This approximately 2,000-square-foot new home being designed by Kevin Browne Architecture will replace a very tired home that had been cobbled together over the years. The property is located on a dead end street in the heart of Higgins Beach community. Higgins Beach has recently adopted a character-based code that limits the character of the fabric of the homes built or renovated in the community. The clients were longtime residents in the town but looking for a smaller, simpler, and more efficient home in this great beach community. Because of the underlying DEP regulations, the home needs to be built on pilings. This worked to the advantage of the clients as they prefer to park underneath the structure, so Kevin Browne Architecture decided to lift the home even a little higher, to allow for this.

The layout of the home maximizes every usable inch that was allowed based on the regulations. The front part of the home is two stories of living space, but in the rear of the home, the architects were able to squeeze out a little more square footage by adding a third level. The stair connecting all these levels was the most challenging to design. The elevation of the home will maximize the views from most of the rooms: Angel Creek to the rear of the house and Higgins Beach to the front.

The home will be built with highly insulated assemblies, under the structure and around the entire building envelope, to make it an extremely airtight structure. An energy recovery ventilator will be used to make sure that the home has an adequate exchange of air each hour. Solar panels are designed into the roofline on the south side of the structure.

Location: Higgins Beach
Architect: Kevin Browne
Architecture Design Team: Kevin Browne and Jon Sevigny
Builder: Leddy Design Build
Construction Start: Fall 2020
Construction Completion: Fall 2021