Rehoboth House

Project Details

Project Description

Program This project is a new home in an established neighborhood near Rehoboth Beach, DE. Many years ago, the owners (husband, wife, and their three children) often vacationed in this area. Now being empty nesters, and with their children no longer living locally, the parents decided to construct a new home to allow a place for the family to reunite. Interior programmatic requirements centered on a family/dining/kitchen room, a ground floor bedroom for the parents, four other bedrooms for the children and their spouses, a bunk room for the grandchildren, and an office for all to use. Solution Because the property has two distinct orientations (a public street towards the east and a canal towards the west), the residence was divided into two separate wings. The front wing addresses the street and recalls the smaller scale of older homes in Henlopen Acres. Located in this wing are the front entry, the office, the bunk room, and associated service spaces. The rear wing addresses the canal and maximizes the views of the waterfront and parkland beyond. Located in this wing are the family/dining/kitchen room, all of the bedrooms and a first floor covered terrace that extends the living space into the garden. A glassy hyphen connecting these two wings contains the stair hall. Finishes were selected to minimize maintenance and maximize energy efficiency. Many walls, ceilings, and cabinets are constructed in locally milled hickory. The floor of the family/dining/kitchen room is concrete that provides heating for that space. A geothermal HVAC system, open and closed cell foam insulation, energy efficient lift and slide doors, casement windows, and awning windows are employed. Cross ventilation, the covered terrace, substantial overhangs and trellises minimize the use of the cooling in the summer - the time when the house is most often used.