Long Island Architect Protects Beach Home From Traffic Noise and Flooding

When East Hampton, New York–based Bates Masi + Architects began planning its Napeague project in Amagansett, the traffic noise from the adjacent highway and railroad became a major design challenge on the highway-fronting lot.

Though it may seem paradoxical, the new 1,762-square-foot house actually lies closer to the road than its predecessor. However, with this arrangement, the structure stretches across the property, shielding a large backyard from noise and opening it up to southern sunlight.

For sound dampening, the team was inspired by half-timber construction, a common technique among the neighborhood’s original cottages, but with a modern twist.

“The idea that we came up with was developing this wall system that in a contemporary way is still referencing half-timbering, but we’re using a product called mass-loaded vinyl,” says Paul Masi, principal at the firm.

Pliable sheets of the mass-loaded vinyl, typically used to reduce sound transmission through floors, cover the building’s framed exterior walls. The sheets fold together at their seams to form regularly spaced projecting ribs that set a cadence for the wood siding panels’ widths, the interior’s layout, and even the light fixtures set into the walls’ thickness.

Walls facing the road extend into the side yards and above the roofline to enhance their shielding effect and create “an acoustical shadow.” An additional wall fragment in the front yard blocks sound at the entry door, provides privacy, and defines the stoop, while a mirroring wall in the rear anchors a fire pit area.

The judges praised the project’s “exterior rhythm of material” and the “intricate, but clean and simple details.”