STEPHEN KELLEHER ARCHITECTS, INC.

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Horseneck Beach State Reservation

Westport, Mass

Overview
The 600 acre Horseneck Beach State Reservation is one of Massachusetts’s most popular public beaches. The park offers 2 miles of sandy beach with temperate waters. At the height of the summer season it attracts as many as 12,000 visitors each day.

In 2005, Stephen Kelleher Architects, Inc. was commissioned to design new facilities for the beach to replace the existing centrally located 1950 structures. Design followed the stated goal of a 1999 Master Plan to decentralize use of the beach. The final design resulted in three different facilities on three distinct sites within the park, and improved dune crossings from the parking areas to the beach. Each of the building sites are situated adjacent to sensitive primary dunes and within flood zones. The goal for this project is to be fully operational for the 2008 beach season.

Beach Services Building
The existing central beach plaza currently consists of 4 at-grade concrete bunker-like structures clustered loosely around an immense (200,000 square foot) concrete plaza. The buildings were built at one time, are over 50 years old and severely deteriorated. They include a bathhouse/shower structure, a concession building, an administration building and a lifeguard/first aid building.

The new central plaza design proposes removal of these structures and substantial reduction of the plaza, while accommodating needed staff and handicap parking. A new Beach Service Building, shingle style in appearance will be erected in the new plaza. It is elevated with surrounding deck to allow sand migration and flood surges. The new building contains 1/3rd of the public restroom accommodations for the beach, year round administration offices and lifeguard and first aid stations. Also in the site plan is a “place-holder” for a future concession building. The net result is that approximately 54% of previously paved area is reclaimed as green space, which will allow dunes to re-establish naturally.

Bathhouses
The new design for Horseneck Beach includes the construction of two new bathhouses, one in each of the two major parking lots to either side of the central beach plaza. These building each contain approximately 1/3rd of the public restroom accommodations for the beach, as well as cold water rinse stations and changing stalls. The buildings are shingle style in appearance. Their central open air pavilion aligned with the new dune boardwalk crossing, they serve as a gateway to the beach. These building are positioned along the boundary of the existing parking lot and existing dunes, and restore more than 40% of previously impervious area to planting bed. Locally indigenous plants are scheduled in the planting list, including native pitch pine, native grasses and fragrant sumac. While these buildings and the Beach Service building are traditional in style, they incorporate such innovative features as natural ventilation, day-lighting and composting toilets. Materials were carefully selected to provide the least possible maintenance and the greatest durability.