainably sourced wood accents, large banks of glass, and solar panels contribute to its earth-friendly design.

“Passive House Construction is a method of building that provides a quantifiable and rigorous level of energy efficiency,” says Chris Girard, a Job Superintendent and PHIUSCertified Passive Home Builder with The Valle Group in Falmouth, one of the earliest adopters of passive house standards in the U.S. “It aims to optimize every aspect of the building’s energy efficiency by incorporating specific building science principles that were refined by the German Passive Home Builder movement,” says Girard.

The Passive Home Builder movement centers on five principles: superinsulated and thermal bridge-free construction, envelope airtightness, optimized windows, balanced ventilation, and minimal use of space conditioning. When adhering to these principles, homeowners can expect a finished building that is quieter, more comfortable, more efficient, and more energy independent than many other alternatives, explains Girard.

The Valle Group is an expert in achieving this building type and, since 2012, has completed several passive homes on Cape Cod. “Everyone at the company is aware that we live in a beautiful place and knows how important it is to keep it that way,” says Christian Valle, President of The Valle Group. “Philosophically, as a family and company, we are passionate about being good stewards of the environment.”

“I think of passive building as being truly environmentally conscious because it takes into account the power of the elements in the actual design and function of the home as well as the placement and orientation of the house on the lot,” says Girard. The Valle Group works closely with architects to incorporate the most sustainable materials possible for a specific job. “It really is a more meticulous, attentive, and careful construction process,” he adds. Girard explains that not every builder will be able to handle these kinds of environmentally conscious projects with the same skill and experience. “The Valle Group has committed itself to these standards and has been recognized with several Industry awards. In my opinion, there is no better construction company to turn to for a passive house project.”

Of course, not everyone who wants to save money while saving the planet plans to build a brand-new home. For these property owners, The Valle Group offers an approach known as a “deep energy retrofit,” which modifies an existing house to be highly energy efficient. “It is a massive overhaul from the outside in,” says Girard. On a recent retrofit project, they transitioned a c. 1952 house down to sub-passive levels of airtightness with insulation and new triple-glazed windows. “Everything is aimed at eliminating thermal bridging, so you don’t have that energy transfer between outside and in.”

Passive homebuilding and energy retrofits appeal to people who want to make a positive environmental impact through their home, achieve the highest standards of quality, and reduce their overall energy use and costs.

“There is a better way to build a house,” says Girard, “and we believe that anytime we build with an eye towards conservation of energy and responsible use of resources, we are doing ourselves, the planet, and future generations a great service.”