The standing seam copper roof was formed on site to navigate the curve.
— houses, in construction, waterfront

Curves are Taking Shape in Wellfleet

Following up on our most recent post, Sandra Baron describes the process of building curved roofs and walls with today’s technology.     We always enjoy pushing the envelope, but when our clients came to us requesting a design that…

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We decided to use copper for the arcing roof since copper will patina over time and that will help the roof and the house virtually melt into its surroundings.
— houses, in construction, waterfront

The House of Shifting Sands

When we last posted photos of our Griffin Island house in Wellfleet, MA, the board-formed concrete foundation under the main house was rising out of the sand and the art studio was taking form to the south. Time flies, but…

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One of the most prominent features of the new arts center will be its “Arts Bridge” that not only connects the new studios to an existing campus path but also provides outside painting and drawing space and can function as a balcony for an adjacent amphitheater.
— in design, institutional, pro bono, prefab

A New Arts Center for The White Mountain School

We’ve been hard at work on the design of a new art studio building for The White Mountain School in Bethlehem, NH, this winter and are happy to be able to share the new design with you. We previously mentioned…

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The interior of the open-air education pavilion at the Hawaii Wildlife Center. The side walls are translucent corrugated polycarbonate to keep rain out and the end wall is composed of varying widths of fiber-cement slats, spaced apart at different intervals to allow for controlled natural ventilation from the steady trade winds. Photo Credit: Ethan Tweedie Photography
— institutional, pro bono, studio

Another Award for our Hawai`i Wildlife Center!

We were thrilled to learn in late November that Architect magazine had honored our Hawai`i Wildlife Center on the Big Island of Hawai`i with an honorable mention in their Annual Design Review Awards program. However, we had to wait until…

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Westport River House: A collage of glassy and solid frames and volumes completely reinvent the relationship of house to landscape in this transformational renovation. Photo credit: Ruhl Walker Architects
— houses, pro bono, studio, waterfront

Two More Design Awards!

We were thrilled to learn this week that two of our projects have received 2012 design awards from the Boston Society of Architects and the American Institute of Architects New England.  The winning projects are: The Hawaii Wildlife Center, which…

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Westport River House A collage of glassy and solid frames and volumes completely reinvent the relationship of house to landscape in this transformational renovation. Photo credit: Peter Vanderwarker
— houses, institutional, pro bono, lofts, waterfront

Three BSA Design Awards!

We’re honored to have been notified this week that three of our projects have received 2012 design awards from the Boston Society of Architects.  The BSA hasn’t announced the particulars yet, but we’ll post again when we know more! In…

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The master bedroom will have views of the Bay framed by pines.
— houses, waterfront, in design

Water Views

We’ve been frantically busy developing the design of our Griffin Island House, but Sandra, Nerijus, and I were able to take a short break and drive out to Wellfleet the other day. While we continue to fine tune the design…

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Cedar volumes
— houses, in construction, prefab

Modern Prefab house in Lincoln: Almost Done!

We are a few days away from move-in day at our Lincoln project, so we closed the studio for a few hours and everyone took a pre-Certificate-of-Occupancy look. Yes, there is a bit of a final punch list (as always),…

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We are currently working on a long term master plan for The White Mountain School in Bethlehem, NH. Much of what we are designing may not be built for many years, if ever, but it is important to plan for the future, just as we expect our students to do! There’s nothing worse than wasting resources due to short-sightedness.
— in design, institutional

School Building, Architect’s Eye

I was recently asked to comment on what the keys to a successful school building project are, by Educational Directions Incorporated. EDI is an international independent school consultant, and they published my comments in their newsletter, The Trustee’s Letter.  I…

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Looking north towards the high point of the coastal bank, into a bayberry clearing where we plan to insert the new house. Given the complexities of building on sand, we no doubt will have to move and / or remove some trees, but the goal in the end will be to have the woods grow back up tight to the house on the inland side, and for the bayberry, beach plums, and beach grasses to grow up tight to the house on the Bay side.
— waterfront, houses, in design

Design update: Griffin Island House in Wellfleet

We are really excited about a new beach house we are designing for a magnificent waterfront property on Cape Cod Bay in Wellfleet. On Monday I had the pleasure of spending a full day with our clients, basking in the…

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But we had better plans, and now hundreds of granite slabs have been repurposed in Arlington.
— houses, waterfront

Sustainable design; IKEA granite

Designing sustainably has never been an appealing fad as far as we have been concerned, nor is it even really a separate mission for us; it has always simply been the right thing to do. One recently completed Ruhl Walker…

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A view of the bi-folding wall from the exterior, showing the factory-finished aluminum clad finish on the exterior, while the interior is natural wood; so many options!
— houses, in construction, waterfront

Blurring inside and outside with opening walls!

Having worked on several cool projects in Hawai‘i over the last few years, our eyes have really been opened to architectural possibilities that rarely exist in New England. For example, we collaborated with Rhoady Lee Architecture and Design on the…

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