A RESORT IN PROVINCETOWN, MASSACHUSETTS: 
Rethinking Tourism on Cape Cod with a Regionalist and 
Sustainable Response 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
John Patrick Cazayoux
 
  
 
 
 
ABSTRACT 
 
 
Title of Document: A RESORT IN PROVINCETOWN, 
MASSACHUSETTS  
Degree Candidate: John Patrick Cazayoux 
 
Degree and Year: Master of Architecture, May 2007 
  
Thesis Directed By: Professor Karl DuPuy, AIA 
University of Maryland School of Architecture, 
Planning, and Preservation 
 
 
The growing tourism industry has transformed many of our nation?s most scenic 
treasures into unarticulated, placeless scars on the landscape.  These responses either 
disregard the uniqueness of place with universalized solutions or referential kitsch.  A 
regionalist response produces a better solution; this approach takes into consideration 
the embedded qualities of place and considers the site?s physical, natural, and cultural 
environments and histories. 
 
Provincetown, Massachusetts on Cape Cod offers a natural landscape and a cultural 
character perfectly suited for an alternative tourist development.   It features a 
dynamic landscape plagued by pressure for new development.  From Puritanism to 
Bohemia, Provincetown also offers a rich and complex history involving many 
cultures.  An engaged design process, considering these forces, utilizing the 
methodologies of regionalism, produces a tourist resort that is sensitive to the unique 
history of Provincetown and its physical environs, while addressing ecological 
preservation and conservation demands through sustainable design solutions.  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A RESORT IN PROVINCETOWN, MASSACHUSETTS:  RETHINKING 
TOURISM ON CAPE COD WITH A REGIONALIST AND SUSTAINABLE 
RESPONSE 
 
 
 
By 
 
 
John Patrick Cazayoux 
 
 
 
 
 
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the  
University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment 
of the requirements for the degree of 
Master of Architecture 
May 2007 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Advisory Committee: 
Professor Thomas L. Schumacher FAAR, Chair 
Professor William Becchoefer FAIA 
Assistant Professor Angel David Nieves PHD 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
Acknowledgements 
The following individuals were essential in helping my produce the materials for my 
final presentation.  I am eternally grateful for their dedication and good will.  
 
Jennifer Kilpatrick 
Kimberly Singleton 
Deborah Bauer 
Florence Ho 
Eyasu Belay 
Scott Behrens 
Aaron Kreinbrook 
 
 iii 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 
Table of Contents??????????????????????????..ii 
List of Figures???????????????????????????v 
Introduction????????????????????????????...1 
Chapter 1: Regionalism????????????????????????.4 
 Glenn Murcutt????????????????????????...5 
 Cape Cod House???????????????????????..17 
 New Regional Vernacular????????????????????23 
 Provincetown Arts Center???????????????????...24 
 Conclusion?????????????????????????...31 
Chapter 2: Provincetown and Telegraph Hill???????????????..33 
 History and Culture??????????????????????.37 
 Site Anyalysis????????????????????????.43 
Chapter 3 Program?????????????????????????..53 
 Existing Accommodations???????????????????..54 
 Program Tabulation??????????????????????.58 
Chapter 4: Design Strategies?????????????????????..53 
 Campus Plan Parti??????????????????????..67 
 Mothership Parti???????????????????????.69 
 Picturesque Parti???????????????????????.71 
Chapter 5: Design Conclusion?????????????????????73 
Bibliography???????????????????????????...83 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 iv 
 
List of Figures 
Number             Page 
1. Aborigine Bark shelter and Cave Shelter                                                                   7 
2. Simpson-Lee Prospect and Magni Refuge          7 
3. Marie Short House           8 
4. Wool Shed exterior and interior and Marie Short house Interior       9 
5. Simpson-Lee House Exterior at Entry and Magni House Interiors    10 
6. Marie Short House           1 
7. Mason De Verre and the Farnsworth House       12 
8. Downspout Details and Plan Diagrams        13 
9. The Mangi House in the Landscape         14 
10. Malqafs            15 
11. Cape Cod House           18 
12. Cape Cod House Module Elevations        19 
13. Cape Cod House Module Floor Plans        20 
14. Cape Cod House Side Elevation         20 
15. Cape Cod House Ell Addition         21 
16. Cape Cod House Orientation             22 
17. Cape Cod House Adaptations         23 
18. Sengekontacket House and Deer Path House       24 
19. Menemsha Pond House Exterior and Interior       25 
20. Sengekontacket House Screened Porch Interior and Exterior     25 
21. Slough Cove Estate                     26 
22. Provincetown Arts Associateion and Museum       27 
23. PAAM Detail Views          28 
24. PAAM in Context           30 
25. Southern New England          33 
26. Don?t Tread On Me          34 
27. The ?Fist? of Cape Cod          34 
28. Cape Cod National Seashore         35 
29. Getting There           35 
30. Provincetown Landmarks          36 
31. Telegraph Hill           36 
32. Fisherman?s Structure and Town Hall        37 
33. 1908 Post Card           38 
34. Artist Painting and the Provincetown Players Playhouse      39 
35. Flags over Provincetown          40 
36. Fourth of July Parade          41 
37. Artist and Craft Fair          41 
38. Street Scenes           41 
39. Provincetown Plan          43 
40. Provincetown Land Use          44 
41. Landlocked House          45 
42. Site Entry and View          46 
 
 v 
 
43. Figure Ground           47 
44. Site Relationships           47 
45. West End of Provincetown         48 
46. Telegraph Hill Aerial          48 
47. The Site East           49 
48. The Site West           49 
49. The Site from Commercial Street Below        49 
50. Site Characteristics:  Wind, Vegitation, Topography, and Viewshed    50 
51. Site Synthesis           51 
52. Site Sections           52 
53. Dune Shack and Thoreau?s Cabin        53 
54. The Provincetown Inn          55        
55. Motel on Highway 6          55 
56. ?Bates Motel? Typology          56 
57. Roofscapes           57 
58. Converted Garages          57 
59. Firehouse and Warf Structure         58 
60. Guest House           58 
61. Kayaking and Biking          61 
62. Bike Trail Map           61 
63. University of Missouri Rolla Solar Decathlon House 2005     63 
64. Program Bubble Diagram          64 
65. Campus Plan           67 
66. Campus Plan Detials          68 
67. Mothership Plan           69 
68. Mothership Plan Details          70 
69. Picturesque Plan           71 
70. Picturesque Plan Details              72 
71. Site Plan Development Process Drawings       74 
72. The Site Plan           75 
73. Perspective Looking South toward the Growing Garden      76 
74. Perspective Showing the Motor Court        76 
75. Form Development Process Drawings        77 
76. Elevation Development Process Drawings       78 
77. Panorama Elevation from the South and East       78 
78. Site Section North-South          78 
79. Main Building Complex          79 
80. Perspective Looking West across South Lawn       79 
81. Single Unit Plans, Sections, and Elevations       80 
82. Double Unit Plans, Sections, and Elevations        81
 
 1 
 
Introduction  
This thesis investigates the nature of a regionalist response to tourist demands.  With 
increased ease of transportation and with the leisure time that a post industrial 
civilization provides, the nation?s greatest natural treasures have become hotbeds of 
tourist activity, placing unnatural and frequently seasonal demands on certain areas.  
Over time responses have, in the spirit of modernism and globalization, proved to be 
highly universalized, machinelike and ignore the qualities of place. 
 
This thesis defines regionalism as a design approach through its responding to the 
specificity of place as it refers to both the physical aspects and cultural expects of 
place.  The design product seeks to find a balance and takes a position on when the 
landscape becomes deferential to culture and vice versa.  Ultimately the designer 
must make value judgments about the cultural and physical relevance for each design 
problem to be resolved in a project.  Through this process the solution is a composite 
that reflects both people and place and makes the least harmful impact on both. 
 
Through a regionalist design process the impact is as minimal as possible to the 
delicate symbiosis of man and the environment.  This thesis examines the challenge 
of balancing the expectations associated with tourism, while having as little impact as 
possible.  A compromise must be reached and the ever increasing awareness of these 
issues in society provide a market for consumers who demand environmental 
sensitivity and who are willing to adjust their expectations to accommodate it. 
 
 2 
 
  
Most architectural responses to tourism do not relate to the qualities of place, either 
by disregarding it with universalized solutions or by resorting to referential kitsch.   
Sensitive analysis and design would aid in the development of a regionalist response 
to unique resources; this would take into consideration the embedded qualities of 
place as it refers to both the physical, natural, and the cultural environments and 
histories.   Through the consideration of these items, the designer avoids 
compromising the integrity and sustainability of the natural and manmade 
infrastructure. 
 
This thesis promotes a ?green? attitude on the part of the tourism industry as well as 
on the part of the end user, the consumer.  A number of approaches are implemented 
to employ a green attitude, but is principally accomplished by ?keeping it simple.?  
Under the umbrella of simplicity, common sense solutions are employed, including 
passive solar orientations, roof water collection and a reduction in material 
consumption with smaller footprints and flexible spaces.   In addition, more 
aggressive emerging technologies including grey water systems and solar power 
collection are utilized.   
 
A market exists for eco and adventure tourism, but there are few domestic outlets.  
This subset of the tourism industry offers a better approach to reducing the impact of 
tourism on natural treasures.  Eco tourists demand that these treasures be preserved, 
and are willing to accept lower standards of accommodation; however there is also a 
 
 3 
 
market of tourists who wish to boast of their ecological sensitivity but do not accept 
lower standards of accommodation.  Sensitive design produces accommodations that 
exceed the expectations of the consumer while providing a minimal impact to the 
natural infrastructure. 
 
Provincetown, Massachusetts, has a history of modest accommodations, which still 
largely prevails today.  With a long history of housing outcasts, modest was always 
adequate.  After being rejected as unsuitable for the pilgrims, it became a home for 
pirates and other social outcasts and has maintained this flavor even today as 
destination for a collectively marginalized group--gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans-
gendered people.   
 
In addition to outdoor activities and appreciation of the beautiful landscape, 
Provincetown offers a vibrant street life overflowing with activity.   In town, 
attractions include sidewalk caf?s, galleries, theaters, museums and nightclubs.  This 
offers a bacchanalian atmosphere throughout the day and late into the evening. 
 
An engaged design process considering these forces, utilizing the methodologies of 
regionalism, produces a tourist resort that is sensitive to the unique history of 
Provincetown and its physical environs, while addressing ecological preservation and 
conservation demands through sustainable design solutions.  
 
 
 4 
 
Chapter 1: Regionalism 
 
This proposed resort serves as an alternative to a universal design resolution to the 
need for tourist lodging.  Regionalist principles drive the alternative to a universalized 
response.  This project defines regionalism as a design solution that is informed and 
derived by both the physical and cultural qualities of place.  Scholars often prefer the 
term ?critical regionalism? to describe this ideology; however this thesis refers to the 
ideology as regionalism. 
 
A region is defined with increasingly tighter rings of specificity.  The rings are 
irregular, they are not concentric and they may not even be contiguous.  They reflect 
physiological specificity as well as cultural specificity.  Provincetown befits much of 
what could be considered the geophysical qualities associated with the eastern 
seaboard of the United States, but it can be further specified as exhibiting qualities of 
the coast of New England. This can be taken further to exhibit the qualities of a non-
contiguous group of barrier islands to provide a greater degree of specificity.  The 
same can be said for the culture.  However, culturally and physically, Provincetown is 
unique and specific.  It is extreme, and it can be defined distinctively.   
 
This chapter explores regionalism as an ideology and is largely informed by the 
readings and discussions of a seminar class on regionalism.  This chapter studies the 
design process and resulting body of work of Glenn Murcutt as an example of an 
architect who successfully captures regionalist principles in his very contemporary 
work, which is also informed by a studied exposure to the great pioneers of modern 
 
 5 
 
architecture.  This chapter also examines historical and contemporary precedents of 
building on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha?s Vineyard.   
 
Glenn Murcutt 
Glenn Murcutt is touted as having created a regional style for Australia.  His elegant, 
simple buildings recall the vernacular agricultural buildings scattered across the 
Australian countryside.  However, Murcutt insists this similarity is one of ?analogous 
inspiration.?
1
  His work embodies the greatest principles of regionalism as it seeks to 
respond to both the physical and cultural aspects of its place.  Even though the forms, 
materiality, and expression of his work answer to the specificity of place, Murcutt?s 
work also relentlessly observes modernist principles.   
 
Murcutt uses the ?analogous inspiration? between his work and the vernacular by 
examining their responses to the geographical constraints and to the historical and 
cultural expression of Australia.  He applies modernist principles with a consistency 
and rigor and yet, ultimately produces a recognizable connection with the vernacular. 
His works become a unification of ideas typically thought of as opposites.  Murcutt?s 
work strongly suggests that a marriage and balance between the two is possible and, 
more importantly, is beautiful. 
 
This unification also suggests the ultimate importance of the designer?s responsibility 
in architecture to make the smallest impact possible.  Murcutt uses modernist 
                                                
1
 Fromonot, Francoise. Glenn Murcutt: Buildings and Projects. London:  (Thames 
and Hudson and Whitney Library of Design. 1995) 28. 
 
 6 
 
principles in a way that does not compromise his considerations towards the total 
impact of his buildings.  This includes the volume of material used, the ecological 
impacts of these items (embodied energy, renewability, recyclability), and the energy 
the building will consume in operation. Fromonot quotes the architect, Juhani 
Pallasmaa as titling this kind of architecture ?Ecological Functionalism.?  Pallasmaa 
goes on to state ??.this view implies a paradoxical task for architecture.  It must 
become more primitive and more refined at the same time.?
2
   
 
Australia is an exceptionally harsh landscape, and both its indigenous culture, the 
Aborigines, and the European colonists have adapted to the natural conditions.  This 
adaptation has undoubtedly born a culture that is very evident in Murcutt?s work.  
Some cultural qualities that have found their way into Murcutt?s work include the 
livestock industry, naturalism, human sensory relationships with the environment, and 
a ?make-do? attitude.  
 
The aborigine shelters also responded to the human need for prospect and refuge.  
Whether a temporary bark structure or a cave, their shelters maintained a physical 
manifestation of prospect and refuge (Figure 1 & 2).  One side opened to the 
landscape for prospect, and the other was closed off for refuge. Two specific 
examples of Murcutt absorbing these principles are the Simpson-Lee house and the 
Magney house at Bingi Point (Figures 10 &11.  Both of these houses open one side of 
the house with glazing screens and louvers to great views provide the inhabitant 
prospect while only featuring minimal fenestration on the other sides.     
                                                
2
 Fromonot  48 
 
 7 
 
 
         
Figure 1: Aborigine Bark shelter and Cave Shelter. [http://science.uniserve.edu.au/school/curric/ 
stage4_5/nativeplants/gallery/paperbark/pbshelterwatn.jpg] [http://www.pcug.org.au/~jevans/Galleries 
/2005] These primitive shelters served the most basic needs of its inhabitants.  They provide protection 
from the elements and a vantage point from which to keep watch for self-preservation. 
 
                     
Figure 2 Simpson-Lee Prospect and Magni Refuge [Fromonot] The Simpson-Lee house on the left 
shows a prospect fa?ade and the Magni house on the right shows refuge.  Both of these residences have 
a prospect and refuge organization with closed off south fa?ade and a very open north fa?ade for this 
southern hemisphere application 
 
Murcutt saw the aborigine people as having the ?ideal symbiosis with the Australian 
continent.?
3
  They took only what they needed from nature, and Murcutt often quotes 
an Aborigine proverb, which states, ?Touch this earth lightly.? 
4
  In addition to the 
metaphorical sense, many of Murcutt?s buildings visually touch the earth lightly.  The 
                                                
3
 Fromonot 36 
4
 Fromonot 49 
 
 8 
 
Simpson-Lee house, sits on piers and the landscape continues to flow underneath the 
house.    
 
Australia?s landscape was so resistant to the colonial effort to tame it that a reverence 
of nature still exists to this day in Australia.  This reverence of the nature created the 
need for a transition zone, which is manifested as the veranda. The one room deep bar 
module and the cross ventilation allows the whole house to act as the veranda.  The 
veranda had been a popular colonial adaptation to warm climates around the world. 
        
          Figure 3 Marie Short House. [Fromonot] The Marie Short house shows the one room 
        deep module and effectively makes the entire house a veranda. 
 
 
 9 
 
In contrast, the vernacular architecture that rose out of the colonial agriculture 
industry provided a rational response to practical concerns of materiality and 
controlling the elements.  ?Analogous inspiration? is visually evident when 
comparing woolsheds with Murcutt?s work.  The wool sheds have raised floors to 
keep the wool dry, they are ventilated at the top to allow the hot air to esCape, and the 
boards are laid with gaps to allow for diffused light and for increased ventilation.  
Murcutt?s ?analogous inspiration? developed a louvered fa?ade on many houses that 
perform the same way, except his are operable to regulate light and air as needed.  
The Marie Short house (figure 4) is one such example, which resembles the quality of 
the interior of a wool shed (figure 4).  Like Aborigine shelters they were made of 
readily accessible materials and assembled in a way that is consistent with the 
qualities of the materials.  Furthermore, the Marie Short house is detailed using 
catalogue parts. 
       
Figure 4: Wool Shed Exterior and Interior and Marie Short house Interior.  [Fromonot] The wool shed 
appears to have solid walls from the exterior, but the interior shows the gaps provided for light and 
ventilation.  Murcutt?s ?analogous inspiration? shows in the Marie short house where the same issues 
of tempering light and providing ventilation are addressed.  
 
Murcutt?s works artfully mediates water, light, and air in a way responds the 
Australian culture?s sensory relationship with the environment.  In The Hidden 
 
 10 
 
Dimension, the author, Edward Hall, writes about the tolerance levels across cultures 
for sensory stimulation.
5
  There is no doubt that the place a culture inhabits will 
impacts these tolerances.  The Australians have a collective consciousness of water, 
light and air and the need to harness them.  Murcutt artfully harnesses these forces in 
a way that heightens the awareness and yet softens them.  For water, he uses cisterns 
and pools as part of his architectural languages. He controls light through operable 
layers and reflective ceiling surfaces. And his buildings move air by allowing for 
cross ventilation.  The Marie Short, Simpson-Lee, and the Mangi house all provide 
for cross ventilation and are oriented with the length of the bar perpendicular to the 
predominant wind direction. 
        
Figure 5: Simpson-Lee House Exterior at Entry and Magni House Interiors. [Fromonot] The Simpson-
Lee house is entered across a pool, which collects rain water and features a pump that can recirculate 
the water over the house in the event of a forest fire. The Mangi house has a curved ceiling painted 
white with clerestory windows on the high wall protected by a large overhang.  The resultant effect is a 
muted impression of the day outside. 
 
                                                
5
 Hall, Edward. The Hidden Dimension. New York: Anchor Books, 1966. 
 
 11 
 
In combating and harnessing the elements, isolation, and the harsh landscapes, 
Australians have developed a ?make do? attitude that promotes individual invention 
and problem solving.
6
  Glenn Murcutt is known for his use of corrugated metal sheets 
for roofing and wall surfaces.  Corrugated metal was used throughout the Australian 
countryside because it was a material that was easily transported and assembled.  
Many uses were found for it, and Murcutt uses it for these very reasons.  It is 
accommodating to connections and is easily assembled and transported.  
 
Figure 6:  Marie Short House.  [Fromonot] The roofline of the Marie Short house resembles that of the 
Aborigine bark huts and the pioneer adaptations with bark, but there is an analogous performance and 
character between corrugated steel and sheets of bark with regards to assembly and form. 
 
Murcutt?s father, who was an adventurer and a disciple of Henry David Thoreau?s 
simplicity and individualist philosophy, instilled this ?make do? attitude in him 
early.
7
  Individualist philosophy was particularly applicable to the Australian senses 
of vastness and isolation.  The number of the great modernists influenced Murcutt as 
he transitioned from student to professional.  Fromonot writes: 
His final thesis contained two revealing epigraphs:  one from Neutra, urging 
the spirit of the place to cooperate with the architect; the other from Le 
Corbusier?s Concerning Town Planning??only the architect can create a 
balance between man and his environment.?
8
 
                                                
6
 Fromonot. 30 
7
 Fromonot. 12 
8
 Fromonot. 14 
 
 12 
 
These two issues continue to inspire his work today.  He adopted Neutra?s treatment 
of facades based on orientation and he admired Alvar Aalto?s giving nature and the 
landscape a role in the creation of architectural order.  On a travel fellowship, he was 
exposed to a number of great works of architecture and met many influential 
architects taking something from each.  In the case of Jose Antonio Coderch in 
Barcelona, he was impressed with his humanism if not his architecture.  The 
Farnsworth house by Mies Van Der Rohe and the Mason de Verre by Pierre Chareau 
are said to be the two architectural works that have had the greatest influence on 
Glenn Murcutt.
9
 
             
              
Figure 7: Mason De Verre [Chareau] and the Farnsworth House. [Blaser] Murcutt admired the Mason 
De Verre for its functional details and he referred to it as modernity without dogma.  The Farnsworth 
house displays purity and simplicity from it plan to its details.  Murcutt studied this in great detail. 
 
The expression in much of Murcutt?s early work mimics that of the Farnsworth house 
and the Meisian style.  The planning principles of Meis?s work is evident in all of 
                                                
9
 Fromonot.  16-17 
 
 13 
 
Murcutt?s work and continues to provide a common thread in his work.  Chareau?s 
Maison de Verre provided him with a model for functional detailing and detail 
resolution.  Murcutt incorporates this influence by providing flexibility for the user 
while being comprised of an assemblage of universalized pieces and parts.  Both the 
Farnsworth house and the Mason de Verre represent ideologies compatible with 
Thoreau and individualism.  They offer simplicity and clarity.  The Farnsworth house 
reveals itself immediately and its organization is clear.  In the Maison de Verre, one 
discovers the ?make do? in the design through the clarity of assemblage in its details. 
    
Figure 8: Downspout Details and Plan Diagrams. [Fromonot] These images show Murcutt?s evolution 
of the ideas presented at the Farnsworth House and Mason de Verre by way of functional details and 
clarity of plan Plan diagrams of the Mangi, Short, and Simpson-Lee houses display variations of the 
organizing principles found in the Farnsworth house. The downspout details of the Mangi house recall 
the clarity of function in the Maison de Verre.  
 
There is a very clear intention in Murcutt?s work to respond to the environment by 
having the lowest impact.  This does not manifest itself in form as Murcutt suggests 
that his work engages with a landscape in a foreign way that over time becomes part 
of the landscape but through the honesty of the intrusion.  His analogy is that of a 
 
 14 
 
brick thrown into a stream.  It is clear that the brick is not a natural element but in 
time it finds a home and settles in among the sand and gravel and the water reacts to 
its presence.  After time it is still clear that this brick is different but it seems to 
belong at the same time.  His environmental response is most evident in its reaction to 
the elements. 
 
Figure 9: The Mangi House in the Landscape. [Fromonot] The house is a foreign object but cooperates 
with the landscape in performance.  
 
It is often asserted that there is an inherent sustainability in regionalist architecture.  
Murcutt?s consciousness of sustainability issues is deeply ingrained in his design 
process and its focus on responding to the specificity of place.  He provides for 
orientations that facilitate the best responses to light and air.  His modernist planning 
strategies provide for cross ventilation. He imports technologies and makes design 
decisions that lower the consumption habits of the end user by operating comfortably 
 
 15 
 
without the consumption of energy through heating or air conditioning systems.  The 
designs harness light and air so that these systems are not necessary. 
                           
Figure 10: Malqafs [Fromonot (left) and Rudofsky (right)] Murcutt developed a ventelation system 
inspired by the malqafs in the Middle East, which work with natural currents and water to cool spaces. 
 
Murcutt?s work represents an ?Ecological Functionalism? in architecture suggested 
by Jahani Pallasmaa.  It is simultaneously primitive and refined.  Jahani went on to 
say: 
??more primitive in terms of meeting the most fundamental of human need 
with an economy of expression and mediating man?s relation to the 
world?.and more sophisticated in the sense of adapting to the cyclic systems 
of nature in terms of both matter and energy.?
10
  
 
Murcutt?s work exhibits this ideology faithfully.  He painstakingly considers the 
ecological cost of each design decision, both in terms of assembly and materiality. 
His buildings are minimalist in their use of materials and lifetime and maintenance of 
materials are a constant consideration.  This approach allows for a product that 
provides beauty of utility where the functional parts also serve aesthetic purposes, 
                                                
10
 Fromonot. 48 
 
 16 
 
negating the need for wasteful appliqu?.  In effect his minimalism is as related to his 
sustainability concerns as his Meisian influence.
11
   
 
These efforts to reduce consumption of material and energy and to make the most out 
of the least are in accord with Murcutt?s favorite Aborigine proverb, ?Touch this earth 
lightly.?  It also speaks to the ideas of E. F. Schmacher?s ?Buddhist Economics? and 
the ideas in Hassan Fathy?s book, Architecture for the Poor.  Both of these authors 
preach making the most out of the least.  In a combination of modernist minimalism 
and vernacular common sense, Murcutt?s work finds the balance of theory and 
pragmatism through a rigorous effort towards sustainability.    
 
The work of Glenn Murcutt provides a work that is distinctly Australian by virtue of 
the fact that it exists in Australia.  The architect, himself, denies that his work 
nostalgically recalls the agricultural sheds of the countryside, but rather is a result of 
an ?analogous inspiration.?   His work responds to many of the same needs as the 
woolsheds and farm structures.  His buildings may resemble these farm structures but 
manifests itself in a more refined and cultivated way.  This is partly a result of time 
but also a result of global influences and the insertion of theory.  However, Murcutt 
does not allow universalized modern theory to be applied in a way that compromises 
the design as a result of place.  Like vernacular buildings, his work is inspired by the 
place in which it exists and the people who will inhabit it.  This is accomplished 
under the framework of a clear idea of organization and rational functional 
                                                
11
 Fromonot. 49 
 
 17 
 
organization.   The work is also influenced by an Australian history of naturalism and 
by a forward looking approach to sustainability and reduced consumption.   
 
Murcutt?s ideology is an inspiration, and his realized works are no less so.  His 
process finds a balance that all architects should aspire to find.  He employs 
hybridization in his work through common sense traditional solutions and the 
importation of technologies, primitive and advanced, that he judiciously applies 
within the context in which he is working.  His work finds the commonalities among 
modernism, sustainability, and humanism and merges them with the physical realities 
of the site.  The end result is an architecture that is undeniably born of its place, 
which in this case is Australia.  While Murcutt?s work addresses a number of cultural 
trends in Australia, his methodology answers universal questions.  Murcutt?s design 
considerations form a universal methodology that could be applied to any place and 
undoubtedly result in a regionalist response to that place.  In short, Murcutt offers a 
comprehensive regionalist methodology, and his work derived from this process and 
built in Australia does prove to be distinctly Australian.   
 
Cape Cod House 
The Cape Cod house has become a ubiquitous typology throughout the United States.  
Its simplicity undoubtedly charms many.  The roots however, lie exclusively on Cape 
Cod, where it was the only type of house built on the outer Cape well into the 19
th
 
century.  The first to use the term was Timothy Dwight, the president of Yale 
College, who visited the Cape in 1800.  With quotes from Dwight, Connally writes, 
 
 18 
 
?.. he found the houses so specialized in character and so closely adhering to a pattern 
that they specified to a ?class? and could ?be called, with propriety, Cape Cod 
houses.??
12
   
 
Figure 11:  Cape Cod House [Author].  The above house shows a typical ?house and a half? Cape Cod 
house in Provincetown.  Note that the roof shingles would historically have been wood shakes.  The 
Clapboard on the front face and the door surround upgrades from the most basic house.  Note also that 
the house faces south without regard to the location of the street.  
 
The Cape Cod house is typically sheathed on both the roof and walls with pine or 
cedar shakes.  The simple house with a pitched gabled roof came in a number of 
variations, which suggest a modularity of economy.  The variations include the 
?house,? ?house and a half,? and ?double house.?  The number of bays on the front 
fa?ade distinguishes these classifications.   
                                                
12
 Connally, Ernest Allen ?Connally, Ernest Allen. 1960 The Cape Cod House: an Introductory Story. 
(A reprint from) Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 19 (2) 1 
 
 19 
 
 
Figure12:  Cape Cod House Module Elevations [Connally].  The sketches above show the three typical 
modules.  From left to right they include the House, House-and-a-half, and the Double House.  These 
variations affect the elevation by they rhythm of bays on the fa?ade as a composition of windows and a 
door.  While the configuration of the fa?ade displays a generally predictable rhythm, the bay module is 
not always dimensionally consistent.  Modern interpretations may show a three bay variation with a 
door flanked by a window on either side, but the above elevations show the variations found when this 
typology was only found on Cape Cod. 
 
 
Figure13:  Cape Cod House Module Floor Plans [Connally].  The plans consistently organize the plan 
around the hearth.  This allowed for an economy in consolidating the masonry work and also allowed 
for all heat radiating from the chimney mass to be distributed within the building envelope.  The plans 
also show thee increased specialization of rooms based on the size of the house.  The most frequently 
occupied room, titled the east room above, is always located at the south east corner of the house.     
 
While the fenestration (double hung 9 light over 6 light sashes) on the front fa?ade 
was as straight-forward as to yield only three compositions for which the houses are 
classified, the fenestration on the side elevations were more incidental.  In fact, 
Thoreau, who also provides insight on the Cape landscape in his book Cape Cod, 
wrote that the fenestration on the gables look as if each occupant ?had punched a hole 
 
 20 
 
where his necessities required it, and according to his size and stature, without regard 
to outside effect.?
13
   
                             
                Figure 14: Cape Cod House Side Elevation [Author].  This house in Provincetown  
                shows a potential variations for fenestration patterns on the side elevation with varying  
  window sizes.  Note the dormer windows were added to the Cape Cod house in 
  subsequent additions or iterations. 
 
Connally adds that these variations are not to be perceived as chronological.  They are 
primarily a function of economy as the three variations were built simultaneously.  
The ?house? could be expanded to a ?house and a half? or a ?double,? and from that 
point further additions were made in the form of a rear ell.  The second floor, under 
the roof was called the garret.  It should be noted that a second full story was very 
uncommon on the outer Cape.  On the upper Cape and on Nantucket, two story 
houses were more common and were expressed in the similar modules. 
                                                
13
 Connally, Ernest Allen. 5 
 
 21 
 
                 
 
Figure 15: Cape Cod House Ell Addition [Author]. This ?house and a half? has an ell addition to the 
rear.  Note also that because the house is oriented south and the street runs east-west an entry has been 
added on the street side on the gabled elevation. 
 
It is very clear through observation of these Cape Cod houses that the early builders 
were very attuned to siting and orientation.  They developed landscapes to shield the 
homestead gardens from the salt air and oriented houses in relation to the cardinal 
directions often disregarding the road.  The houses, almost without exception, faced 
south.  The fireplace and chimney structure was at the center of the house.  The rooms 
were very predictably laid out with the primary family room at the southeast 
exposure, the kitchen at the north/rear position and a bedroom tucked away at the 
rear.  In the ?double house? the room to the west of the door is a room for guests and 
special occasions. Thoreau notes that there was one variation with the Cape Cod 
house in Provincetown where the houses were placed on piles.  This allowed the ever-
 
 22 
 
shifting sand to a freedom of movement.  The average home-site in Provincetown had 
a fence built of solid planks to keep the shifting sands at bay around the house.
14
     
    
Figure 16:  Cape Cod House Orientation [Author].  This house is another example of a Cape Cod 
house that is oriented south even with the road oriented east-west.  This example has modest details, 
and most closely resembles the prototype.   
    
The outer Cape was only accessible by water or on foot.  Timber resources had all 
been consumed by the 18
th
 century, so lumber to build the houses was imported by 
ship from the mainland, which led to an economy of method and assembly. With the 
development of dimensional lumber the houses were constructed in a manner similar 
to contemporary frame construction.  The houses were also susceptible to fashion and 
style.  Over time, Capes were modified with Federalist, Greek revival, and Victorian 
details; however, the houses were practical and flexible enough to absorb this 
appliqu? without comprising their unmistakable formal clarity.  
                                                
14
 Connally, Ernest Allen ?Connally, Ernest Allen. 1960 The Cape Cod House: an Introductory Story. 
(A reprint from) Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 19 (2) 5.  Thoreau is cited from 
Cape Cod. 
 
 
 23 
 
                 
Figure 17:  Cape Cod House Adaptations [Author].  These Capes show the different types of 
modifications that have been made over the years.  The first shows a federalist door surround, the 
second shows Victorian bracketed door canopy and Victorian muntin patterns, and the last and most 
extreme is a Cape adapted as a storefront by leaving the double hung windows intact and using plate 
glass for what would typically be the sheathed part of the wall.  In each of these instances the typology 
remains strongly intact. 
 
The persistence of the Cape Cod house, which has maintained its formal integrity 
over time, is a testament to its practicality for the residents of Cape Cod.  For nearly 
two centuries it was the only residential building type of the lower Cape.   Created to 
serve a very real need for shelter, its evolution has been manifested only in a very fine 
level of detail and technology.  The formal archetype did not change for two 
centuries.  Recent generations have worked in some ways to capture its charm but fail 
to capture its essence.  Starting with the arrival of the railroad, followed by the 
highway and automobile, cheap energy and the imported housing prototypes this 
made possible; the Cape Cod house was morphed into a type similar to the imported 
rambler or ranch house.  However a vast majority of the Cape Cod houses built 
throughout the Cape remain. 
New Regional Vernacular 
The architecture firm of Hutker Architects provides numerous contemporary works 
that reflect a self-promoted regionalist effort.  Their website states, ?HA?s residential 
architects and interior designers seek to create a regionalist architecture, combining 
the user of local archetypal forms with traditional building practice that evolve out of 
 
 24 
 
climate and material ethics.?
15
   The website goes on to express the importance in 
materiality, community context, the user and site attributes as the driving forces 
behind their work.  They do not however, fail to express the relevance of time, as they 
state their efforts are expressed in a ?contemporary idiom.?
16
 
   
Figure18: Sengekontacket House and Deer Path House [Hutker Architects].  These two houses show 
the archetypal forms used in the contemporary idom.  Hutker Architects breaks down programmatic 
requirements of today?s homes into multiple volumes (Deer Path shows varying roof shapes including 
both the hipped and gabled volumes) to maintain a scale compatible with the landscape and 
community.  In both homes the materiality reflects the region but is expressed in new ways compatible 
with current cultural trends.  In both cases above the landscape is increasingly articulated  closer to the 
house but are relatively natural and low impact. 
 
The portfolio is divided into the following categories, ?historic,? ?traditional,? 
?camps and cottages,? and ?new regional vernacular.?
17
 There are distinctions 
between the catgories each expresses the importance of site.  ?Historical? refers to 
their preservation and renovation work, ?traditional? is distinguished by its reverence 
of context, ?camps and cottages? are distinguished by scale and detail, and the ?new 
regional vernacular? is distinguished by its material and construction honesty.    
While all of the work shares similar attitudes about the implications of context, the 
?new regional vernacular? work offers the greatest deviation and interpretation.    
                                                
15
 Hutkcr Architects ?Portfolio? http://www.hutkerarchitects.com/portfolio/portfolio.html 
16
 Hutker Architects The porfolio page of the firm website states, ?HA?s new designs are creative 
solutions rooted in the same history and traditions yet are interpreted in a contemporary idiom.? 
17
 Hutker Architects The website also includes categories including interior design, guest/carriage 
house, and commercial.  These categories are not relevant for the purpose of this study. 
 
 25 
 
     
Figure 19:  Menemsha Pond House [Hutker Architects].  In the above images of both the exterior and 
iterior of a house shows an approach to making a nod at a particular regional cultural heritage.  This 
house speaks the Native American culture through its exterior massing and interior detailing.  The 
massing consists of two volumes a long narrow volume with a barrel-vaulted roof, which references 
the Native American Longhouse dwelling, and the round pyramidal volume, which references the 
roundhouse Native American Dwellings.  The interiors also make reference the intricacy of assembly 
found in Native American Dwellings where materials for structure and sheathing are gathered from 
nature and assembled using their intrinsic un-manufactured strengths. 
 
         
Figure 20:  Sengekontacket House Screened Porch Interior and Exterior [HutkerArchitects].  The 
screened porch above suggests the prow of a boat.  Both when viewed from the exterior and from 
within the shape, one will undoubtedly feel a connection to the sea which is such a definitive icon for 
this region, Cape Cod. 
 
The work of Hutker Architects is most successful in its interaction with and reverence 
for the landscape.  John Jackson writes about the patterns found in the landscape and 
the cultural formations on landscapes that we perceive to be natural.
18
  Hutker 
Architects finds the balance between cultural landscapes and natural landscapes.  
                                                
18
 Jackson, John Brinckerhoff.  Discovering the Vernacular Landscape. New Haven: Yale University 
Press, 1984 
 
 
 26 
 
Their work values both, and through careful massing and delicate siting, their 
buildings are timeless regardless of how modern or literal the interpretation.  
     
 
    
Figure 21:  The Slough Cove Estate [Hutker Architects].  The family compound pictured above is 
broken down into three main buildings and each of these volumes is also broken into multiple 
volumes.  This mitigates the impact of the large program on the site and also provides a means by 
which to establish hierachy of the elements while also nodding to the agricultural industry in the 
region.  This project is careful to harness parts of the landscape as outdoor rooms and leaves the rest 
wild.  Low stone walls serve to further this distinction.  In the image at the top right the wild is allowed 
to bisect the manicured outdoor rooms. 
 
 27 
 
Hutker Architects uses a relatively literal interpretation of context through their siting, 
materiality, and formal language.  Within this archetypal expression of the Cape and 
islands typology, their work is distinctly new and does not ignore the needs of 
modern clients and users.  The success of the practice speaks to the firm?s ability to 
reach the inner desires for comfort in shelter.  The proposed resort for Provincetown 
seeks to provide the same sense of comfort and place that the work of Hutker 
Architects through its communion and distinction between building and nature. 
Provincetown Arts Center 
The Provincetown Art Association and Museum is a fixture in the arts community in 
Provincetown and even more broadly in the history of American art.  It was founded 
in 1914 just as Provincetown was emerging as an artist colony.  Included among its 
founding members was the great artist Charles Hawthorne.    Its 1921 mission 
statement reads, ?to exhibit and collect art works of merit and to educate the public in 
the arts.?
19
  The current building is a marriage of the Hargood House, which has 
housed the PAAM since 1919 and a contemporary 2003-2005 addition designed by 
the architects Machado and Silvetti. 
          
Figure 22:  Provincetown Arts Associate and Museum [Machado and Silvetti Associates]. 
                                                
19
 http://www.paam.org/ the PAAM website provides a brief history of the organization and includes 
this mission statement as well as an extended version. 
 
 28 
 
Formally the relationship between the two elements is quite abrupt, but it speaks to 
the cultural history of the institution.  The PAAM, established by artists from an 
impressionist background, resisted the inclusion of modernist art.  Even as they began 
to be included the work was segregated into two separate annual shows known as the 
?Regular? and ?Modern ? shows.  The building today speaks to this duality.  The 
Hargood house with its shuttered windows with divided lights and white clapboard 
walls meets the contemporary addition with its plate glass, interpreted cedar shake 
shingles, its interpreted louvered sheathing, and its formally contradicting 
fenestration.  The building today suggests that both traditions are important and 
distinct, but the inside reveals a unified understated palette leaving the expression to 
the art.  
   
Figure 23:  Detail Views of PAAM [Author].  The above details show the material assembly and 
patterns on the exterior of the new portion of the building.  The large shakes are caricatures of cedar 
shingles, the pervasive building material of this buildings context.  The horizontal bands suggest 
clapboard and in their natural state mesh nicely with its antique counterpart in the adjacent house 
shown in the image on the right.  The picture on the right shows an articulated fenestration and the 
picture on the left shows fenestration icognito. These differing window treatments provide interest on 
the fa?ade but do not relate to the organization of spaces beyond the wall.  
 
 
 29 
 
The addition does not comply with the context in form or even the particular 
expression of its materials, but the materials are of the region.  The building is 
sheathed in cedar expressed as a very regular patter of shingles where the joints of 
each course are staggered from the course below by only about a fifth of its length.  
On what reads as the third level the building is sheathed in cedar horizontal bands laid 
at an angle as louvers.  These members run continuous on the fa?ade regardless of the 
fenestration behind.  It is only broken for two large glass prismatic volumes, which 
also rise above the parapet.  One might make an association to the vocabulary of 
cupolas, belvedere?s, and perhaps more tritely, lighthouses in the area.  
 
The addition has been awarded a silver level LEED rating and is the first art museum 
in America to be certified green by the USGBC.
20
  The building?s green features are 
listed on the Machado and Silvetti website and integrated into the building and mostly 
imperceptible at street level.  There are photovoltaic panels on the roof and a 
thermally efficient skin.  In addition, it features two very smart energy conscious 
technologies including an HVAC system, which allows the building to be cooled by 
outside air when appropriate, and a lighting system, which adjusts to supplement the 
day-lighting as necessary.
21
 
 
While the form of the building may seem quite foreign in context, an analysis of the 
building provides a number of contextural elements that suggest this is a regionalist 
                                                
20
 http://www.paam.org/ The PAAM website lists the silver LEED and the USGBC ratings and states 
that it is the first art museum in America to be certified green by the USGBC. 
21
 http://www.machado-silvetti.com/projects/ptown/index.php  The Machado and Silvetti website 
provides a blurb on the PAAM and lists the ?green? elements.  In addition to the points listed in the 
text above it also reads that native plants where used in the landscape.  
 
 30 
 
response.  The buildings systems work well with both the program and the cool 
climate and long summer days at this latitude and finding a win-win scenario for both 
reducing energy consumption and yet providing the controlled atmosphere for 
protection of the artwork.  The materials, while applied in a new way, are the 
materials that have proved over time to respond well to the natural conditions.  The 
building also addresses the cultural conflict of art history through the duality set up by 
the new and old design languages.    
 
Figure 24:  PAAM in Context [Author].  The above image shows the PAAM as it is experienced from 
the street.  While the distinct contrast is evident the collision of forms is not as evident as in the wide-
angle shot shown in figure 22 above.  The contrast in the forms and the increased volume does speak to 
the evolution and growth of the Provincetown arts scene, which has been expanded not superceded. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 
Conclusion 
Through the study of regionalist architects and analyses of buildings for their 
regionalist qualities, this document explores manifestations of the principles of the 
regionalism.  This chapter also suggests that common ground be found between 
universalism and regionalism.  It is important to remember that culture is a very 
important aspect of regionalist design.  A network of shared information has 
globalized cultures everywhere with increasing intensity.  Not only is culture fluid by 
influence, it is also fluid by migration.  Cultures come and go and leave an impact on 
the places they inhabit.  The proposed site exemplifies the relevance of that even in its 
relatively short 300-year history.   
 
Globalization also allows for a greater perception of the nuances of a particular place.  
Glenn Murcutt?s work shows the very successful marriage of the characteristics of 
place and culture with the clarity of the universalized modernist principles.  Machado 
and Silvetti?s PAAM begs the question what should a signature institution look like in 
Provincetown?  They answer it with a form that contrasts heavily with its context.  
Even with its highly regionalist gestures of materiality, it?s formal integrity as a 
distinct creation is not diluted.   Hutker Architects provides a contrast to PAAM with 
its archetypal forms that undoubtedly speak our culture?s desire for familiarity and 
human scale.  All of this however is dwarfed in comparison to the highly persistent, 
dominant, and distinctive Cape Cod prototype, which has been exported throughout 
the country.  The Cape Cod house is a highly successful cultural export from the 
region. 
 
 
 32 
 
The proposed project utilizes aspects of each of the architects and projects presented 
in this chapter all within the framework of understanding place.  It answers the 
questions about what forms come out of an interpretation of the cultural and physical 
aspects of place.  It displays the sustainable choices pulled both from responding to 
place and from pulling on the collective knowledge of the global culture.  It displays 
an understanding of materiality and building culture of its region.  It responds to the 
culture of its community while providing accommodation for temporary participants 
in that community, and it hopes to provide a flexibility to adapt to cultural shifts in 
the future. 
   
 
 33 
 
Chapter 2: Provincetown and Telegraph Hill 
 
 
 
Figure 27:  Southern New England [Author  (Google Earth)].  Provincetown sits at the outermost tip of 
Cape Cod. 
 
The site proposed for this project is located in Provincetown, Massachusetts on the tip 
of Cape Cod.  Cape Cod is a narrow strip of land that bends northward as it stretches 
eastward into the Atlantic Ocean.  On a map, Cape Cod resembles and out stretched 
arm bent with fist in the air ready to fight.  It was formed by glacial activity thousands 
of years ago and is constantly morphed and worked by wind and water.  Vegetation 
stabilizes the dunes to some degree, but the dune landscape is ever changing.  
Because it is a relatively narrow peninsula the summers and winters are both 
tempered by the water. 
 
 34 
 
 
Figure 26:  Don?t Tread on Me [Author]. On a map, Cape Cod resembles and out stretched arm bent 
with fist in the air ready to fight.  As part of the original thirteen colonies it can be seen as the 
American Colonies shaking its fist at England to the East.  Provincetown?s position at the clenched fist 
is certainly in keeping with its cultural history of lawlessness, accepting outcasts, and testing taboos. 
 
 
Figure 27: The ?Fist? of Cape Cod. [Author] Provincetown?s position on the Cape has earned the 
nickname ?land?s end.?  Provincetown rests on the southern shore and occupies about a 25% of ?land?s 
end.?  The remaining 75% is occupied by land included in the Cape Cod National Seashore 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 
Figure:  Cape Cod National Seashore [Author].   The above panoramic pictures show the Cape vast 
landscape of sand dunes and scrub vegetation. In the foreground on the left side of the top image is the 
runway for the Provincetown Airport.  Commuter flights from Boston and other local airports come 
and go fro this airstrip.  By the beginning of the 18
th
 century this area had been considerably deforested 
by the colonists leaving a desert like landscape such that residents battled the moving dunes.  The 
current landscape shown above is the result of conservation efforts. 
 
As the crow flies, Provincetown is 54 miles from Boston, Massachusetts; however by 
car the distance is 115 miles.  From Providence, Rhode Island, it is 65 miles and by 
car it is 120 miles.  The built fabric of Provincetown is a very compact and quite 
dense for a small and remote community.  
 
Figure 29:  Getting There [Author]. Boston and Providence are nearby transportation hubs.  They both 
have airports and train stations.  There is a seasonal ferry to and from Boston and a year round bus to 
and from Providence.  Note Martha?s Vineyard and Nantucket, nearby seasonal resort islands.  
 
 36 
 
 
Figure 30: Provincetown Landmarks [Author].  The above image shows the site in relationship to the 
town.  The site is located on the edge of town offering a proximity to both the town and the national 
seashore. 
 
 
Figure 31: Telegraph Hill [Author].  The proposed site is on a rise that overlooks Provincetown and the 
harbor as well as the bay to the west.  The site is accessed from Bradford Street one of the two main 
streets through town.  The second primary street, Commercial Street is also shown above. 
 
 
 37 
 
In addition to Provincetown?s dramatic placement at the Land?s End, there is also a 
dynamic culture that has seen significant shifts in social and industrial demographics.  
A regionalist perspective considers all aspects of the site including its history and 
culture.  This chapter analyzes the site in greater detail, but first provides an overview 
of its cultural history and observations on the culture today. 
 
History and Culture 
Provincetown sits on the outermost tip of Cape Cod.  Puritans fleeing religious 
persecution in England landed in Provincetown and soon decided it was not suitable 
for their settlement and moved up Cape to Plymouth.  By 1630, Provincetown had 
become a settlement of lawlessness, inhabited by deviants, outlaws, and Indians.  The 
town was incorporated in 1727 but was accessible only by sand paths and by the sea.  
In 1793 a church was built and it evolved more towards something that could be 
considered a ?proper? town. 
      
Figure 32:  Fisherman?s Structure and Town Hall [Author]. On the left is a small warehouse for fishing 
supplies, and town hall on the right.  The juxtaposition displays Provincetown?s history as a 
municipality rose from its humble industry.  Fishing was the main industry in Provincetown for over 
two centuries.   
 
 38 
 
The economy boomed in the first half of the 19
th
 century.  Provincetown became a 
busy port for the salt, fishing, and whaling industries.  In the second half of the 
century there was a gradual decline in these industries due to both a decrease in 
demand for fish and catch sizes as well as the discovery of kerosene and petroleum, 
which greatly reduced the demand for whale oil.  This downswing continued until the 
tourism industry began to take hold around 1930.  At this time Provincetown, as part 
of a national movement, began to market its historic charm as a draw for tourism. 
 
As part of the national movement of historical tourism, the town erected the Pilgrim 
monument.  In addition to a national fascination with historical tourism, there was 
also a fascination with a middle and upper class observation of the working class, 
which at the time consisted primarily of ethnic immigrants.  In Provincetown 
fisherman became a tourist attraction, and this was of further interest due to their 
primarily Portuguese heritage.   
 
Figure 33:  1908 Post Card [Krahulik
22
 pg. 48] The post cards show above is entitled ?Children on the 
Beach.?  This postcard shows a very typical outlet of tourism at the time, which was focused on the 
observation of immigrant workers. 
 
Coastal Massachusetts and Rhode Island had become a settling ground for Portuguese 
immigrants because whaling ships based out of New England traveled a whaling 
                                                
22
 Krahulik, Karen Chritel.  Provincetown: From Pilgrim Landing to Gay Resort. New York:  New 
York University Press, 2005. 
 
 39 
 
route that included the Azores.  Because of this, Provincetown saw a significant 
migration of Portuguese fisherman.  In this process, the town also became divided 
between the Portuguese residents on the west end of town and the ?Yankees? on the 
east end of town. 
   
Figure 34:  Artist Painting and the Provincetown Players Playhouse [Manso
23
]. The pictures above 
both show the birth of Provincetown as an Arts Colony.  Provincetown plays a key role in the histories 
of both American art and American theater.  The picture on the left is of Charles Hawthorne the great 
American painter, and the playhouse on the left is where Eugene O?Neill premiered his early works.   
 
After the Portland Gale of 1898 knocked out many of the fishing wharves (already 
weakened by smaller catch sizes and decreased demand), the increasing tourist 
industry and an influx of artists carried Provincetown into the 20
th
 Century as an 
Artist Colony and tourist destination.  Its isolation, charm, and natural beauty 
provided the perfect backdrop for this development.  The theater crowd soon also 
discovered Provincetown.  The histories of both American theater and art are deeply 
intertwined with the community that worked in Provincetown through the last 
century. 
                                                
23
 Manso, Peter. PTOWN: Art, Sex, and Money on the Outer Cape. New York: Lisa Drew 
Books/Scribner, 2002. 
 
 
 40 
 
 
Through the early part of the century the community in Provincetown provided a 
sympathetic place for those seeking alternative lifestyles, and by mid century 
Provincetown was a known haven for men and women interested in same sex 
relationships.   In the later half of the twentieth century, Provincetown has gradually 
evolved into a summer vacation destination primarily for GLBT peoples. 
     
Figure 35: Flags over Provincetown [Author].  The pictures above show flags flying over 
Provincetown and summarize the cultural quality.  In the picture to the left, the flagpole tells the 
chronology of cultural dominance, the American flag for the ?Yankee? community, superceded by the 
Portuguese flag, then superceded by the Rainbow flag for the GLBT community, which currently 
represents the pervasive culture in Provincetown.  The common thread between these cultures is a ?live 
and let live? attitude as represented by the skull and crossbones and its lawless connotations. 
 
Today, Provincetown buzzes with activity throughout the tourist season.  Moreover, 
year round the activity calendar features events celebrating a number of things 
including diversity, charity, art, film, and theater.  The Fourth of July and 
Provincetown Carnival both bring a particularly large influx of people.  Many of the 
week-long, somewhat unofficial ?events? are targeted to particular demographics 
within the GLBT community.  
 
 41 
 
 
Figure 36: Fourth of July Parade [Author].  The above collage shows the celebratory atmosphere on 
the Fourth of July.  It also suggests the casual yet enthusiastic participation of members of the 
community as they decorate ordinary vehicles with banners and flags.  These individuals also advertise 
their small businesses and establishments, which allows tourists to connect people living and working 
in Provincetown with the community. 
 
    
Figure 37: Artist and Craft Fair [Author].  The above images are common sites in Provincetown even 
today.  Whether tourists hoping to find the muse of Provincetown?s creative and artistic history or 
legitimate artist working in Provincetown today, the community spirit and history remains visible even 
through the crowds, excess, and commercialism. 
 
     
Figure 38:  Street Scenes [Author].  The above street scenes show the level of street activity.  The 
picture on the left shows the street on an average summer day and the picture on the right shows the 
same block immediately following the Fourth of July Parade.  Even with an average level of activity 
on Commercial Street, cars must be deferential to pedestrians, and drivers avoid it because it is 
frequently un-passable or prohibitively slow. 
 
 
 42 
 
While not free from conflict and prejudice, Provincetown does exemplify a high level 
of tolerance and the ability for varying groups and opinions to coexist in a 
cooperative manner by finding commonalities not the least of which is place.  Starting 
out as a cultural ?island of misfits? by way of isolation, Provincetown has maintained 
this character even though its increased physical connectivity to the mainland over 
time and through the outside efforts to normalize it.   In the book Ptown, the author, 
Peter Manso
24
, provides a portrait of Provincetown assembled from oral and written 
histories that provides an insight into the unique culture.  He describes the interaction 
among the varying peoples and suggests the there is a mutually agreed upon ?live and 
let live? culture.  The seemingly inherent conflict between the Catholic Portuguese 
culture and the GLBT culture exists in dogma but not practice.   From very early on, 
Portuguese rented rooms in their homes to ?bachelors? and ?maiden ladies.?  
Runaways and hippies in the 1960?s and 70?s found refuge in Provincetown.  Manso 
also wrote about how the ?live and let live? culture met with the law.  Cape Cod 
became the major port of entry for illegal drugs in the 1980?s when drug enforcement 
was heavily focused on Miami and New York.  Struggling Portuguese fishermen 
often ran drugs ashore.  Even with many fishermen conspicuously cash rich, the 
community turned their heads and related to known drug runners as they always had.  
Today, Provincetown continues at the forefront of the same-sex marriage conflict by 
marrying out of state residents.  These instances all attest to Provincetown?s 
persistence in preserving the cooperative self-governance of this historically insular 
community?live and let live. 
                                                
24
 Manso, Peter. PTOWN: Art, Sex, and Money on the Outer Cape. New York: Lisa Drew 
Books/Scribner, 2002. 
 
 43 
 
Site Analysis 
Provincetown is oriented in a linear fashion from east to west.  The southern side of 
town runs along the coast of Provincetown Harbor and to the north it nestles against 
the dunes of the Cape Cod National Seashore.  The town is approximately 3 square 
miles.  Approximately 3 miles long east to west and 1 mile deep north to south. 
 
Figure 39:  Provincetown Plan [Author].  The above illustration outlines the main arteries and the 
unofficial east end--west end division.  There is a nuanced change of character between the east and 
west ends.  The pictures in the above diagram suggest this slight but perceptible difference in 
character, the east end being more genteel and the west end more active.  The picture at the end of the 
axis shows the arrival into town just off McMillan Pier where the Boston Ferry lands.  
 
Two main east-west spines, Commercial Street and Bradford Street, organize the 
street grid.  Commercial Street is one-way running west and is has heavy pedestrian 
traffic.  A block to the south, Bradford Street is the main vehicle thoroughfare 
through town.  The streets are connected at regular intervals occasional interrupted by 
topographical changes that prohibit through streets.  North of Bradford Street the 
 
 44 
 
streets are more organically laid out per the particular needs of their development.  It 
is in this area where the mundane and utilitarian functions of the year round 
community occurs.  Commercial Street, as the name indicates, is the main strip were 
the majority of the shopping, dining, and entertainment venues are located. 
 
Figure 40: Provincetown Land Use [Author].  The above image shows the general patter of land use.  
The commercial and municipal, light Industrial, utility overlay the residential area.  Almost all of 
Provincetown has a residential character, scale, and use.  The municipal, light industrial, utility overlay 
shown above is where most of the pragmatic and utilitarian activities of the year round community take 
place.  The commercial area is geared towards the tourists and summer residents. 
 
The built fabric is quite dense.  The individual buildings are relatively small and it is 
not unusual for buildings to be located on the interiors of blocks or behind other 
buildings.  It appears as if the building setbacks fluctuate per the whims of their 
constructors.  However over time the demands for development and the changing 
nature of industry dictate different setbacks. 
 
 
 45 
 
 
Figure 41:  Landlocked House. [Author].  The above images show a common condition in 
Provincetown, where one finds landlocked houses.  While legal right of ways are provided for, in some 
way these landlocked houses create interesting orientation issues and back front relationships.  The 
yellow house in the center of the image is drawn with a roof rendered in red above.  It is likely that it 
predates the other buildings on the block, but it is oriented facing south which often precludes the 
orientation towards the street. 
 
The specific site for the resort in Provincetown is at the crown of Telegraph Hill.  It is 
bordered on the north by Bradford Street and on the east, west, and south by private 
single-family homes.  The site is typical for the area and features dunes with Coastal 
Vegetation including grasses and trees (Pitch Pine and Scrub Oak).  In some places, 
the Coastline is visible at grade, but when standing at the second level or higher there 
is a 180-degree water view to the south and west.  Currently there is a new cul de sac 
with luxury single-family suburban style homes in keeping with its RES 1 zoning 
status.  RES 1 includes this portion of town and limits the buildings to one single-
family house per legal lot.  For the purposes of this project, the existing houses and 
the RES 1 zoning restriction are presumed not to exist.   
 
 
 46 
 
The zoning restriction is overlooked on two grounds.  The first of which is that there 
is a pre-existing Best Western Motel on an adjacent site and the second is in an effort 
to offer the advantage of this topographical prospect to a wider public.  While a resort 
is a private facility, it has a more public character than private homes and portions of 
the facility will be open to the general public and guests.  
   
Figure 42: Site Entry and View [Author].  The arrival is a steep incline that leads to the prospect shown 
on the left.  The view on the right with Long Point Lighthouse at center is typical from the site.  
 
The portion of Bradford Street that runs along the north side of the site includes a 
dedicated bike and pedestrian lanes that lead to Cape Cod National Seashore.  The 
town beach runs the length of town however it opens to Provincetown Harbor.  The 
harbor is shallow and has the greatest tide differential on the east coast of the United 
States.   Because of this, Herring Cove Beach offers a beach more suitable for typical 
leisure beach activities.  The migration of pedestrians and bicycles from towards 
Herring Cove on a typical summer day runs in front of the site along Bradford Street.  
This bicycle lane also provides access and connection to the network of bicycle paths 
through the dunes in the National Seashore. 
 
 47 
 
 
Figure 43: Figure Ground [Author].  The site exists at the fringe of the historic fabric. 
 
 
Figure 44: Site Relationships [Author].  Most surrounding buildings are single-family homes, 
condominium buildings or small bed and breakfasts.  The utilities run along Bradford Street.
 
 48 
 
 
Figure 45:  West End of Provincetown [Author].  The above image is an aerial photograph of the West 
End of Provincetown taken from the Pilgrim Monument.  The density decreases to the right of 
Bradford Street and out towards the site.  The waterfront to the left is consistently densely settled. 
 
 
Figure 46:  Telegraph Hill Aerial [Author]. This image shows Telegraph Hill as seen from the 
monument.  The regular town fabric traditionally stopped at the foot of Telegraph Hill both towards 
the Harbor to the Left and towards town in the foreground of the picture.  All of the development in the 
center of the picture is from the last two decades.  Each of the houses on the site was built within the 
last five years. 
 
 49 
 
Figure 47: The Site East.  The above image shows the view east from within the site, northeast to the 
left and southeast to the right.  The cul de sac street is a slightly lower in elevation than the houses 
surrounding it.  Beyond the houses the landscape drops in elevation making the ridge the houses sit on 
the highpoint. 
 
 
Figure 48: The Site East.  The above image is the view west from within the site, southwest to the left 
and northwest to the right.  The house in the middle of the picture sits on the highest point of the site.  
It is also the highest point at this end of town. 
 
   
Figure 49:  Site from Commercial Street Below [Author].  From many parts of town, any building on 
this site would read in silhouette on the horizon because it sits on a bluff. 
 
 
 50 
 
 
Figure 50: Site Characteristics [Author].  The site a slight plateau with prospects to the South, East, 
and North.  The scrub vegetation is typical for its coastal sand dune setting.  
 
 51 
 
 
Figure 51:  Site Synthesis Diagram [Author].  The above diagram shows the constrictions on the site 
and the objectives.  The southern orientation is critical to the success of the solar array.  There is some 
overlap with the best view from the site. There is a buildable area on the portion of the site that borders 
Bradford Street.  This small area can house some of the functions of the resort. 
 
 52 
 
 
Figure 52:  Site Sections [Author].  The above sections show the topographical character to the site.  
Note that there is a slight dip in the middle with a ridge around the edge with the exception of the 
narrow strip that connects to Bradford Street.  That condition is shown in Section CC.  
 
 
 
 53 
 
Chapter 4: Program 
Our life is fritted away by detail.  Simplify, simplify.   
Henry David Thoreau 
 
  
Figure 53: Dune Shack and Thoreau?s Cabin. [Manso and Brosnahan]  Harry Kemp, poet of the dunes, 
standing before a typical dune shack.  These primitive and isolated dune structures are scattered 
throughout the dunes North of town.  Through the years they have housed artists and writers.  
Thoreau?s cabin on Walden Pond outside of Concord, MA, is very similar to the dune shacks and 
manifests Thoreau?s ideology of simplicity through modest accommodation. 
 
The proposed resort in Provincetown serves that segment of the population that is 
interested in outdoor activities and who holds sustainable practices and environmental 
preservation in high regard.  The typical guests may stay on the grounds, enjoy the 
national seashore, and/or involve themselves in the Provincetown street tableau.  The 
site offers a reasonable proximity to all of these activities, while maintaining an 
isolation that befits the concept of retreat. 
 
The program includes facilities to accommodate the variety of activities available in 
the area and region.  The program also includes private rooms, common interior and 
exterior lounging spaces, common dining, activity equipment storage and training 
spaces, as well as staff housing.  In keeping with the Provincetown?s tradition of 
modest accommodations, the private rooms are simple in both size and finish.  
 
 54 
 
Through modest private rooms the facility meets its objectives in both keeping a low 
impact on the environment and sponsoring the cultural mix through either the use of 
the common areas on the grounds or engaging the surrounding landscape and 
community.   
 
While the tourist season in Provincetown primarily runs from late June through early 
September, year round tourism continues to grow.  Even in the winter, Provincetown 
provides opportunities for outdoor activity and certainly offeres a pleasant 
environment for rest and relaxation.  Twenty percent of the private rooms are to be 
available all year round.  In the off-season the staff housing is to be made available 
for a writers in residence program.  
 
This chapter outlines the existing types of accommodation in Provincetown and then 
provides both the qualitative and quantitative descriptions of the program elements in 
this project.  It provides a list of program elements, adjacency requirements, and lists 
technological infrastructure to be included in the project.  
 
Existing Accommodations in Provincetown 
Provincetown?s buildings form an amazing collage of the fluid cultural and economic 
history of the community.  Currently, the primary industry is tourism and every effort 
is made to squeeze additional accommodations into the existing infrastructure.  The 
built infrastructure of Provincetown does not resemble many coastal resorts. There 
are no expansive resorts or high-rise buildings because land is at a premium, its 
 
 55 
 
relative isolation, and because of the efforts of early preservationists.  Provincetown, 
however did not escape the motel phenomenon.   
 
Figure 54: Provincetown Inn [Author]. This motel sits on a very prominent site at the end of 
Commercial Street and overlooks Long Point and Provincetown Harbor.  While in many ways a typical 
motel, the organization of the building is such that the rooms are oriented and open out towards the 
water with a vast courtyard in the center paved for parking. 
 
 
Figure 55: Motel on Highway 6 [Author].  This motel just southeast of Provincetown makes no attempt 
at relating to its site or context and orients the guest rooms towards the parking lot. 
 
Many motels on Cape Cod resemble the ?Bate?s Motel? typology from filmmaker 
Alfred Hitchcock?s masterpiece, Psycho.  They are formed by low slung one-story bar 
buildings oriented towards a large parking lot and either attached to an existing house 
or placed on the grounds of an existing house which predates it, often by as much as a 
century. 
 
 56 
 
 
 
Figure 56: ?Bate?s Motel? Typology [Author]. The motels above are representative of a large number 
of motels running the length of the Cape.  They are also representative of the ?Bate?s Motel? typology 
with the prototypical low slung one-story automobile accessed room modules attached to a substantial 
pre-existing house. 
 
Just as a changing economy has driven people to develop motels on their property, 
the same market forces have led homeowners to convert garages and potting sheds to 
rentable space for summer accommodations.  Because of the money to be made in 
providing accommodations, property owners have also built condominiums and 
guesthouses on their existing parcels wherever they can find space.   It is not 
uncommon for a house to be built in front of another house.   The resulting effect of 
these market forces is an economic driven collage.  While such a capricious and 
 
 57 
 
unguided process might provide chaos, the result in actuality is compatible with the 
culture of Provincetown.  The result also is high density at a low-rise scale that 
absorbs the tremendous populations shift between summer and winter. 
    
Figure 57: Roofscapes [Author]. These roofscapes suggest the density and the variety of forms and 
structures including infill and additions. 
 
A variety of accommodations can be found in this collage, ranging from a single 
room to a condo to a freestanding house.  And any one of these accommodations can 
be carved out of a number of conditions, whether in a converted garage, in a grand 
old house, in someone?s backyard, in a hotel or in a motel. 
                
Figure 58: Converted Garages [Author].  The above images show structures that have served utilitarian 
roles as workshops and garages have been converted into guest cottages. 
 
 58 
 
   
Figure 59: Firehouse and Warf Structure [Author].  These images show more utilitarian structures, 
which have been converted into housing to accommodate the growing seasonal population.  On the left 
a firehouse has been converted into a single family home and on the right a warf structure has evolved 
from buildings to support the fishing industry to artist?s studios, to its current status as condominium 
units. 
 
                       
Figure 60:  Guest House [Author].  In Provincetown there are many guesthouses like the one shown 
above.  Grand old homes from the era of the profitable whaling and salt industries have been converted 
into bed and breakfasts. 
Section 3 Program Tabulation 
This facility seeks to provide a place where people who are interested in outdoor 
activities and in a more eco-friendly tourist infrastructure.  Two catch phrases 
currently used are eco-resort and adventure tourism.  While these phrases are 
typically used to describe places in far more extreme and exotic locations, this resort 
 
 59 
 
seeks to provide accommodations for this niche of the tourist market.  Its built 
infrastructure exhibits an environmental consciousness, and it offers guests outdoor 
activity, equipment, and training. 
 
The Program includes 18,570 square feet, which is broken down into five different 
categories.  The categories include accommodations, common public areas, 
recreation, support, and technology.  Each serves a distinct purpose and requires 
different levels of exposure and privacy.   
 
Accommodations  
The accommodations consist of the guest rooms and the staff dormitory.  There are 
double and quadruple occupancy guest rooms.  Each of the guest rooms has a private 
bathroom and at least one exposure with operable windows/and or doors. The rooms 
will be of a modest size accommodating only essential furnishings.  Twenty percent 
of the rooms are to be available in the off-season thereby requiring a more complete 
thermal barrier assembly and HVAC attention.  The staff rooms are to be single 
occupancy rooms to house staff, as housing is cost prohibitive for support staff.  In 
the off-season all of the staff rooms serve as housing for a writers in residence 
program.  This portion of the program includes the following quantities: 
? 64 Rooms @ 15,000 sf 
o 28 double occupancy @ 200 sf 
o 28 quadruple occupancy @ 300 sf 
o 8 single occupancy staff rooms @125 sf 
 
 
 60 
 
 
Common Public Spaces 
The common public spaces include the main lobby, lounges intermixed among the 
private rooms, the dinning room and the business center.  These shared spaces 
sponsor interaction among the guests as well as consolidate these activities, so as to 
allow the rooms to be smaller and reduce the overall bulk of the building(s).  The 
lounges that serve the seasonal rooms and a portion of the dinning room must be three 
season rooms with three exposures.  The dinning room serves as a restaurant open to 
the hotel guests and the general public.  The main lobby and lounge are designed to 
accommodate use for guests year round.  Common public spaces include the 
following quantities: 
? Dinning Room @ 420 sf 
o Seat 35 people 
? Lounges @ 750 sf 
? Business Center @ 200 sf 
 
Recreation 
Recreation includes the elements of the program that accommodate the leisure and 
adventure sport activities.  The facility has spaces for bike and kayak storage and 
appropriate space for recreation instruction.   A salt-water swimming pool will also be 
included on the grounds of the resort within a network of developed outdoor spaces.  
? Kayak Storage  @ 500 sf 
? Bike Storage @ 200 sf 
? Miscellaneous Equipment Storage @ 200 sf 
 
 61 
 
? Trailer Garage @ 400 sf 
? Outdoor Gathering Areas 
? Pool 
  
Figure 61:  Kayaking and Biking [Author].  The above images show the sea kayaks on the beach in 
Provincetown Harbor and the second image shows the dedicated bike lane on Bradford Street, which 
runs in front of the site, Telegraph Hill.  This connects to the bike path system in The Cape Cod 
National Seashore.  This resort will provide training, group outings, and equipment for the use of 
guests and for rental to the general public. 
 
         
Figure 62:  Bike Trail Map [National Park Service].  The above image shows the site on a bike trail 
map provided by the National Park Service.  Bradford Street and Moors Road connect Provincetown to 
the bike trail system. 
 
 62 
 
Support 
The support spaces include the back-of-house spaces including the kitchen, laundry, 
mechanical spaces, and management offices.  These spaces require limited frontage 
and are incorporated into the year round elements in the program.  There are small 
mechanical rooms located throughout the facility to accommodate the photovoltaic 
roof systems as well as one large central mechanical room. Support program elements 
also include 32 parking spaces, which provides parking for approximately half the 
number of rooms.   Many of the town?s visitors arrive via passenger ferry or 
commuter flight from Boston, and because an automobile is not needed while in 
Provincetown, limiting parking fits with guests needs and serves to discourage guests 
from driving.  Support spaces include the following quantities: 
? Kitchen @ 250 sf 
? Laundry @ 150 sf 
? Management Offices @ 200 sf 
? Mechanical  @ 500 sf 
? Parking 
o 32 car 
Technology 
Technology includes the infrastructure to support the sustainability mission of the 
project.  The project features photo-voltaic cells on the roof, which generate both 
power and hot water.  Radiant heat in the flooring is used in the year round portions 
of the program.  Roof water is collected in cisterns and treated on site for a grey water 
system and for irrigation.  A kitchen garden is included in the site plan with 
 
 63 
 
composting operation for organic wastes generated by the guests and the kitchen.  
The site is planted using indigenous plants to stabilize the soils.  Sustainable 
technology portion of the program include the following items: 
? Photo-Voltaic Laminate Roof Tiles 
? Kitchen Garden 
? Composting Facility 
? Radiant Heat Floors 
? Grey Water System 
? Roof Water Cisterns 
? Indigenous Plant Landscaping 
     
Figure 63:  University of Missouri Rolla Solar Decathlon House 2005 [United States Department of 
Energy
25
].  The house shown above shows a laminate roof photo-voltaic panels.  This system is 
integrated into a standard standing seam metal roof as opposed to independent panels applied to a 
complete structure.  As shown above, they can be used on all exposures and do not compromise the 
profile of the structure.  
 
Figure 63 outlines the adjacencies between the above listed spaces.   The private 
rooms are grouped together with a common lounge to encourage interaction among 
guests and to centralize lounging activities allowing the rooms to be smaller and 
therefore the entire footprint and impact of the building is less. 
 
                                                
25
  
 
 64 
 
 
Figure 64:  Program Bubble Diagram [Author].  The above diagram outlines the programmatic 
elements in relative size to one another.  The adjacencies are also indicated above.  The diagram also 
suggests site orientation as the rooms and main common areas would ideally be oriented towards the 
view at the top and left side of the diagram.  The elements not requiring a view are placed on the right 
side of the diagram.  The brown dashed line encircles the program elements which will be operational 
year round. 
 
 65 
 
Chapter 4:  Design Strategies 
 
This thesis presents very distinct design challenges as it attempts to provide a 
sustainable building for an unsustainable industry, tourism and attempts to provide a 
regionalist building for an industry that produces homogenized, universal buildings.  
The design problems for this building(s) include the unification of the physical 
specificity of place, the cultural specificity of place, sustainability and meeting user 
needs. 
 
There are a number of design issues associated with the physical specificity of place.  
First, the design must deal with the unique aspects of the ground on which it sits.  The 
second issue involves orientation as it relates both to view-sheds, the sun, and 
prevailing winds.  The third issue is design for easy thermal manipulation, which will 
also be linked, to user needs through assertions about usage patterns throughout the 
year. 
 
The cultural specificity of Provincetown offers unique challenges because of a very 
particular demographic.  Provincetown primarily draws gay and lesbian tourists.  The 
design process addresses what implications, if any, that this demographic has on the 
development of form and language.  This culture is only the most recent influence on 
Provincetown.  In the fluidity of culture in era of increased globalization, 
demographics grow, shrink, migrate, and disappear into extinction.  The preservation 
of any particular cultural heritage is only as strong as its advocates.  In much of 
current sources there is a continued debate over the GLBT intolerance of Portuguese 
 
 66 
 
descendants and the rhetoric suggests the importance of preserving this little 
Portuguese fishing village.  However, in the not so distant past, the Portuguese 
gradually became the dominant culture overtaking the ?yankee? culture, which was 
further preceded by Native American peoples.  Throughout the history of 
Provincetown there has been a complex fluidity of culture driven by industry and arts 
through ever changing economic realities.  Each culture and corresponding economy 
and has contributed to society a level of craft and community building that is included 
in the design of this resort.  
 
The following three partis are based on formal ideas of defining interior and exterior 
spaces.  Each idea suggests a relationship to the site, the region, and the culture.  The 
designs make value judgments on which of these will define particular aspects of the 
design development.  It is important to consider these issues at the parti level; 
however, it is in the design development and resolution that these issues will more 
strongly come in to play particularly as it results to culture.  The three partis include 
the campus plan, the picturesque, and the mother ship/satellites plan.  The campus 
plan includes multiple buildings organized according to an imposed order on the site, 
the mother ship/satellites plan includes a large building with many small outbuildings, 
and the picturesque plan is multiple volumes and buildings assembled in a 
composition.   
 
 67 
 
Campus Plan Parti 
 
Figure 65: Campus Plan [Author].  The campus plan scheme is a series of buildings organized around a 
green that open to the view.  The buildings at the entry house the recreational facilities, which are open 
to the general public.  The head building in the composition houses all portions of the program that are 
open year round.  The remaining buildings house private rooms only in service during the tourist 
season. Views are also framed between the buildings that flank the lawn to the south and the north. The 
lawn about which the buildings are organized is highly manicured in contrast with its surroundings. 
 
 68 
 
 
       
Figure 66:  Campus Plan Details [Author].  The above details suggest that in addition to the framed 
space, the dynamic of the campus plan is in the celebration of the head building.  In this case an 
asymmetrical composition is displayed to relate to both the lawn and the entry sequence.  Furthermore, 
the large shallow south facing slope offers a large expanse for a highly effective solar array. 
 
 69 
 
Mothership Plan Parti 
 
Figure 67: Mothership Plan [Author].  The mothership and satellites plan contains a large head 
building with small cottages scattered about the landscape.  The above configuration shows the 
cottages arranged in clusters around a common outdoor space in a pinwheel manner.  While this has a 
flexibility that allows it to ride the landscape and vegetation, it has a repeated quality that suggests a 
universalized solution.  In the above scheme the mothership building houses all year-round portions of 
the program.  This scheme also features a highly manicured lawn juxtaposed against dune scrub. 
 
 70 
 
         
 
Figure 68:  Mothership Plan Details [Author].  The above images show the development of one of the 
scattered cottages.  The module is conceived to offer the occupant the advantage of better views at that 
elevation, and it also leaves a smaller footprint.  The plan detail shows the configuration of dressing 
and bath on the first floor and sleeping above.  The greatest challenge of this scheme is rationalizing 
the configuration of the cottages on the landscape. 
 
 
 71 
 
Picturesque Plan Parti 
 
Figure 69: Picturesque Plan [Author].  The picturesque plan is named for its intention to provide a 
variety of volumes to create a balanced composition.  The entry sequence also includes the recreation 
facilities straddling the driveway as a gate-house both celebrating and brading the entry.  This scheme 
shares in many of the qualities of the campus plan, but executes it in more loose manner.  The head and 
ancillary buildings are not laid out in a symmetrical formation; however the lawn still exists and offers 
the same vista.  
 
 72 
 
 
Figure 70:  Picturesque Plan Details [Author].  The above images show the liberal attitude towards 
form as was the traditions with the picturesque movement.  The gate house and the tower can be 
expressed in a number of ways.  The above images show a bit of whimsy.  The picturesque parti offers 
a flexibility of form however the challenge with the hotel typology is the highly universalized module 
which then dictates the form.  The variety of form however, would integrate itself into the fabric and 
horizon better than a rigid monolithic form. 
 
 
 73 
 
Chapter 5:  Design Conclusion 
 
The design Conclusion of this thesis is built on all of the previous ideas included in 
this document.  It draws on that which is easily comprehended as fact and that which 
must be interpreted by the designer.  The goal of this thesis was to produce a design 
that captured the quality of place.  In this case that place was Provincetown, 
Massachusetts on Cape Cod.  Capturing the qualities and specificity in place through 
a regionalist design process requires a number of value judgments by the designer.  
There is no doubt that the designer brings his/her own bias and therefore his/her own 
culture to the product by virtue of these value judgments in response to both the 
physical context and the cultural context.  Most importantly however, is the value 
judgment the designer makes on how to balance choose where and when the cultural 
context is more important than the physical context and vice versa. 
 
The spirit of place is more related to the ?Mothership? and ?picturesque? schemes 
than the campus plan.  An examination of both the silhouette of the town and the 
figure-ground confirm this.  The campus plan does offer insight about to relating to 
outdoor spaces.  Ultimately the site plan and the form and elevations of the buildings 
on the site plan are a result of interplay between three main ideas including the 
physical aspects of the site, the cultural the tourist brings and the cultural history of 
the place.  The design addresses the physical qualities of place by working with the 
topography and solar orientation, meets the cultural expectations of the user by 
providing for prospect/view, and respects the cultural history by being compatible 
with the scale and language of the existing cultural landscape.   
 
 74 
 
 
 
Figure 71:  Site Plan Development Process Drawings [Author].  The drawings above show the 
exploration in developing a site plan that both meets the program requirements and addresses the 
specificity of place.  The plan was reconfigured in iterations to address the view, the topography, solar 
orientation, the sequence of spaces/circulation, and the distribution of program elements. 
 
 75 
 
 
Figure 72:  The Site Plan [Author].  The above image shows the site as a series of public ?rooms? 
moving from the street to the edge of the bluff.  The private units are scatted along the edge of the bluff 
offering views to the harbor and bay beyond.  The rooms include the activity area on Bradford Street, a 
series of terraced growing gardens, a shaded entry motor court, a flat activity lawn and a lawn the 
slopes and opens towards the view.  Theses rooms are part of the cultivated landscape whereas the 
private units are scattered among indigenous plantings and dune scrub.  Where possible, the buildings 
are arranged on a optimal solar datum. 
 
 76 
 
 
Figure 73: Perspective looking South towards the Growing Garden [Author].  The above perspective 
shows the first two of the outdoor rooms in the sequence from the street to the bluff overlooking the 
harbor.  Note the terraced growing gardens, willow branch fences and the restaurant at the top of the 
hill with outdoor dining porch overlooking the gardens below. 
 
 
 
Figure 74: Perspective Showing the Motor Court [Author].  The above image shows the third of the 
exterior rooms, the motor court.  This is a loose court bound on the south by the registration office, the 
restaurant on to the east and dunce scrub to the north and west.   The edges bleed into nature and large 
shade trees grow inside the gravel court. 
 
 
 77 
 
 
 
 
Figure 75: Form Development Process Drawings [Author].  The above images show the exploration of  
form in section and axon.  It explores the functional impact of form.  The above images also display 
examples of the eaves, rooflines, and cupolas in Provincetown.  The use of the cupola for the purpose 
of stack ventilation was incorporated into most of the rental units and the barn.  With stack ventilation 
resulting from the cupolas and the cross ventilation resulting from the units having a minimum of three 
exterior walls, the units are not required to be air-conditioned drastically reducing energy consumption. 
 
 78 
 
 
Figure 76:  Elevation development Process Drawings [Author].  The above drawings show the 
evolution of the elevations from simple and repetitive in the initial set to highly specific in the second.  
Ultimately a third major iteration found a middle ground that featured that is less complex than the 
second iteration and more specifically responsive to particular locations than the first iteration.  The 
lower drawings above show the development of the entry court and main building.  A mix of pergolas 
and porches act as circulation between the public areas of the program included in the main building 
complex adjacent to the cultivated lawns, which also serve as common spaces for the quests. 
 
 
Figure 77:  Panorama Elevation from the South and East [Author].  The above elevations show the 
variation within a language that occurs when the fenestration is determined by position on the site and 
relative relationships with adjacent buildings.  It serves to both take advantage of solar gain yet meet 
the cultural expectations of view and privacy. 
 
 
Figure 78:  Site Section North-South [Author].  The above site section shows the relationship of the 
four ?rooms? on the site.  At the right end of the section once can understand a typical condition where 
the unit sits on the edge of the bluff and negotiates the grade change.   
 
 79 
 
 
Figure 79: Main Building Complex [Author].  The drawing above shows the main building complex 
including both the office the public spaces and the staff housing. The buildings are oriented towards 
the outdoors and the scale is kept modest to maintain the low profile of the entire facility.      
 
        
Figure 80: Perspective Looking West across the South Lawn [Author]. 
 
 80 
 
 
Figure 80: Single Unit Plans, Section, and Elevation [Author].  The above images show the detailed 
development of one of the unit types.  This unit features a lower level living room with kitchenette and 
an upper level bedroom.  In this unit, the cupola is moved from the center of the roof to the face of the 
entry elevation to offer better stack ventilation where the living room is not the vaulted space.  The 
interiors are fitted out with reclaimed lumber laid vertically. 
 
 81 
 
 
Figure 82: Double Unit Plans, Sections, and Elevations [Author].  Many seaside houses are organized 
with the living room on the upper level and the bedroom on the lower level to capture the view for the 
main living area.  The units shown in this image utilize the ?upside down? house configuration.  The 
section shows the operable transom above the bedroom door to allow stack ventilation without 
compromising privacy.  The units feature Murphy beds on the living level with large doors that act as a 
partition when the bed is open. 
 
 82 
 
The design conclusion of this thesis is the result of a process, which adheres to the 
principals of regionalism whereby there is a constant consideration of the physical 
and cultural qualities of the site, location, and/or region.  In itself a ?big idea,? 
this process lends itself to a project about many ideas instead of a big idea.  It 
addresses a number of issues and assigns a relative importance to each issue at the 
level of the specific location on the site.  The result is one that preserves the cultural 
landscape and meets the expectations of its user while also providing a more 
sustainable response. 
 
 83 
 
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