Fairfield architect pushes new tech for climate-resilient housing
FAIRFIELD — The building blocks of Leigh Overland's house on the edge of Ash Creek might be made of plastic foam, but they could hold the formula for coastal homes to adapt to climate change.
The foam material sandwiches a wall of concrete forming the outer shell of a climate-resilient building that's meant to withstand severe storms, 200 mph winds and wildfires due to interior metal stud walls. Overland, a nationally recognized architect based in Fairfield, said the concrete walls offer a shield of strength and protection that's missing from the wooden-frame homes lining the beaches of coastal Connecticut towns.
“The storms and the winds and the hurricanes, these houses will withstand most of it,” Overland said.
He said the style of architecture known as ICF construction — short for insulated concrete forms, or the foam blocks that rim the concrete walls — remains largely undiscovered in Connecticut. He's made it his mission to change that.
“It's imperative for the architects to lead, and if we're fighting problems out there between storms, fires, energy crisis, it's up to us to lead,” he said. “So I'm taking that lead.”
The ICF construction that surrounds Overland's house is just one of many ways he's looked to adapt the buildings he designs to climate conditions that continue to become more severe. Between the concrete walls, triple-pane windows, an insulated panel roof, metal stud interior walls and floors and in-floor radiant heating and cooling, Overland has created an “envelope” that seals his home and indoor temperatures like a vacuum. He said the result is a more energy-efficient home that will reduce gas and electric bills, partially thanks to heat pumps, which gauge outdoor temperature to heat or cool homes.
Overland said the envelope-style architecture requires less time, work and money to build compared to wooden-frame buildings, which typically involve more parts of construction. The ICF homes consist of larger and therefore fewer panels of roofing alongside the easy-to-stack foam blocks. He said ICF buildings also erase the potential for mold, which can form with a mixture between moisture, air and different temperatures in wooden homes, especially in the case of flooding.
When it comes to safety, the disparity is even starker. He said wooden homes aren't built to handle the same weather conditions as ICF buildings and can crumble under the weight of the harsh winds and waves that his mode of houses can withstand. Overland recalled the image of a sole concrete house that survived the wave of devastation that flattened Mexico Beach, Florida in Hurricane Michael in 2018 as a defining reason why ICF homes are so vital.
As long as the construction of more remains affordable, Overland doesn't plan backing off the home architecture model anytime soon.
“Change is slow, but when you have something that is significantly higher quality, saves money, costs less to build, is safer, is more comfortable, is healthier, there's no negatives,” he said. “So when you have a product like that, then you know it's going to take off.”
Overland said he's devoted his architectural business to ICF homes and has notched 20 of those projects in the past roughly eight years across locations including Fairfield, New Canaan and parts of New York and New Jersey. He said about seven or eight are in flux with bidding, designs or construction — an unprecedented scale of simultaneously ongoing projects for him. He added that he's considered hiring some associates for his business to keep up with the demand.
“This is too important to not bring the attention to the public,” he said. “It's way too important because of the safety with all the storms, of the safety because of the fires, of the health benefits of not breathing in mold and mildew.”
Susan Catalano, who recently moved from Weston into one of Overland's homes in Fairfield, said the ICF housing alleviated her family's concerns about potential storms and flooding that come with a costal setting. She said the energy efficiency and guarantee against mold were major draws of Overland's architecture compare to traditional wood frame houses. Catalano said the family hired a builder to tear down the home on the site and construct an ICF building in its place.
“There was no other way we were going to do it,” she said.
Franco DiDemetrio — the chief operating officer of Regency Construction, a building company based in Norwalk — said although he's seen construction and renovation projects crop up along coastal Connecticut as residents move from New York and New Jersey, none of them appear to know about ICF housing. He said the American Institute of Architects could lead awareness efforts for ICF housing, but until then, the Connecticut coast and the storm threats that come with it will be home to the same wooden, or stick frame, houses.
“If you're in vulnerable areas or you want to really build a really nice multi-million dollar house, I'm not understanding why you're still building it with stick frame,” he said.
He said declining lumber quality over the past 30 to 40 years has exacerbated the damage-related risks that homes face along the coast because of younger wood material that now bends, twists and dries out more frequently. He said the lumber industry started reserving younger trees to chop down instead of the older, studier trees once sustainability practices became more commonplace.
“The two-by-four of today is not the same twoby-four of 30 to 40 years ago,” he said.
DiDemetrio said he started turning to ICF projects about three to four years ago and has since taken on projects in Fairfield, New Cannan, Guilford and Westchester County. His new construction projects now revolve entirely around ICF homes.
“We need to be more active in telling people that are going to build homes especially on the coast and 10 feet away from the sound, ‘Hey there're a better way to do this where if you get caught inside you're actually safe. You don't have to run,' ” he said.