THIS not that:

A PREFABRICATED BEACH HOUSE

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THIS not is the design for a small prefabricated beach house located on a bluff overlooking Wellfleet Harbor on Cape Cod.  Wellfleet, a small arts community, has a storied history as a center for experiments in modern architecture by the likes of Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, Serge Chermayeff, Olav Hammarström, from the Saarinens’ studios, and Nathaniel Saltonstall.  The architects made, for themselves and their clients, “very nice shacks” using a particular modernist architectural vocabulary devoid of the historical references typically associated with Cape Cod houses.  These architects embraced structural experimentation and leveraged the language of early 20th century modern architecture and the Bauhaus. 

Since then, Wellfleet, unable to escape the age of the McMansion, has come to be peppered with oversized houses no longer respectful of the beach or the beach house ethos.  In contrast, this house is a minimalist structure designed from typical prefabricated units.  It recalls the simplicity of the scale and form, the function, and the language of an earlier time, Wellfleet Modern.

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