Pre Fab ConstructionBut Still Fab
Images by Hoachlander Davis Photography
Eric McFadden and Vic DeFrancis are two lawyers who like most of us, had a dream of having a little weekend place on the water. They began searching in Calvert County but found themselves drawn farther south. A real estate agent brought them to St. Mary’s County. They bumped their way down a rough piece of road surrounded by cornfields as something sparked in McFadden’s memory. “This road looks familiar,” he said, “I feel like I’ve been here before.” Turns out it wasn’t déjà vu. Years before, he’d been to his cousin’s house for a wedding a few blocks away from the beaten-up cottage that the attorneys were now thinking of buying. Initially, they had some doubts about the condition of the property. “We weren’t bowled over,” says McFadden, “it was a shack.” “It was built as a summer cottage back in the 1940’s or 1930’s and it wasn’t built to be lived in full-time,” says DeFrancis. The prospective new owners looked past the rickety floors and mold stained walls towards the jaw dropping views of the Potomac River and saw potential. They made the deal, tapped friends for architect recommendations and hired Todd Ray, a principal with Studio 27 in Washington, DC.
Design by Studio 27 Architecture
“Originally they hired us to do an addition but when we looked at how much it would be we started thinking about how much more it would be to just replace the house,” says Ray. The architect presented two options to the homeowners. The first, was the requested remodel and addition, the second involved demolishing the existing building and starting over with a prefabricated, eco-friendly structure. McFadden says, “we gushed all over the plans for the second rendition, saying ‘where do we sign?’” By rebuilding with prefab, the budget jumped up 75 percent but McFadden was already a frequent visitor to PreFab.com and both men are fans of modern design – which presented another wrinkle to Ray. The designer took note of what was around the cottage and drew design inspiration from an old barn nearby. “We wanted the new house to fit with the local scale and the openness around the structure,” he says. Ray mimicked the barn’s foundation by placing the new house on top of concrete piers. He called for cladding the new house in a gray cement board that matched the barn. The home’s walls and roof would be constructed of structurally integrated panels or “SIPs” which provide maximized R-values and the support needed for a home close to gales coming off the water. The house arrived on the lot in pieces via a tractor-trailer and was assembled in a week and a half – a big advantage to going prefab.
The quick construction was rapidly followed by a moment of sheer panic. DeFrancis says, “the bathroom was already framed in and I was standing in the shower and I could barely turn around. I realized it was going to be way too small.” The dream of having a comfortable, weekend getaway big enough for guests quickly came apart in the unfinished bathroom. The homeowners came back to the architect and asked about designing an addition – quickly. Lead times for getting another prefab structure were too long and there was also the question of how the two structures could be tied together. Luckily, McFadden had an idea. “I’d been on a business trip to Montreal and visited a traditional house that had a year-round solarium in it. It was basically a glass box that you could sit in, even in January,” he says. Ray went to work designing a non-prefab addition and conceived of a way to use McFadden’s glass box concept to connect the two sections together. “Integrating the addition into the original design was the biggest challenge on the job, says Ray, “we did it all that in mid-stream.” The addition would feature slatted boards as a cladding, once again tying the design concept back to the barn. A roof top terrace was also added with access via a hayloft style ladder. Design and construction of the 1500 square foot house lasted eighteen months with much of that time spent on the interiors. The kitchen, located in the original, open-plan structure offers views of the water and a countertop with seating that keeps everybody connected. Stock cabinetry was made semi-custom by commissioning custom door and drawer fronts. Glue laminated beams shelter the rooms and provide support to the home’s rigid, hurricane-resistant frame.
When the house plans were expanded, the master bath moved to the new space created above the guest suite. A generous double sink perches on a slatted oak vanity. The shower, which was the site of the original nightmare was expanded into a welcoming space. “You can stand in the shower and see families of swans out in the water,” says McFadden. Sunrises over the water can be viewed from the master bedroom which has it’s own unique feel. “I know it’s kind of a cliché but it does feel like sleeping in a tree house,” says DeFrancis. Matching, slatted-wood grates in both rooms hides the home’s heating and cooling system. Since the house was built with maximum insulation, a central HVAC system was nixed in favor of wall units. The house sees plenty of use on the weekends and is considered a success by everybody involved. Ray says, “there’s a purity and simpleness to rural landscapes that I think we also achieved with the house.” DeFrancis enjoys the total departure experienced just two hours from the city. “We spend most of our time in a very densely populated area,” he says, “it’s a whole different world down there at the other house.” “The views are unbelievable,” says McFadden, “you can sit on the deck, with no music, no book and just lose yourself in the water. It’s hypnotizing.” Or a dream come true. Text and images originally appeared in the April/May 2009 issue of Chesapeake Home Magazine.
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