Beach House, Spring 2024

6 | Provincetown Independent | BEACH / HOUSE | Spring 2024
The Nature of
the Beach House
continued from page 5
economically, and many projects
were simpler,” he says. “But as the
cost of construction grew, people
began to view building as a bigger
project; houses are more solid now.”
People expect to be more comfortable,
even though that can be at odds
with the beach house ideal, for instance
when air conditioning replaces
designs that catch prevailing breezes.
Q: It sounds as if you all agree
beach houses owe more to nature
than to trends. But is there something
emerging in beach house
design that you especially like?
“In some ways, people have a stronger
sense of design than they did
when I first started working,” says
Cuming. “They often try to describe
the way they want to feel in
their beach house rather than starting
with a list of room names” — a
trend she finds both challenging and
liberating.
Kreuger sees an interest in
groups of smaller structures, each
one satisfying a different need. Instead
of designing one big house, he’s
found himself building collections of
cottages that offer spaces for privacy
and for gathering, for an artist’s
studio, room for guests, a play house
for children — “all while keeping to a
humanistic scale.”
Cuming says that the tiny-house
movement has shaped that interest.
“Everyone is fascinated by the
tiny house, though most people
don’t want to live in them exactly,”
she says.
“You think more now about
Architect Mark Hammer designed the family room of his addition at the Pamet Bend House in Truro as a “Miesian box” — inspired by
Mies van der Rohe — to place those in it directly amid nature. (Photo by Peter Vanderwarker, courtesy Hammer Architects)
how you’re going to address environmental
concerns,” says Hammer.
He likes the design challenge
of placing windows to maximizes
light in winter combined with brise
soleil systems. You’ll see in his recent
work big, broad overhanging
roofs that keep the sun off the glass
in summer.
Q: Is there an element of the ideal
that should never be lost?
“Natural light is the most important
thing,” says Hammer. And a beach
house “must be allowed to expand
and contract with the seasons, with
different orientations through the
seasons and the light at different
times of day.”
Cuming takes a similar tack: “The
wind and the dunes are so austere and
also ever- changing here. It’s important
that a beach house respond to
that,” she says. “You can’t just orient
the entire experience of a house
straight out to the ocean. You need to
find a good feeling in every direction
and in the changing light and mood of
the day.”
Kreuger says for him a beach
house should always be made of natural
materials like weathered wood
and cedar shingles. And alongside
the modernist- inspired pursuit of
openness and natural light, a beach
house that’s right for Outer Cape Cod
will also draw on historical forms like
those of simple fish shacks that connect
new designs with tradition.
Cuming offers one more essential
bit of advice rooted in tradition:
“There have to be cozy spots and
spaces where you can feel sheltered
and protected from the vastness and
elements.”
PHOTOGRAPHY BY : DAN CUTRONA
NICHOLAEFF ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN • 508-420-5298 • www.nicholaeff.com