Prefab Rehab- a Techbuilt Island House
How to restore a Mid-Century vision of the future.
Mid-century prefabrication promised efficiency, elegance, and a harmonious relationship with the landscape. The Techbuilt houses of the 1950s embodied this optimism—modular components shipped and assembled, with walls of glass dissolving the boundary between inside and out.
But the optimism that led to the creation of these houses was also their weakness- leaky windows and doors, lack of insulation, and poor weather resistance.
On Fishers Island, a family's Techbuilt house held memories and potential in equal measure. The bones were good—the proportion, the orientation toward Long Island Sound, the honest expression of structure. Our work was to renew and reimagine, to create additions and bring the house forward while honoring what made it matter in the first place.
We imagined a new future through modernized energy efficiency, ensuring coastal/ wetland resilience and hurricane resistance. We crafted this house around refined midcentury architectural aesthetics while introducing natural materials and enhancing its connection to nature.
