Perched on a hill just outside Norfolk, Connecticut, this prefab home serves as a weekend getaway for a family of four seeking to escape their hectic New York City lifestyle. Located just three hours north of the city, the 2,650 sf home features floor-to-ceiling aluminum-clad windows that maximize daylight and provide sweeping views of the countryside beyond.
Programmatically, the home is divided into two bars. The first-floor bar contains the public spaces – the kitchen, dining, and living area, while the second floor contains the bedrooms. Both floors blur the boundary between interior and exterior, offering ample views to enjoy the quiet rural hillside. The main living area is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass and features a heat-generating fireplace clad in recycled cement board panels, providing a secondary source of heat during the winter months. Off the kitchen, the screen porch is large enough for outdoor dining and living on warm summer nights. Beyond the screened porch, a break in the first-floor bar creates an opening for a carport. Further along, a private guest suite is secluded from the rest of the house, yet still connected to the landscape with large sliding glass doors and its own private deck.
On the second floor an exterior deck is located adjacent to the media room, which also doubles as an office. This roof deck features an outdoor fireplace, anchoring the house in place and providing a multi-season entertainment space with stunning views of the surrounding landscape.
This LEED-Certified prefab home is comprised of six modules built offsite. It incorperates several sustainable features, such as bio-based spray foam insulation, a 98% energy efficient boiler, low-flow plumbing fixtures, LED lighting, FSC certified ipe & cedar, recycled cement board panels, bamboo floors, radiant floor heating, energy star appliances, and a green roof.