5.25.2006

Eastern Shore in Early Spring

On a lovely day in April, the talented architectural photographer Brian Vandenbrink photographed the new home we designed for a waterfront site on Maryland's historic and scenic Eastern Shore. We think he has captured the lively, modern spirit of the house; this is a house full of light yet designed for maximum passive cooling in the oppressive humidity of the summer months.

This view, from the kitchen out through the living and dining rooms to the water beyond, gives a sense of the open and airy character of the house, despite the fact that we have carefully shaded all of the window openings from the most direct of the sun's rays, through the use of overhangs and recesses in the wall. Take a close look at that stone on the countertop: an incredible find by our client. We liked it so much, we urged her to use it consistently through the house and it looks great.

5.23.2006

If You Wait Long Enough.........

Architects need to be patient people.

Sometimes it takes a long time for a project to pass through design phases, changes of all kinds, permit processes, and then construction.........but in this case we have waited more than 10 years! The drawings above are schematic sketches for an addition to a charming Vermont farmhouse that we designed as one of the first projects for this firm. The house is used as a vacation retreat for several generations of a New England family and, initially, there were some concerns about how the house, which was of obvious sentimental value to them all, should be handled, what should be altered, and what should remain the same.

Well, its been more than a decade and decisions are ready to be made. So we dug out the old drawings, all drawn by hand on mylar, and we are starting again: same schematic plan, but updated to meet the newest requests of the family. We are absolutely delighted to see this project finally come to fruition!

5.22.2006

Transformation Update


Construction is moving along on the house we are renovating in the Boston suburbs and wrote about earlier as a transformation of a tired Cape in a quiet, desirable neighborhood. Rather than simply update this house, we determined through the design process, working along with our clients, to actually shift the character of the house. You can see in the photo above that this once rather conventional Cape is beginning to take on something of the character of an Arts and Crafts bungalow, with the long, horizontal dormers, the shingled brackets and the window style. The kitchen is just going in now, and landscape work should begin soon, if it ever stops raining here in New England. We'll keep you updated.