This charming private getaway is situated directly on the shoreline of a tidal estuary off of Compo Mill Cove, adjacent to Long Island Sound in Westport, Connecticut. The property underwent a remarkable transformation from a dilapidated storage shed to a luxury beachfront weekend cottage dubbed “The Pirate Shack.”

Working with our wetlands scientists and environmental engineers, LANDTECH’s permit coordination and management team saw this project through an extraordinarily challenging rezoning process, guiding the project from first concept to final certificate of occupancy.

Situated at the tip of peninsula on a deep cove on Long Island Sound, this site’s southern exposure has sparkling waterfront panoramas that frame the parade of watercraft typically in full view. The house, designed by Sellars Lathrop Architects LLC, has bright sunny rooms lend themselves to entertaining as well as everyday family activities.

The clean, simple minimalist modern aesthetic has a no-maintenance exterior that offers protection from weather, efficient heating and cooling, with a simple textured palette of natural materials. The linear organization of windows and doors along the southern facade offers spectacular views and provides passive solar heating for the winter months, with deep overhangs designed to provide summer shading.

The exterior was made from super-insulated wood laid over a steel frame and sealed with acrylic stucco on continuous insulation. Windows use triple-pane, high R-value fiberglass glazing systems, with concrete, zinc and limestone finishes and a low-slope “cool roof” of white reflective materials.

The interior architectural palette of polished concrete floors, jerusalum limestone walls, natural woods, with walls of glass and exposed structural steel give this waterfront home a modern, yet classic, loft-like ambience.

This remarkable 3,400 square foot house was designed by Beinfield Architecture PC of Rowayton CT. It sits on a narrow spit of land surrounded by a tidal estuary. The land originally supported trolley tracks running to an historical amusement park, which no longer stands. Beinfield Architecture's design drew inspiration from the tracks and wooden roller coaster structures in use in the old park.

Designed to foster a relationship with it’s natural surroundings, the main portion of the house sits on concrete piers to allow for flood waters to flow beneath. An exoskeleton of lateral bracing shield storm shutters that protect the house from storms and provide additional insulation in the winter.

Landtech provided site planning and environmental engineering, as well as coastal permitting and management of the approvals process in this environmentally sensitive location.

Landtech was awarded a 2017 AIA Connecticut Design Award for contributions to this project.

This environmentally sensitive eclectic modern house, designed by Sellers Lathrop Architects, was built in a perfect hilltop setting, nestled into a steep embankment on a three-acre parcel. Site-driven plan geometry allows for southern exposure and makes the most of natural light. Interplaying rooflines were designed to maximize the orientation of arrays of solar panels.

An organic concept evolved to build into and around the hillside, allowing maximum southern sun for passive solar gain and solar panel power generation. From this starting point, a unique structure emerged made up of separate buildings, reminiscent of the architecture of Italian hill towns.

There is a geothermal heating and cooling system, all triple glazed windows and doors, LED lighting throughout, structural insulated roof panels (SIPs), advanced wall framing with water-blown spray foam and a continuous layer of exterior rigid insulation. This residence is Energy Star Qualified with a HERS score of 25. The residence is Energy Star qualified and is awaiting a NGBS (National Green Building Standard) designation.