Waterfront Contemporary

This new house was designed and built for an active family with young children to allow them to enjoy the waterfront location year-round. Practically every room in the house has panoramic views of the Sound. The finishes were selected for not only their aesthetics but also for their suitability for family use.

Project Architect: Beinfield Architecture

Type: New Construction, Custom Green Home, Zero Energy Ready Home

Special Features

Extra-wide European lift and slide doors and windows
Exposed and painted structural steel beams
Standing seam aluminum roof for durability and recyclability
Plantation-grown mahogany siding installed over vented rainscreen
European wood stove
Fire sprinkler system for fire safety

Green Building Approaches

Insulation products selected to minimize home’s carbon footprint and to significantly exceed building code minimum requirements.
All exterior assemblies – foundation, framed walls, roof – feature a robust layer of continuous insulation to greatly reduce thermal bridging.
Expanded polystyrene foam board insulation used under slab and on crawl space walls.
Closed-cell spray foam with low-GWP blowing agent used only at basement exterior walls.
Dense-pack cellulose used throughout: basement walls, framed walls, and roof.
Framed walls have continuous 60mm wood-fiber board insulation with impregnated weather resistive barrier.
Wood fibers in cellulose and board insulation sequester carbon and have unique moisture management properties.
Smart vapor retarder used at framed walls and roof to minimize vapor transmission into assemblies.
Framed walls air-sealed with European flashing tapes utilizing acrylic adhesives.
Roof air-sealed with European vapor-permeable 4-ply reinforced weather resistive barrier.
Excellent blower door test result of 1.3ACH50.
Solar PV on dormer shed roof offsets a significant portion of electrical energy requirement. Additional panels could be added to achieve net zero performance.