The homeowner requested a simple three-bedroom Cape Cod–style home which she’ll share with her two large dogs. The home is located on a quiet, lightly wooded site with pastoral views in North Berwick and provides plenty of room for the owner and her four- legged friends to stretch their legs, watch the wildlife pass by, and soak in the sunshine on lazy summer days. The owner asked for the home to be energy efficient and to utilize renewable energy systems as a way to give back to future generations. The challenge was to incorporate sustainable elements into her home while maintaining the charming characteristics of a Cape and remaining within a restricted construction budget. Incorporating energy-efficient products, details, and equip- ment into a home today has become much easier and more affordable, but they often drive the look of a home and can be difficult to seamlessly work into more traditional styles of architecture. Collaborating with general contractor Derek Hilton of Hilton Construction, TMS Architects carefully and thought- fully integrated sustainable features into the home without compromising the integrity of the exterior aesthetic or interior layout or upsetting the client’s strict budget. The home features a high-efficiency building envelope—a combination of insulated concrete forms and continuous exterior miner- al wool insulation and cavities framed with a combination of closed-cell and open-cell spray-foam insulation—highly energy-efficient HVAC building systems, and photovoltaic panels with a Tesla home battery storage system for backup power. The end result will be a comfortable 2,300-square-foot home that is a respectful balance of traditional New England architecture and sustainability.

Location: North Berwick
Architect: TMS Architects
Builder: Hilton Construction
Interior Designer: TMS Architects
Construction start: February 2019
Construction complete: December 2019