Its interiors may have been inspired by the historic look of Charleston, South Carolina, but a new home in Port Aransas, Texas, will never feel old.

That’s because interior designer Meredith Owen knows how to work not just with the past, but also with the future. And for the interiors of this 6,000-square-foot residence overlooking the Texas Gulf Coast, she applied that knowledge with understated elegance.

Owen, owner of the Austin-based interior design firm that bears her name, worked hand in glove with her clients for a feel that’s totally different from other homes in the planned community of Sunflower Beach. “They didn’t want it to be super-bright and white, like every other beach house,” she says. “They wanted a Charleston vibe—not white oak floors, but some darker colors and moodier counters,” she says.”

Both home and community were designed by architect Mark Schnell, principal in Florida-based Schnell Urban Design. A dedicated advocate of the New Urbanism prevalent along Florida’s Highway 30A, he created Texas coastal developments including Cinnamon Shore and Palmilla Beach. And like the Florida waterfront communities of Seaside, Rosemary Beach, and Watercolor, Sunflower Beach embraces walkability, connectivity, and architectural quality.

“I’ve been involved with the Sunflower Beach project from the beginning, and I’ve touched just about every aspect of design in the community,” he says. “I designed the master plan in 2013, wrote the design code in 2014 and 2015, and provided design review for all houses and landscape.”

This house, though, was his first design in the community, and he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to create a Gulf-front home for one of its developers. “I tried to design a house worthy of the incredible views and the prominent location adjacent to the dune crossover,” he says. “With a stunning view of the beach and the Gulf of Mexico, I thought it was a chance to design a landmark not just for Sunflower Beach, but also for Mustang Island as a whole.”

Peter Young, the cofounder of UWC Custom Builders in Port Aransas, was hired to build the new home. When its framing was nearly complete, ownership suddenly changed hands. “The new owners were business partners with the original owners,” he says. “They went back to the drawing board, and that’s when Meredith was brought on for additional elements.”

Inside the home’s five bedrooms on three levels, interior designer Owen and her team created spaces to welcome multiple generations of her new clients’ family. “We customized each space to family members,” she says. “We worked with them to let us be more creative, like with the chandelier in the living area that comes down three stories from the top.”

The design code Schnell wrote for residences at Sunflower Beach embraced elements like the location of the front door, the parking areas, the balconies and the three-part massing, all incorporated as signature elements for construction there. He broke each home’s design down into a primary mass, a secondary garage area, and a connector between the two. “It prevents the home from becoming too bulky, and creates a comfortable scale along the street,” he says.

Like most homes at Sunflower Beach, this one’s porches and balconies are some of its most memorable features. Schnell placed special emphasis on verticality, with the dining room, living room, and porch columns especially tall and soaring.

“The porch on the north side of the second level extends out from the body of the house and includes massive 12-by-12-inch brackets below and equally massive 12-by-12-inch columns that are more than 18 feet tall in some locations,” he says. 

Inside, rather than reinvent the wheel for the new house, the architect looked back to a popular floor plan as its starting point, one that had been successful elsewhere. He adjusted his design to adapt to its 60-by-100-foot lot, as well as to the needs of his clients. “The entry experience is notable for the courtyard and foyer featuring a view out to a small garden,” he says.

The first level includes two bedrooms with a bunk room and media area at its center. The second level features two more bedrooms and a powder room, plus living space. There’s a kitchen with large island designed for dining, a living room, and a dining area, each within a window-filled, double-height space with a wraparound porch. On the third level is a primary suite with private porch and expansive views of the Gulf.

For context, the home’s aligned with three others in a row, a fourth now under construction. “It’s sitting next to a house that’s blue and has brighter colors, like maroon shingles on top,” says interior designer Owen. “We wanted something softer, and to let the beach be the star of the show.”

And they succeeded—but, still, this home glows inside and out with a light all its own.

A new home in Los Cabos by Brandon Architects blends an Old World feel with a modern aesthetic. It’s in the community of Maraville Los Cabos on the tip of the Baja Peninsula. Better yet, it’s adjacent to Montage Los Cabos, with access to all its amenities. And it has views to die for.

Out front and to the south, the Pacific Ocean stretches endlessly. Behind it, to the north-northwest, lies the tranquility of Santa Maria Bay. The architects smartly elevated, rotated, and curated the home to take advantage of it all.

“It’s not on the water, but a row behind, on the second tier up,” says Ryan McDaniel, partner and principal architect at the Costa Mesa, California–based firm.

Chris Brandon, who opened the office that bears his name in 2009, was savvy enough to check into the Montage Los Cabos so he could watch ongoing construction details for his clients. “They were private and had concerns about views from the Montage,” he says. “That’s one reason we did the architecture the way we did.”

An entry archway provides privacy from the street, while a central courtyard opens up views above. “Neighbors or friends come through that archway,” McDaniel says. “We used pocket doors and window walls to maximize views and connect the indoor and outdoor living and entertaining areas. 

The home is 12,600 square feet of air-conditioned space three stories with garage, plus two levels above and a roof deck. There are eight bedrooms and 13 baths. The clients, a family from Dallas, have five grown children, plus grandchildren. It’s a vacation retreat and a legacy property they use for family gatherings.

“There are different wings so the kids can bring their kids,” McDaniel says. “There are three bunkrooms, five junior suites, and an adjacent kids’ room, for a multigenerational home, and shared central living spaces with private wings for children and grandchildren.”

Brandon and McDaniel worked closely with Cabo Development Group’s Darin Antin, who served as architect of record and builder for the project. His firm ranges from 125 to 175 employees at any given time, including six full-time architects and four engineers.

“I know what to look for in terms of topography and geometry,” Antin says. “I do my own foundations, structural work, and masonry, and have my own heavy equipment—we’ve got evidence here that we can do any level of work.”

Antin’s a California native who’s been coming to Cabo since his parents, avid sport-fishers and divers, started bringing him here as a child. He’s lived in Cabo now for 30 years as a full-time resident, and working as designer, general contractor, and custom builder. His staff is 100 percent local, including artisans like stonemasons and joiners.

“I have a miller and a finish carpenter,” he says. “All the millwork—every cabinet, all the built-ins, interior doors and woodwork—it’s all done by one guy.”

For this project, Antin’s firm served not only as builder and supplier of Italian windows and Portuguese doors, but also as translators for English into Spanish, plus feet and inches into metrics—and as the go-to source for working through local rules and regulations.

“They dovetailed with us for codes, permitting, and construction documents,” Brandon says. “They were a great team of engineers and architects who picked up the ball where we left off.”

Inside, interior designer and Dream Home Makeover star Shea McGee of Salt Lake City’s Studio McGee wanted to create an atmosphere of luxurious beachfront living with indoor/outdoor elements. She took note of the windows and their stunning views throughout the house.

“Showcasing them was an integral part of the design process in every room,” she says. “We wanted as many windows as possible, as well as carving out areas where the indoors could meld with the outdoors.”

She saw the architects’ nods to the local vernacular, like arched doors in primary bedrooms and hand-painted tiles. “The traditional Spanish design influenced the furnishings we brought in, as well as the color palette,” she says. “We used local plaster artisans for the walls and sourced local wood for a few handmade pieces.”

And she added elements of a luxury hotel to the home as well. The clients wanted a house they could entertain in, for hosting friends and family in Mexico for their beach vacations. “One of their requests was to make the bedrooms color-coded so guests could easily find their way around,” she says. “We used the materials and the color palette to make it feel homey and inviting.”

Wood, linen, stone, and leather all meld seamlessly into their surroundings. The home may be coastal, McGee says, but she focused on timeless materials that are of the earth.

And that’s exactly what the architects wanted: a home in the Mexican tradition, but expressed in a contemporary language.

Address: 3027 Kalahiki St., Koloa, HI
Price: $9,500,000
Area: 5,778 square feet
Acres: 0.82
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 4 full, 1 partial
Sales contact: Kuki’ula Realty, 808-742-0234, info@kukuiula.com

Embracing the full peaceful potential of the home’s location, this home was planned in accordance with the principles of Feng Shui, with design elements carefully chosen to channel energy to create harmony between residents and the natural surroundings. Officially Feng Shui-certified, the home includes a Zen meditation garden, meaningful art instead of mirrors, a bamboo water feature, and an energetically balanced color palette.

The home takes full advantage of its location nestled into the hills of Kukui‘ula on the southern end of Kauai. More than 1,200 square feet of covered lanai space, including ample seating and an outdoor kitchen, make indoor-outdoor living easy. Inside, expansive windows and doors offer stunning panoramic views and let abundant light and breeze flow throughout. Lush secluded gardens surround the whole.

Indoors, lofty vaulted ceilings create an airy living and dining area. The chef’s kitchen includes a spacious central island for preparing a feast or gathering with friends. The bedrooms feature luxurious amenities including bespoke cabinetry, outdoor showers, direct pool access, and more of the breathtaking views that characterize the entire property. Remote workers can set up shop in the second-floor tower office – if they’re not too distracted by the 360-degree views.

More information about this contemporary Hawaiian idyll can be found online.

During his travels in Mexico, Los Angeles architect Steve Straughan couldn’t help but fall in love with the sleepy little surfing village of Troncones, which is some 20 miles north of the resort city of Zihuatanejo. He doesn’t have a surfboard, mind you, but he figured “this little piece of heaven,” which has a population that barely tops 500, would be a good place to entertain family and friends who do like to ride the waves.

His beachside vacation condo, one of 35 in the Pacific Coast development Punta Majahua, was still under construction when he acquired it, which allowed him to customize the interior to suit his lifestyle and his sizable collection of contemporary Mexican artworks. “I wanted to make it mine,” he says. “I wanted the interiors to look different from those of the other units.”

The half-dozen low-rise buildings in the development, which includes a communal swimming/lap pool and a paddleboard court, attracted his attention because they are chic beach creatures—undulating, organic sculptures whose gentle curves mimic the waves of the water they front.

With the help of Los Angeles interior designer Jen Dallas, Straughan created a more contemporary space by reconfiguring the condo’s layout, enlarging the kitchen and opening up the rooms to create a central living and dining area that melds into the outdoor living room, which is appointed with a plunge pool and a shower. “The three spaces feel good as one space, but each is comfortable and unique,” Straughan says. “The art and furniture connect them, and a large sliding-door system brings the outdoors in. In Mexico, the weather’s beautiful, so I want to spend as much time outside as possible.”

To merge the indoor and outdoor spaces, Dallas says, “we played off the Mexican seaside, which is grey and rustic, and brought in the idea of grasses, pebbles, rocks, bamboo, blue skies, and sunsets through textures and colors.”

They began with the interior finishes, selecting troweled-smooth white plaster for the main walls and grey plaster in the two bedrooms to create a rich yet neutral background for Straughan’s art, much of which is displayed on the curved wall of the entry hall. The floors, Mexican limestone, “have the look and gritty feel of Troncones beach sand,” Straughan says. Instead of built-in furniture, which the other units have, Straughan and Dallas created custom designs that were executed by Mexican artisans. “There’s not a lot of furniture, but each piece is significant and adds value to what we were creating,” Dallas says.

The interior design scheme was inspired by a whimsical floor lamp whose base is the three-pronged branch of an olive tree and whose top is crowned by a skirt of raffia. The bamboo pendant that hangs over the dining table, which Straughan says is “magical” when illuminated, complements the lamp. Their forms echo those of the vine-entwined metal and bamboo trellises at the community’s swimming pool and are a nod to the bamboo overhang of the condo’s outdoor room.

The round dining table, which like many of the furnishings is made of local parota wood, is a foil for the ceiling fan in the adjoining guest bedroom, which is separated from the main spaces by elegantly casual sliding shutter-like slatted doors made of parota wood. Its chairs are upholstered in an orange-hued performance fabric that adds a casual air to their formality. “They are made,” Straughan says, “for sitting in your bathing suit.”

In the primary bedroom suite, a vintage French-style chair and a colorful portrait, taken from Straughan’s Los Angeles house, set the stage for the voluminous linen-cotton draperies, in a terra-cotta color, that partition the bed from the bath. The primary shower picks up on the home’s artistic theme: It features a black-and-white abstract mural, envisioned by Straughan and painted by a local artist.

The kitchen, which is where Straughan’s friends and family hang out when he cooks, is defined by the central island, which, like the counters, is topped by white Caesarstone, a treatment that Straughan says was selected to create a “light, bright, airy, and fresh look.”

Dallas and Straughan had so much fun working together that they were almost sorry when the project was completed. They are kicking around the idea of doing another project together soon. “I have enough art for three homes, but I only own two,” Straughan says. “I’ll just have to find a second home in Mexico.”

“Let’s do it,” Dallas replies.

Limited by neighbors and traffic on three sides, a new home on San Francisco Bay opens up on its fourth to spectacular waterfront views. Federico Engel, principal in Butler Armsden Architects, skipped the windows where the home faces those beside it. He gave it privacy on a streetside entry that’s packed with people and cars. Then he directed the eye from the front door through a courtyard and living area to bayfront vistas. “It needed privacy at the front, and action at the back,” he says.

Engel kicked off the design and construction by tearing down a 1965 Midcentury Modern with a fatal flaw. The site was an infill lot mired in mud from the bay. “That doesn’t lead to the best foundation,” he says. “The home had settled beyond repair, and we had to take it down.” 

In its place is a two-story, 3,500-square-foot masterpiece that’s an ode to both transparency and opacity. Started in 2019, its construction endured supply-chain challenges provided by the pandemic and took 28 months to build. It was finished in February 2022. The client is a Scandinavian whose family’s in the shipping business. 

He has a wife and two children—and a passion for developing properties around the world. In the States, he has homes in Montana, Southern California, and another that looks down to San Francisco. This home, though, is on Belvedere Island in Marin County, between Sausalito and Tiburon. It offers the area’s Mediterranean climate, but its high winds have to be dealt with too. 

Here, the types of houses that are most successful are either L-shaped or courtyard-based. “This one’s laid out in a courtyard way, so it’s protected from the winds but still has the views,” Engel says. “On windy afternoons you need a protected area, so the interior courtyard is an outdoor sitting room.” The courtyard is essentially a sculpture garden with low sofas, chunky rugs, and leather sling lounge chairs.

And the overall design reflects the textures of the site, with water glass, clouds, and landscaping. “I was trying to reiterate the emotional quality of late afternoon on the water at the end of the day—reflection, shimmer, back-lit shapes, and a quiet mood,” he says. A series of connected rooms all look out to the bay and blur the indoor/outdoor boundaries for different weather and environmental conditions. 

“On a super-nice morning you could be outside looking at the views, or in the courtyard, depending on the weather,” he says. “All provide different experiences but relatively unobstructed views.” His material palette here is simplicity itself. He used two types of Portuguese limestone—a gray/blue for the floors, and light green for the walls. He started out with the intent of using cedar for cladding out front, but strong demand and high supply-chain pricing pointed him in another direction.

He substituted another product called Thermory—a heat-treated natural hemlock. All its moisture’s been removed, and it offers a resistance to harsh exterior conditions. “It’s the same light color as cedar, with the same warmth that balances the limestone,” he says. “It came to us pretreated with that honey/amber color, and we sealed it to preserve that, but it will gray out eventually.” 

For furniture, textures, and artwork, Engel turned to Sabra Ballon, principal in ballonSTUDIO, a veteran collaborator with Butler Armsden. She’s an interior designer with a master’s degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, so she was aligned with what Engel sought to achieve. And she listened closely to the client. “There’s a Scandinavian aesthetic in the way he was brought up, which was very pure,” she says. “So we used leather, wool, cotton, and stone in very straightforward ways.”

She eliminated veneers for all the furniture—every piece is solid wood, even a bowl carved from a single chunk. “There’s a minimalism, and the building comes first—the furniture is there to sit on, and it’s a continuation of the architecture.”

The bedrooms upstairs are small, with a built-in desk for each child, along with a bed and trundle for sleepovers. “It’s like a cruise ship up there—with only enough room to come out and tiptoe around,” she says. “And there’s a sliding partition that can open up or close off the bedrooms.”

In the primary bedroom, the clients’ bed faces the water, so the designer added a dresser on the back side of the headboard, with bedside tables too. There’s room for one chair with wool upholstery and one table. In that bedroom and the family room, the designers eschewed framed art, and opted for art-like textiles on the walls instead.

“There aren’t a lot of tiny pieces, but larger rugs providing color, pattern, and a focal point, but not ‘Look at me!’” she says. After all, it’s the views of the bay that beckon.

Rather than demolishing the entire 1970s home that stood on this Solana Beach, California bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Hayer Architecture’s design folded in some of the original structure. “Coastal setback and city zoning requirements for new construction would have greatly decreased the size and negatively impacted the location of a new residence in terms of capturing views,” architect William Hayer explains.

Hill Construction Company, which built the home for the family of five who relocated from a nearby community, seamlessly blended those original elements with Hayer’s new design. The firm brought Hayer’s strong contemporary design to life, making the most of the stunning views within state regulations and coastal requirements.

The key? A symbiotic relationship between indoor and out. A consistent materials palette makes the design feel cohesive. Hayer collaborated with interior designer Anita Dawson in choosing interior and exterior finishes. “I wouldn’t necessarily say one drove the other,” the architect says when asked which set of finishes came first, interior or exterior. “The materials have to work in concert from inside to outside with an indoor-outdoor design such as this.”

A linear pattern of concrete pavers that alternate with skinny strips of pebbles define the entry court, where a fire pit faced in Ocean Blue lava (a material that repeats on portions of the façade) and concrete planters set against an illuminated black stone backdrop offer instant ambiance. Snow White quartzite makes up the stairs that lead to the large, frosted-glass pivot door, then beyond it, running underfoot throughout the main level, out to the back patio. “The home takes a beating with salt spray, so we needed strong durable materials inside and out,” Dawson says.

The foyer opens into the dining room. Here, a rusty-orange table pops in front of a glass enclosure with raked limestone tiles that displays wine, two bottles deep, on a black metal shelving system. “They needed conditioned wine storage, but the open floor plan didn’t lend itself to a separate room, so we turned it into a design feature,” Dawson says. The top is quite spare; the lower (less visible) half is more utilitarian.

The condenser hides in the adjacent console with black granite top that pushes through the glass enclosure. “I don’t like when pieces just end,” Dawson says. “I need them to pick up again.” The treatment highlights the designer’s stone-wrapped built-ins, which in turn reinforce what she calls “the solid, masculine masses” of Hayer’s architecture.

An expanse of Ocean Blue lava—the floor-to-ceiling fireplace surround—anchors the living room. Walnut ceiling panels, a thick, patterned carpet, and plush, espresso-colored linen velvet upholstery soften the swathes of stone, as do the forms of the sofas themselves. “The homeowners wanted lounge seating, but a square sectional would have pinched circulation to the patio,” Dawson says. Her solution? Modular seating in organic shapes by San Francisco–based furniture designer Jiun Ho.

Dawson plays with geometric volumes of wood and stone in the kitchen, too. While bleached wood cabinetry and a back-painted glass backsplash blend into the background, the Ocean Blue lava island floats above a recessed black plinth, and a walnut peninsula offers casual ocean-front dining. “The perpendicular orientation of the table allows more people to face the view,” the designer points out. “It’s also another way of accentuating the building’s many right angles.”

Tucked around the corner from the wine display, in the middle of the house, a floating staircase rises from a pebble floor that ties to the exterior entry area. Charcoal-stained oak treads meet charcoal-stained oak floors and doors on the second level, contrasting with the white Venetian plaster walls.

The large primary suite dominates the back half of the upstairs. The bed is sheltered within a cozy niche, its ebony leather headboard reaching the ceiling. Opposite, the hazy-blue back-painted glass wall echoes the ocean view. An oversize slider opens wide to the covered patio, blurring the lines between indoors and out as effectively as the floor-to-ceiling sliders in the living spaces downstairs.

In the bath, Dawson incorporates massing that relates to the blocky architecture. The monolithic black granite tub fills a glorious glass corner, wraps a wall of book-matched marble, then pierces the frameless glass shower enclosure, turning into a bench. The designer likens marble slabs to artwork, noting that this particular one, with its graphic marks, is reminiscent of an etching.

The kids chose the stone slabs for their bathrooms, where Dawson used white pebbled tile on the floor and designed a waterfall vanity that just pushes through the shower’s glass divider.

“I’m nothing if not consistent,” she laughs. It makes for good modern design.

Third-floor views of the Pacific Ocean are the beating heart of a design for a new home in Hermosa Beach, Calif. Its architect, Joseph Fournier, reversed the home’s layout to take advantage of those sweeping vistas.

The main living area, dining area, and kitchen – plus two decks for soaking in sunsets, drinks in hand –  are on the top floor. Five bedrooms with baths are on the second. The first is for mixed use, with a garage and a rec room that opens out for strolls to the beach two blocks west.

“It’s 400 to 500 feet, and a one-minute walk,” the architect says.

Fournier teamed up with interior designer Christine Vroom to maximize space inside and out for their clients, a beach-loving couple with three children. Their lot was small – about 2,400 square feet – so the designers opened up every livable space in the 3,750-square-foot-home for multiple uses.

Fournier handled the macro vision, and Vroom the micro. And they did it with style. “Actually, we were trying to achieve a little more of an edgy coastal home and create a space with more of a non-traditional coastal-house feel,” Vroom says. “We wanted it to be bright and open and with a lot of different entertaining spaces.”

Ordinarily, Fournier might have placed a roof deck over the third floor, but here it would have exceeded height restrictions. So instead the architect created a gabled roof that’s unique to the neighborhood. “We used a vaulted ceiling,” he says.

That gave a soaring feel to the open plan on the upper level – with a floor-to-ceiling height of 13 feet. “The ceiling’s so high, you feel like there’s more space,” Vroom says.

There are four decks in total, with one off the primary suite, one on the ground level, and two at the front and rear of the third level, all to emphasize the outdoors. But the vistas aren’t limited to decks alone. “When you’re on the top level, the ocean view is from all the windows on the west side,” she says.

The interior designer didn’t want built-in cabinetry to interfere with the views. Instead, she used blue skies to influence the color of the cabinets – and everything else. “It’s a California coastal palette, with blues, taupes, whites, and some brown tones,” she says. “There are lots of different tones of blues – soft blues, gray blues, funky blues, and, in the primary bath suite, a denim-y blue.”

Seeking an expansive feel for the home’s private spaces, Fournier made adjustments where he could. On the second level, he sacrificed one bedroom to give more room to all others. “There are five bedrooms instead of six, to get some additional square footage in each,” he says.

Durability and low maintenance were key to Vroom’s material palette, her concessions to ocean breezes, sandy feet, and salt air. The designer used easily cleanable fabrics and rugs, along with marble slabs for countertops. Her furnishings, too, are basic and comfortable. “They’re like: ‘I just want to lie here and watch movies with the kids – to veg and lounge,’” she says.

Outside, where there’s a high fire risk, Fournier used Hardie siding and board and batten. There’s a standing seam metal roof, plus aluminum-clad windows and doors. “Being next to the ocean is brutal over time, so we chose materials without high maintenance issues,” he says.

If it sounds like the architect and interior designer are on the same wave length, that’s because this is not their first rodeo together. With developer Mike Levine of Levine Homes, they’ve teamed up on a number of homes. Here, Levine selected the lot, Fournier designed the home, and Vroom took on the interiors.

Often, the result is a home designed for a mass audience. But with this home the clients stepped up before it was finished. “A lot of times, because there is such a limited quantity of housing, especially new construction, they can be bought before they’re even built,” Fournier says.

That’s what happened here. “They bought it and I presented the design,” Vroom says. “Then we customized it for them, rather for than the general public.”

For this family of five, that means the best of all possible worlds.

For years, Susan Smith longed for a beach house where she could hang out with and entertain family and friends. Her husband, Jay, wasn’t so keen on the idea. A second house, he reasoned, wouldn’t be relaxing: It would mean more work and responsibility.

But when they discovered Georgia’s Sea Island, an idyllic, ride-your-bike-everywhere community within a comfortable driving distance from their Atlanta home, his doubts dissolved.

“Sea Island is beautifully remote and beautifully not remote at the same time,” Susan says. “It’s a quiet residential area in a hotel setting.”

Originally, the Smiths were going to expand and renovate the existing house, but after consulting Bulent Baydar, the principal architect in Harrison Design’s Atlanta office, they decided to erect a new house. His team, in collaboration with the firm’s St. Simons Island office, executed the design, and Joe Bowles Construction, based in St. Simons Island, Georgia, built it.

The couple added one large caveat: They wanted to preserve the live oaks that dot the 1.2-acre wooded property and to take advantage of the views of the marsh.

“Most of the trees are over 100 years old,” Susan says, adding that “it’s a house of the trees.”

The L-shaped farmhouse weaves around the live oaks, including the magnificent one outside the living/dining area that is the centerpiece of the home’s original wooden deck.

Although Sea Island requires residences to be in a traditional style, the Smiths envisioned a more contemporary aesthetic, which is why the Harrison team decided to design a farmhouse that “creates the impression of generational architecture” that evolved over time, Baydar says.

“We wanted a place where we can kick back and relax,” Susan says. “And we didn’t want it to look like our main house, which is traditional. We wanted clean lines and lots of windows to take in the great vistas.”

The materials Harrison Design selected—masonry, wood, and glass—define three distinct yet complementary time periods in the farmhouse’s fabricated past.

As a gesture to history, the contemporary farmhouse is erected around a new massive, open wall of masonry with a chimney that looks as though it’s from a much earlier structure. The so-called “older” elements of its façade are defined by a subtle tabby stucco treatment, whose stenciled grooves mimic cut stone, a rustic feature.

The farmhouse, which is clad in five-inch clapboard siding and has a standing-seam metal roof and wooden purlins, gets its contemporary edge from dramatic glass A-frames.

The L shape of the house allowed Baydar and his team to continue the illusion of a compound that had, indeed, been created over generations.

The L’s one-story long leg, the more traditional section of the farmhouse, has vaulted ceilings and contains the major rooms—the living/dining area, the primary suite, the family room, the kitchen, the office, and the screened porch, which is illuminated by a clerestory window in its cupola.

Sleek steel doors and windows, another slightly more contemporary touch, create an indoor-outdoor air.

The shorter, two-story leg, which houses a guest wing and a two-car garage that is styled as one of the older sections of the farmhouse, offered another opportunity to modernize without compromise: The back-facing wall is all glass.

The farmhouse’s main staircase, which is illuminated by room-height windows, is a traditional-contemporary masterpiece. It floats in the space, its plain, industrial-style aluminum railing a counterpoint to its French oak treads.

The home’s interior, by Bill Mohr of Atlanta-based Stewart Mohr Designs, features a palette that is a study in restraint. Wide-plank French oak floors, which are so light in color they look as though they’re lime-washed, ground the white art-gallery-like walls and the plate-glass windows and their minimal frames. 

Like the façade, key features of the interior, including the fireplaces in the living/dining area and the screened porch, are plastered in tabby stucco, odes to the residence’s supposed storied evolution.

The screened porch, one of Susan’s favorite spots, is clad in tongue-and-groove boards that rise to its cupola.

The kitchen, where the Smiths spend a lot of time, is a light taupe color with white accent tile. There is a trio of windows over the sink and a large central island that’s styled as a farm table, complete with a sink. The ceiling is clad in pecky cypress, the only element that was reclaimed from the original house.

“The juxtaposition between the modern and the traditional elements in the farmhouse,” Baydar says, “plays well together. It creates a pretty harmonious structure.”

The Smiths couldn’t agree more. Susan loves waking up each morning and viewing the old live oak and the marsh from her bed.

“It’s a beautiful, restful place,” she says.

And she’s most pleased by the fact that Jay, too, has fallen in love with the beach house. 

“He loves it—maybe even more than I do,” she says. 

Learn more about the project team

Architecture: Harrison Design
Interior design: Stewart Mohr Designs

Sporting a whimsically shaped silhouette, this petite Fishers Island cottage shaped like an observation tower instantly piques the interest of anyone curious about house design. But long before the first foundation stone was laid, or cedar shingle nailed into place, the architect-owners frequented the undeveloped parcel teeming with invasive plants just to make sure they understood the canvas upon which their house would be built.

“Just as important to us as the architecture of the house was the setting, the landscape architecture, and the site itself,” says Stewart Skolnick, cofounder of Haver & Skolnick. He and his partner, in business and life, Charles Haver, run their architecture firm out of a restored 18th-century carriage house in Litchfield County, Connecticut. “We wanted to make sure we understood the potential of the land so that we could site the house properly,” concurs Haver.

Much of the potential the two were eager to grasp consisted of views of the Atlantic Ocean and of some of the island’s 350 acres of protected conservation land. “On a clear day, you can see Montauk Point,” says Skolnick, adding that you can also glimpse several ponds—one for oyster cultivation—that surround the property. “There are reflections of water all around the house.” On this sparsely populated island, Pointer Perch, named after their German shorthaired pointer, Keeper, overlooks only nature as far as the eye can see. Even the outdoor shower offers a glimpse of the ocean.

The higher up you go on this unique parcel of land, the better and more expansive the views. “That’s really what the driving factor was in the design of the house,” says Haver of the structure’s accentuated verticality. To capture the views on all sides, the building has the living spaces on the second floor, with the primary bedroom and mudroom area below. The small kitchen sits in a dormer created by the back side of the hip roof. “It’s a very dynamic form, but its vocabulary is rooted in the Shingle Style, in which the bulk of the island’s houses were built,” explains Skolnick.

Most of Fisher Island’s approximately 600 houses were built in the 1920s, the same era Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., was hired to plan a private 1,800-acre residential development on the island. The stock market crash of 1929 dramatically slowed development.

When Haver and Skolnick were mulling the design of the building, they took their time, going through nearly a hundred different schemes over the course of a decade. “In the end, we decided we should just design for what we need,” says Haver. “It’s a weekend and vacation retreat, so the simpler it can be in terms of maintenance, the better.” The Alaskan yellow cedar shingles, bronze railings, and charcoal gray aluminum-clad windows they chose for the exterior will weather over time. Exterior paint, needing occasional touch-ups, is limited to the front door and the walkout basement’s mudroom door. 

Having spent so much time walking the property before building on it, the two men say it was a quick decision to build not only a small house—it has a single bedroom and one full bath—but also one that blended effortlessly with the existing landscape. It was important for them to keep the house very rustic and low key. 

Inside the 1,200-square-foot home, walls and ceilings painted crisp white pair with rift- and quarter-sawn oak flooring and hand-hewn beams. “Nickel-gap paneling gives it scale and recalls what an older porch might look like,” observes Haver.

For the two architects, it was a challenging exercise—one they often employ with their clients—to ascertain the minimum they needed to be comfortable. “When we started out, we had a guest room on the lower level,” explains Haver. Acknowledging that they don’t have company often, they opted instead to use the space for sorely needed storage. An outdoor shower was a must.

The combined living and dining space on the second floor “pretty much does everything for us,” says Haver. The only other room on that level is a small kitchen. “Because we like living very simply, we deliberately didn’t want any hanging cabinets,” says Skolnick, explaining why they opted for open shelving. “We wanted to be able to easily reach for a glass or a plate.” The pyramidal ceiling in the kitchen is a miniature version of the one in the living room, each a perfectly square space.

“We like living with antiques,” says Skolnick. “In Connecticut, we have a lot of Americana pieces; here we deliberately chose to go with European—French, Italian, and Spanish.” The two men also have a penchant for contrasting antique furnishings with modern abstract art, which hangs throughout the home. “So much of what we do as architects has to be very precise,” says Skolnick. “When it came to art, we wanted something that would be anything but that.”

Similarly, the paths cut through the meadow, the driveway, and the planting beds are all undulating, curving forms, because, says Skolnick, “In nature, you don’t find right angles.”

Stacked from the road down to the ocean, the two lots Haver and Skolnick purchased total 3.1 acres. They donated the lower lot to the Henry L. Ferguson Museum Land Trust, which owned all the land on the south and east side of them already, and retained the right to maintain the view and the meadow. “We knew that we would never want that lot to be developed, and by giving it to the land trust, we’ll never be tempted to do anything there, nor will anyone else in the future,” says Haver. 

“Overall, we’re very pleased with the house,” says Skolnick. “It feels like pulling on an old sweater and it feels really good. It suits us.” 

For more information, visit haverskolnickarchitects.com

The Who’s Who in Residential Coastal Design

ALABAMA

Christopher Architecture & Interiors

Birmingham 

Known for: Blending responsive architecture and thoughtful interiors to create a cohesive environment to complement each client’s specific needs.
Highlight: Its retail store, Christopher Collection, celebrated its first full year of selling luxury home furnishings, décor, and art.
Highlight: AIA and IIDA awards for an historic adaptive reuse project.
Highlight: A Luxe RED Award for Exterior Architecture.
In the works: Projects in San Francisco, upstate New York, Colorado, and Florida.

christopherai.com

Jeffrey Dungan Architects 

Mountain Brook 

Known for: A clean and modern approach to traditional vernaculars and classical architecture.
Highlight: Featured in Luxe Interiors + Design, Mansion Global, Tatler Homes Singapore, and Homes and Estates.
Highlight: Two Palladio Awards from Traditional Building magazine.
In the works: Two homes under construction on the California coast and two more under construction on the South Carolina coast.

jeffreydungan.com

CALIFORNIA 

Appleton Partners

Santa Barbara

Known for: A style that’s contemporary and traditional, diverse and eclectic, with an appreciation for place and time.
Highlight: Completion of renovations to Montecito’s San Ysidro Ranch.
Highlight: 2022 ICAA Arthur Award and Luxe RED Award.
Highlight: Completion of oceanfront homes in Southern California, Rosewood Miramar Beach, Biltmore, as well as the Carpinteria Beach House, Morrow Residence, Isla Mar, Casa Del Monte, Vineyard Residence and Jameson Residence.

appleton-architects.com

Burdge Architects

Malibu

Known for: A design approach that seamlessly adapts to an extensive range of design styles ranging from coastal modern to contemporary to Spanish, to its trademark “rustern” (rustic modern) style. 
Highlight: Expanding work in the mountain states, and leveraging expertise in designing with the natural beauty of coastal sites.
In the works: The upcoming completion of “Zero 2,” the second in a series of four Zero Carbon homes being developed in the Marisol community.

buaia.com

Butler Armsden Architects 

San Francisco 

Known for: Creating timeless, immersive homes that inspire, and projects that build memories, imbued with the essence of their clients’ lives.
Highlight: Two 10-year anniversaries for senior project managers, hiring three junior designers, and increasing staff by 10 percent. 
Highlight: Luxe RED Award. 
Highlight: New projects in San Francisco and across the U.S. 
Highlight: Completion of homes in Portola Valley and Belvedere.
In the works: Houses in Sea Cliff and Stinson Beach.

butlerarmsden.com

Kallos Turin 

San Francisco and London

Known for: Combining modernist restraint and minimalist rigor with a desire to challenge a more purely reductive approach to form-making.
Highlight: Designing residential, gallery, retail, and office spaces from London to Athens to Buenos Aires to Cabo. 
Highlight: Transforming a private residence in Palermo Chico, Buenos Aires, a classic Beaux-Arts home by Alejandro Bustillo, into a glamorous, modern space for a prominent publishing family.

kallosturin.com

Ike Baker Velten

Oakland 

Known for: Warm, comfortable, and inviting houses that reflect a personalized approach to the living environment. 
Highlight: Currently celebrating its first year as Ike Baker Velten. 
Highlight: John Ike’s new book, 9 Houses/9 Stories, released by Vendome Press in May.
In the works: New houses and renovations in California and Nevada.

ikebakervelten.com 

KAA Design

Los Angeles 

Known for: Advancing the California lifestyle through contemporary architecture for 35 years and counting. 
Highlight: Editorial coverage in AD Pro, House Beautiful, Mansion Global, Interior Design, and CA Home & Design. 
Highlight: AIA Merit Award. Single-Family Residential, Large.
In the works: International projects, including a home in the Barbuda Islands to be completed in 2024.

kaadesigngroup.com

Marmol Radziner 

Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York 

Known for: Warm, modern design that emphasizes the relationship between architecture and nature. 
Highlight: Architectural and landscape design of Cross Creek Ranch, a mixed-use development in Malibu. 
Highlight: Los Angeles Business Council “Under Construction” Award and “Design Concept” Award. 
Highlight: New homes in Pacific Palisades, Greenwich, and Downtown Los Angeles.

marmol-radziner.com

McClean

Design Orange

Known for: Work synonymous with the California lifestyle, through programmatic consciousness, clean architectural lines and a sophisticated material aesthetic.
Highlight: The firm’s second book, on California residential work, is underway.
Highlight: Paul McClean earns Pacific Design Center’s 2023 Stars of Design Award for Architecture.
In the works: Projects in California, Nevada, Hawaii, Texas, Florida, Canada, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

mccleandesign.com

Landry Design Group

Los Angeles

Known for: Designs in various architectural styles, highly regarded for thorough historical research, attention to form, proportion, detail and precise execution.
Highlight: A new book, Creating a Livable Work of Art, released in January.
Highlight: Recently completed works in Malibu, Brentwood, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Fe. 
Highlight: Two Best in American Living Awards.
Highlight: Richard Landry received the Legacy Award from the ICAA.

landrydesigngroup.com

Paul Brant Williger Architect

Beverly Hills 

Known for: Integrity of classical and traditional architecture with the understanding of how to adapt it to a contemporary lifestyle. 
Highlight: Named to the 2022 Luxe Gold List. 
Highlight: Restoration and addition to Greta Garbo’s former house in Beverly Hills, originally built in 1924. 
Highlight: Featured on the “Magnolia Channel” and “Selling Sunset.”
In the works: Starting new projects in Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and a two-story Spanish Colonial Revival in Los Angeles. 

willigerarchitect.com

CONNECTICUT

Austin Patterson Disston Architecture & Design

Norwalk and Quogue 

Known for: Bespoke projects with an intimate scale and tailored interiors, whether in the Hamptons, on the Connecticut shore or in the countryside. 
Highlight: Projects in Modern, Agrarian Modern, and Shingle Styles, incorporating traditional and modern elements into spaces that reflect the way you live. 
Highlight:  Residential Architect Design Award from Architect magazine.
In the works: New projects in the Hamptons, Connecticut, Florida, and the Caribbean.

apdarchitects.com 

Cardello Architects

Westport

Known for: Enduring, timeless designs that blend with the surrounding natural environment of each site; a diverse range of styles—from Lutyens-inspired homes to modern, West-Coast influenced residences. 
Highlight: Expansion of team and portfolio to expand beyond the residential niche. 
Highlight: A-list award from athome in Fairfield County Competition, and winner of IDA award.
Highlight: Successful transformation of a dated brick home into a modern stucco residence.

cardelloarchitects.com

Charles Hilton Architects

Greenwich

Known for: Fine waterfront homes and estates in the Georgian, Colonial, Tudor, Mediterranean, and Shingle styles. 
Highlight: A waterfront Mediterranean home featured in the June/July issue of Ocean Home. 
Highlight: 2022 Luxe RED Award, AIA CT Alice Washburn Award, Unique Application Project of the Year from Ludowici, 2022 HOBI Award, and an at home A-List award. 
Highlight: Projects in California, Oklahoma, St. Croix, Connecticut, New York, and Canada.

hiltonarchitects.com  

Mark P. Finlay Architects 

Southport 

Known for: Work that reflects context and client desires, with design in every style across North America. 
Highlight: A number of new and repeat clients during 2023.
In the works: A waterfront project in Black Rock, Connecticut that’s now wrapping up for a client and family that means a great deal to the firm.

markfinlay.com 

Shope Reno Wharton

Norwalk 

Known for: Intentional, mindful collaborations and sensibilities from a love of the craft in blending classical and traditional stylistic languages with expansive fenestration and open floor plans—in well proportioned, Shingle-style homes.
Highlight: Listed in the AD100, the Luxe Gold List, Links magazine, and Top 10 of Golf’s Most Impressive Clubhouses.
In the works: Projects on Cape Cod, and in the Hamptons, Rhode Island, South Florida and Canada.

shoperenowharton.com

VanderHorn Architects 

Greenwich 

Known for: A variety of styles, efficient and thoughtful planning, thorough research within an extensive office library and timeless solutions for difficult sites. 
Highlight: Two AIA Alice Washburn Awards for the fourth consecutive year. 
Highlight: A continued influx of suburban and coastal clients.
In the works: New homes spanning the Rhode Island coastline to New Jersey and beyond, with a number of waterfront homes in Greenwich and neighboring towns.

vanderhornarchitects.com 

Wadia Associates

New Canaan and Palm Beach

Known for: Using historical precedents in classic architecture to inform its designs, updating them for the modern age and creating home styles from a classic Bermuda Cape Dutch to a French Norman Style house. 
Highlight: Recognized as one of the Top 10 Traditional Architectural Firms in the World.
In the works: Projects in Palm Beach, Jupiter, Bal Harbour, New York, Connecticut, England, India, St. Thomas, Canada, and the Middle East.

wadiaassociates.com 

FLORIDA

Arquitectonica

Miami

Known for: Creating memorable imagery of oceanfront, resort style, and luxury living. 
Highlight: ONE Park Tower by Turnberry and The Standard Residences, Midtown Miami. 
Highlight: Canyon Ranch Living Miami Beach named one of 10 Best Wellness Resorts. 
Highlight: Completion of Rosewood Residences, Monaco Yacht Club and Icon Marina Village.

arquitectonica.com 

Brillhart Architecture

Miami

Known for: Prioritizing materials, and redefining the relationship between the building and landscape, and to develop more natural environments for living are the firm’s mission.
Highlight: Completing residences in Miami and Pittsburgh.
Highlight: 2022 Architectural Review House Award. 
Highlight: Office building in Miami and the design of prefabricated cabin for a remote site in Colorado.
In the works: Residential work in Florida and the Bahamas.

brillhartarchitecture.com

Choeff Levy Fischman Architecture + Design

Miami and Tampa

Known for: A leader in Tropical Modern architecture, the firm is known for designing exclusive single-family residences for global executives, celebrities, and professional athletes.  
Highlight: New homes in Tampa, Sarasota, Panama, and the Caribbean. 
Highlight: South Florida Business Journal’s Structures Award for Best Custom Single Family Home.
In the works: Villa Paradiso, a 21,000-square-foot oceanfront estate in Vero Beach, listed at $60 million.

clfarchitects.com

Cronk Duch Architecture & Planning

Jacksonville

Known for: Thoughtful and beautiful homes that integrate site features with outdoor and indoor interplay. Striving to listen and incorporate the owner‘s desires and priorities through interactive design meetings.
Highlight: Expanding its Caribbean footprint with new design commissions throughout the chain of islands and the Eastern Seaboard. 
Highlight: Select commissions trending towards contemporary architecture with authentic origin materials and sensibilities.

cronkduch.com 

Phillip James Dodd 

Palm Beach and Greenwich

Known for: Designs rooted in traditional regional architecture, like Spanish Mediterranean in Florida and Colonial Revival in New England. 
Highlight: 2022 publication of An American Renaissance: Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York City, with foreword by Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey.
Highlight: Lectures across the nation, including one at historic Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, New York.
In the works: A weekend retreat in the Hudson Valley.

pjdbespokedesign.com 

Rene Gonzalez Architects 

Miami 

Known for: An interdisciplinary approach that combines architecture, interior architecture, landscape design, and product design to create cohesive and integrative environments.
Highlight: The Prairie Avenue Residence in Miami Beach, an elevated house designed to address the challenges of rising sea levels, featured in The New York Times and the BBC Miniseries “The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes,” with a monograph on the home released in August.

renegonzalezarchitect.com

Hughes Umbanhowar Architects

Hobe Sound and Venice

Known for: Channeling the vocabulary and vitality of mid-century modernism to capture and control the power of light and shadow. 
Highlight: 21 PROJECTS: The Architecture of Scott Hughes and John Umbanhowar entered its second printing. 
Highlight: BEACH ROAD 2 named one of the 100 most important Florida buildings of the last 100 years. 
Highlight: Named Firm of the Year by the Treasure Coast Chapter, AIA; wins the American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum.

huum.com

Guy Peterson/Office for Architecture

Sarasota and Cashiers

Known for: Regional modernism defined by its sense of place, the use of color, indigenous materials, light, and shadow for a softened Bauhaus aesthetic—and a clear, sustainable architecture. 
Highlight: Two AIA Florida design awards: A Merit Award for Unbuilt Architecture and an Award of Excellence for New Work.
In the works: Two beachfront houses and three waterfront houses under construction; a beachfront home now in for permitting.

guypeterson.com 

Khoury Vogt Architects

Rosemary Beach 

Known for: Timeless types and traditional styles inspired by architects of the early 20th century who sought to transform the classical tradition in step with the European Modern Movement.
Highlight: Continued residential design at Alys Beach, plus private homes, townhomes and condominium buildings at Kaiya, an adjoining resort. 
Highlight: Homes in Alabama, Tennessee, and Central Florida. 
Highlight: ICAA Arthur Ross Award for Excellence in Architecture.

khouryvogt.com

SDH Studio Architecture + Design

Miami Beach

Known for: High-end Tropical Modern architecture and design.
Highlight: Named Best of Houzz for Design and Service.
Highlight: Named 2023 Best Architect by Expertise.com.
Highlight: Design of a courtyard home around eight 100-year-old oak trees, and another in Bogota, Colombia.
In the works: A home on the ocean in Golden Beach, another in Telluride, Colorado, where a river crosses through the house; more projects abroad in Colombia, Turks & Caicos, and Belize.

sdhstudio.com

[STRANG] Design 

Miami 

Known for: Environmental stewardship and respect for the evolution of modernism in residences across Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean. Coastal experts in design for sea-level rise and hurricanes. 
Highlight: 2022 Firm of The Year, 2022 Architect of The Year, plus three Awards of Excellence from the AIA Miami Chapter. 
Highlight: Coastal residences from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys.
In the works: Coastal homes and hospitality projects including a resort in Utah.

strang.design

Studio Khora

Miami and Pompano Beach

Known for: An architectural approach that’s about not just creating but converging, with an architectural aesthetic that questions, provokes and strives to redefine the contemporary.
Highlight: Selected as one of the Top Architects in Miami in the Miami edition of Florida Design. Highlight: Nearing completion of the Z House, the Townhouses, the B House, the Split House, and the Open to the Trees House.
In the works: A new project in “14 Acres” on Long Island.

studiokhora.com

GEORGIA

Harrison Design

Atlanta

Known for: Design excellence and outstanding craftsmanship in a wide range of styles, including coastal homes that frame views, optimize natural light, and connect with the outdoors.
Highlight: John Russell Pope Award, AIA Atlanta Award for Residential Design, Palladio Award, and the Southeast Designer and Architect of the Year Award for Architecture. 
Highlight: Residences in the Bahamas, Golden Isles, Naples, Palm Beach, Malibu, Santa Barbara and the Northeastern Seaboard.

harrisondesign.com

IDAHO

de Reus Architects

Sun Valley and Kamuela

Known for: Crafting timeless contemporary architecture, anchored by a clear sense of place and a lucid reflection of the personality of each client.
Highlight: Mark de Reus’s second book, Sanctuary: Homes and Resorts, will be released by ORO Editions. 
Highlight: Mountain Living: 2023 Top Mountain Architects; Build Magazine, 2023 Most Innovative Resort & Hospitality Architectural Design Firm, plus Best Coastal Residential Design Project.

dereusarchitects.com 

MAINE

Winkelman Architecture 

Portland

Known for: Creating a synergistic link between the environment and a structure through stylistically diverse, fresh, and creative designs distinguished by a highly collaborative, craft-driven, and openminded approach.
Highlight: Completion of a multigenerational family camp to bring together people and place in a beautifully crafted camp on the coast of Downeast Maine.
Highlight: 2023 Maine AIA Design Award— Honor Recipient.

winkarch.com 

MARYLAND

Purple Cherry Architects

Annapolis, Charlottesville, Middleburg, New York, Washington, D.C. 

Known for: View-oriented properties, multi-structure estates, and expertise across a range of vernaculars and interiors. 
Highlight: A new book on a waterfront estate due out in summer 2024. 
Highlight: New offices to open in New York and Washington, D.C., in summer, 2023. 
Highlight: 2023 Luxe magazine RED Award.
Highlight: New projects in Massachusetts, on the Chesapeake Bay, and Rehoboth Bay.

purplecherry.com

MASSACHUSETTS

ERT Architects

Yarmouth

Known for: A modern interpretation of classic New England architecture, and a collaborative process to place our clients’ vision at the forefront of the design process.
Highlight: Revitalization of two historically significant Chatham properties, one featured in Chatham Living magazine.
Highlight: An expansive custom residence in Chorleywood in the U.K.
In the works: New residences, additions, largescale renovations, and several multifamily housing communities.

ertarchitects.com

Patrick Ahearn Architect

Boston

Known for: Classic American architecture that balances the romance of traditional design with the ideals of modern living. 
Highlight: Publication of Patrick’s second book, History Reinterpreted, in late May. 
Highlight: Bulfinch Award and Best of the Vineyard Award. 
Highlight: Projects in Utah, Boston’s South Shore, British Columbia and Lake Erie.
In the works: Projects in metro Boston, on Martha’s Vineyard, and throughout New England.

patrickahearn.com 

Hacin

Boston

Known for: A broad portfolio of architecture and interior design projects ranging from private residential to hospitality, housing, and commercial. 
Highlight: Chatham House featured in June/July 2023 Ocean Home. 
Highlight: Boston magazine’s Best of Boston Home 2023, Gold Brick in Architecture Awards 2022, Gold PRISM Awards 2022.
In the works: A 9,700-square-foot Woods Hole home by Kistler Knapp Builders and a waterside Hermosa Beach residence with Laney LA.

hacin.com

Hutker Architects 

Vineyard Haven, Falmouth, Plymouth, and Boston

Known for: Evolving the art of dwelling through innovative and inspired narrative design.
Highlight: The Monacelli Press will publish the firm’s third book in spring 2024.
Highlight: Recently completed coastal compounds in Maine and Martha’s Vineyard, and a winter getaway in Colorado.
Highlight: Its Ontic Initiative, a not-forprofit research project exploring connections between residential design and well-being, begins this year.

hutkerarchitects.com

LDa

Boston, Cape Cod, and Martha’s Vineyard

Known for: Taking each client’s unique aesthetic and translating it into built form, with a coastal portfolio that features a wide variety of interior and exterior aesthetics. 
Highlight: In 2023, the firm celebrated its one-year anniversary in Boston’s SoWa Art + Design District. 
Highlight: Kimberly Barnett named new principal in January. 
Highlight: Boston magazine named the firm Best Transitional Architect, 2023; Modern Luxury Interiors Boston named it Best Architect, 2023. 
Highlight: In 2023, completion of “clubhouse” next to a client’s home, with golf simulator, putting green, squash court/ half basketball court, kitchen, den, and guest suite.

lda-architects.com 

Morehouse MacDonald and Associates

Lexington

Known for: Designs tailored to the clients’ needs, dreams, location and context, with Shingle-Style architecture playing a role in many projects.
Highlight: A new home in Kiawah, South Carolina, an estate in Nevis, West Indies, a cottage renovation on Nantasket Beach, and Phase 2 of a Shingle Style home in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Highlight: A PRISM Award for Best Home over 6,000 square feet. 
Highlight: A renovation in Concord, Massachusetts, a restoration in Stowe, Vermont, and a home in St. Kitts, West Indies.

morehousemacdonald.com 

Nicholaeff Architecture + Design 

Osterville 

Known for: Combining location-specific modern and classical architecture while abstracting clients’ wishes and aesthetic sensibilities. Using local, sustainable materials and applying and incorporating the newest technologies. 
Highlight: Major renovation that required lifting the existing frame of a house, reconfiguring interior/exterior while working with footprint, flood plain, and conservation. 
In the works: A family home in Maine and a golfer’s dream house.

nicholaeff.com

Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects Builders

Cape Cod

Known for: Fully integrated architecture and construction, creating custom homes that represent a broad range of aesthetics and scales, and that celebrate creative design and quality craftsmanship.
Highlight: Design and construction of homes throughout Cape Cod and the South Shore of Massachusetts.
Highlight: Multiple 2022 PRISM Awards, one for Best Single Family Home and two for Best Landscaping Design.
In the works: A net-zero home on the tip of Cape Cod.

psdab.com 

SV Design

Beverly and Chatham

Known for: Creating places of beauty and integrity that are timeless in style, highly functional, and thoughtfully placed in the landscape. 
Highlight: An expanding team of architects and designers.
Highlight: Gold and Silver BRAGB Prism Awards; Northshore Home magazine’s Best of the North Shore for architecture and interior design; IFDA New England’s Best Commercial Design Award.
Highlight: Projects in Beverly, Marblehead, and on Cape Cod.

svdesign.com 

NEW YORK

Bates Masi + Architects

East Hampton

Known for: A timeless style that seamlessly integrates with the place in which it’s located.
Highlight: Working on new opportunities to feature the firm’s work in video format, with international media producers like Architecture Hunter and The Local Project. 
Highlight: 2023 AIA Peconic Award, 2023 AIA Peconic Merit Award, and 2022 AIA Long Island ArchiAward of Excellence.
Highlight: Several new waterfront residences throughout the Hamptons completed in 2022.

batesmasi.com 

BMA Architects 

Bridgehampton and Miami

Known for: Custom retreats that celebrate modernism and embody the future of elevated living.
Highlight: The firm is now led by Blaze Makoid, Glen Cordova, and Lori Beppu, with a team of 20+ people. 
Highlight: A Miami office expands into the Caribbean, plus Central and South America.
Highlight: AIA Long Island Archi Award, AIA Peconic Award, Architizer A+ Award Special Mention.
In the works: A 20,000-square-foot Miami residence.

bmaarchitects.com

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson 

New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Wilkes-Barre 

Known for: Designing to the nature of each circumstance, resulting in architecture inspiring connection and wonder. 
Highlight: AIA National Small Project Award.
Highlight: Recently completed and upcoming work includes a Bay Area library, a media center for Arizona State, and a mass timber building near Dallas.
In the works: New residences in the San Juan Islands, Hawaii, British Columbia, and New Mexico.

bcj.com 

Fairfax & Sammons 

New York 

Known for: Specializing in residential architecture and urban design, and a belief in the enduring value of beauty in the private and public realms. 
Highlight: A McKim, Mead & White Award 
Highlight: The firm’s growing to meet demands of clients choosing innovative traditional design.
Highlight: Completion of a Charlottesville, Virginia. project.
In the works: An Upper West Side Townhouse in Manhattan.

fairfaxandsammons.com

Alexander Gorlin Architects 

New York 

Known for: Homes that enhance the experience of a site, creating spaces that are a sanctuary of calm and spiritual contentment. 
Highlight: A series of Park Avenue apartment renovations, a duplex penthouse renovation, a five-story townhouse, and a private school in the Financial District. 
Highlight: Sara NY Design Award of Excellence, NYCxDesign Award, and Architizer A+ Awards Finalist. 
Highlight: A house on Florida’s Golden Beach and another on Sanibel Island.

gorlinarchitects.com 

Andre Kikoski Architect 

New York 

Known for: Architecture that is transformative and transformational, to help people lead better lives, to advance communities and make the world a better place. 
Highlight: Completion of homes in Miami, Sag Harbor, and San Diego.
Highlight: Projects that examine the future of living, work, and food. 
Highlight: 2022 Global Business Insight Awards, Best Interior Design Solutions, United States.
Highlight: LTG Global Awards Architecture Firm of the Year, 2021.

akarch.com

Kligerman Architecture & Design 

New York 

Known for: Distinctive design rooted in tradition, but modern in its sculptural forms, taut detailing, glass expanses—and often, a touch of whimsy. 
Highlight: 2022 relocation to 500 Fifth Avenue in New York. 
Highlight: Four new partners named: Margie Lavender, Ross Padluck, Joe Carline, and Drew Davis. 
Highlight: Added to Luxe Gold List, AD 100, and Elle Décor A List.
In the works: Homes in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Miami Beach.

kligermanad.com 

Leroy Street Studio 

New York 

Known for: A range of projects, using aesthetics as a means to an end and as a tool for capturing large-scale opportunities of site and landscape. 
Highlight: Two New York townhouse renovations designed by the firm’s architects and interior design group. 
Highlight: A Lower East Side affordable housing project feature in the Architect’s Newspaper.
Highlight: An Upper West Side residence in Introspective/First Dibs. 
Highlight: Completion of a home in the Hamptons.

leroystreetstudio.com

Martin Architects 

Sagaponack 

Known for: A dynamic and sustainable approach to design, a dedication to modern residential architecture—and harmonizing site, form and green practices. 
Highlight: Nick Martin featured in David Sokol’s Hamptons Modern by Monacelli Press.
Highlight: 2022 AIA Peconic Honor Award, 2022 IDA Award for Kitchen Design, and Architizer A+ Finalist for Residential Interiors. 
In the Works: Twelve projects started in 2022 including a guest house on Shinnecock Bay.

martinarchitects.com 

Peter Pennoyer Architects 

New York and Miami 

Known for: Sophisticated detail, high quality craftsmanship and a nimble balance between comfort, beauty, modernity and continuity with the past. 
Highlight: Opening of the PPA Conservation division. 
Highlight: Peter Pennoyer Architects: City/ Country published by Vendome Press in October.
Highlight: McKim, Mead & White Award for Residential Architecture/ Multi-Unit Projects. 
In the works: Projects in East Hampton, New York, Connecticut and Florida.

ppapc.com 

Sawyer / Berson 

New York 

Known for: Working in a variety of styles for designs in traditional and modern vocabularies, supported by rigorous historical, contextual, and technical research, all developed in close consultation with the client.
Highlight: A new book published on September 12, accompanied by a new website.
Highlight: AD 100 2022; AD 200 2023
Highlight: Completion of a new waterfront house on Mecox Bay in Bridgehampton, as well as a new home in Southampton for Dune Furniture CEO and founder Richard Shemtov.

sawyerberson.com 

Schafer Buccellato Architects 

New York 

Known for: Translating the best of traditional architecture for connected, welcoming spaces in modern life. 
Highlight: G. P. Schafer Architect joins forces with Buccellato Design in fall 2023. 
Highlight: Gil Shafer’s book, Home at Last, published by Rizzoli, spring 2024. 
Highlight: 2022 McKim, Mead & White Award for Residential Architecture. 
Highlight: 2023 Palladio Award for Interior Design from Traditional Building magazine. 
In the works: Projects in Virginia, Maine, Florida, Connecticut, and California.

schaferbuccellato.com 

Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects 

Bridgehampton 

Known for: Casual, warm modernism using rich natural materials and a strong dialog with natural surroundings. 
Highlight: AIA Peconic 2023 Daniel J. Rowen Memorial Design Awards: a Juror Award to Viola Rouhani for Light House, the Hugh Jackman House in Architectural Digest, and a Merit Award to Viola Rouhani for Butter Lane, both in Architecture Category. 
Highlight: Book launch at New York’s Dom Interior and book signing at Sag Harbor’s JanGeorge Interiors.

stelleco.com

Robert A.M. Stern Architects 

New York 

Known for: Sophisticated residential, commercial, and institutional projects, from the Virginia General Assembly Building in Richmond, Va., to a recordbreaking apartment building at 220 Central Park South in New York. 
Highlight: Transforming the Bicentennial Buildings into the Yale Schwarzman Center. 
Highlight: Two Palladio Awards from Traditional Building magazine. 
In the works: South Flagler House, a mixed-use development in West Palm Beach.

ramsa.com 

TenBerke Architects 

New York 

Known for: Deeply rooted, place-specific modern houses that enrich and elevate everyday life with timeless designs that are at once warm and elegant. 
Highlight: A name change from Deborah Berke Partners to TenBerke, to evoke the powers of ten. 
Highlight: AD100 Hall of Fame 2023. 
Highlight: ELLE Décor A-List Titan 2023. 
In the works: Homes in coastal Connecticut, eastern Long Island; reimagining an 1884 East Hampton boarding house as a single family home.

tenberke.com 

Workshop/APD 

New York, Minneapolis, Greenwich, and Nantucket 

Known for: A contextually modern, meticulously detailed approach, with a focus on extraordinary craftsmanship. 
Highlight: Projects in Florida, the Caribbean, the Cape, Martha’s Vineyard, Connecticut, Maine, Yellowstone, Banff, and California. 
Highlight: Named to Top 100 Interior Design Giants 2023, Sustainability Giants 2023, Hospitality Giants 2023, Luxe Gold List, Elle Décor’s A-List, Luxe RED Award, NYC x Design Award.

workshopapd.com 

NORTH CAROLINA

Kersting Architecture

Wilmington

Known for: Regionally tempered modernism that learns from time-tested coastal architecture while
engaging with the challenges of the present.
Highlight: With the sudden passing of founder, Michael Kersting, partners Mark Wilson and Toby Keeton are carrying on the legacy the firm established over the past three decades.
Highlight: Wilmington AIA chapter honor and citation AIA awards.
Highlight: A home designed by the firm set real estate sales records when sold this year.
In the works: A floating restaurant to be permanently moored off of the coast of Wrightsville Beach, the
reimagining of a celebrated oceanfront beach club, and several luxury coastal residences.

kerstingarchitecture.com

RHODE ISLAND

Andreozzi Architecture 

Barrington 

Known for: A new traditional architecture, respectful of history and its local context, but completely modern in plan and technologies. 
Highlight: Top 50 Traditional Architects in the World. 
Highlight: David Andreozzi is past president of New England chapter of the ICAA, and cohost of Architectural Delight, interviewing some of the top designers in the world at architecturaldelight.org. 
In the works: Residential projects from New England to Florida.

andreozzi.com 

TEXAS 

Michael G. Imber Architects 

San Antonio 

Known for: Work that’s strong in historic sentiment, yet modern in its execution; a sensitivity to culture, landscape, material, and craft. 
Highlight: Completing an Ohio writer’s retreat, a Tennessee family compound, and continued progress on the Alys Beach Town Center. 
Highlight: Projects in Mexico, Florida, Montana, Colorado, California, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Missouri and Texas: 
Highlight: 2023 Luxe RED Award and 2023 AIA Crain Award.

michaelgimber.com 

Lake Flato

San Antonio and Austin 

Known for: Architecture that’s rooted in its place, responding in a meaningful way to the natural or built environment. 
Highlight: Grand opening of Trinity University’s Dicke Hall, San Antonio’s first mass timber higher education building. 
Highlight: Marfa Ranch residence named one of Dezeen’s Top 10 Houses of 2022. 
Highlight: Residential Design Honor Award, Architizer A+ Award, Texas Society of Architects Design Award and an ASLA Texas Award of Excellence.

lakeflato.com 

WASHINGTON 

Cutler Anderson Architects 

Bainbridge Island 

Known for: Designs based upon a sensitivity to the institution, the place, and the materials; spending time to understand the sense of place and reflect its essence and spirit through site and building design.
Highlight: Projects across three continents, including cabins, residences, libraries, resorts, churches and government ventures. 
Highlight: Recently completed home/guest house on Puget Sound. 
Highlight: 2023 Citation Award in Residential Design magazine.

cutler-anderson.com

GO’C 

Seattle 

Known for: Sustainable projects that work closely with the land, are built to last for generations, with a process that’s as rigorous as it is daring. The enduring desire is to push the limits of what’s possible—in service to clients, communities, cultures, and landscapes. 
Highlight: 2022 AIA Seattle Honor Award. Highlight: 2023 AIA National Housing Award.
Highlight: 2023 AIA National Small Projects Award. 
Highlight: 2022 AIA Seattle Award of Honor. 
Highlight: Residential Design Awards 2023 Citation Award

gocstudio.com 

Heliotrope Architects 

Seattle 

Known for: Attentiveness to what is human, a promise to do right by the land, and design that outlasts trends. 
Highlight: A dozen homes in the San Juan Archipelago, homes in the Cascade Range and Seattle area, a winery in Washington’s Willamette Valley, and several restaurants in the Seattle area. 
Highlight: A home in Seattle that maximizes functionality and aesthetics within a limited footprint. 
Highlight: Northwest and Pacific AIA Design Awards and a Merit Award.

heliotropearchitects.com 

Olson Kundig Architects 

Seattle 

Known for: A collaborative global design practice led by 13 principal/owners whose work responds to and expands the context of built and natural landscapes. 
Highlight: Completed projects in the Bay Area, Napa Valley, the Bahamas and Seattle.
Highlight: Architizer A+ Award, Best Large Firm, AIA Small Project award and AD100 List. 
In the works: Projects spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, and the Turks & Caicos.

olsonkundig.com 

THE CARIBBEAN 

John Doak Architecture 

Grand Cayman 

Known for: A signature architecture described locally as “Cayman Style,” and also “of this place, Cayman.”
Highlight: Completion of a number of apartment buildings on the ocean, and continued design of beach houses. 
Highlight: In 2022, the firm designed Cayman’s first “Overwater Bungalows” for an exclusive boutique resort. 
Highlight: In 2022, the firm completed John Doak’s home in Cayman—a challenging post-Covid experience but immensely satisfying.

johndoak.com