Salt Marsh Modern

Wellfleet, MA

Built along a salt marsh on the bay side of Cape Cod, this second home is inspired by the seminal mid-century modern homes designed by the Bauhaus founders who emigrated to Boston and Cambridge before WWII. Many of these simple, highly contemporary and beautifully sited homes can still be found in Wellfleet and Truro.

Perched on a sloping site, a low and suble façade with an abstract composition of windows located for interior privacy faces the road, while the cantilevered deck and rear facing wall of glass open to the wooded view, salt marsh and nearby bird sanctuary. The first floor houses the master bedroom, bath, kitchen, living and dining rooms, with three more bedrooms downstairs surrounding a central lounge/game room. On the main floor the interior finishes match the uncomplicated exterior - the white painted wood beams, shiplap built-ins and kitchen cabinetry is completed with subdued wood tones in the flooring and trim. Color is added using modern furnishings, abundant art and playful paint choices in the bedrooms.

The house is designed to be a Net Zero Energy home with a rooftop solar PV array producing all the energy required to heat and cool the home, provide hot water and power all appliances and other plug loads. This is accomplished by carefully designed window placements to passively warm the house in the winter and shade the windows in the summer months along with a super insulated, air tight exterior envelope that minimizes heat loss and gain. An energy recovery ventilation system constantly brings in fresh air while capturing the energy from the tempered interior air before exhausting it. During the house’s first year of operation the total energy cost is projected to be near zero. The solar PV array is anticipated to completely pay for itself through electric/gas utility savings and SREC sales in less than 7 years.