If you are building a home in the rolling landscape of Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains magnificent views are as much a requirement as an extra bedroom. But architects Amy Gardner and Brittany Williams ‘05 M.Arch ‘07 decided early on in the project that scenery was only part of the equation— if sited and designed just right, they could also capture sunlight and ample mountain breezes, allowing the homeowners to power and ventilate the home, minimizing the need for AC even on sunny, hot and humid August summer days.
“We spent a lot of time studying how the air would move through the spaces,” said Williams, who, with Gardner, opened the operable sliding doors and clear story windows integrated throughout the house on a visit shortly after construction was completed. “It was really rewarding to throw those open and see that it really worked.”
Climactic design, attention to beauty, form and function, and a keen sense of place were some of the overarching criteria for determining the inaugural list of best residential architects in America, a slim roster of 200 as decided last month by Forbes Magazine. Using a meticulously researched set of guiding principles and practices, an advisory board of celebrated architects from across the country conducted a rigorous and independent assessment of 18,000 residential firms to showcase the “finest practitioners of the creation of the home.” Over 10 months, the board examined detailing, materials and craft, creative use of space, the integration of energy efficient and smart tech, and responsible and immersive connection to the environment.
Among the 200 are plenty of Terps. In Maryland alone, three of the five firms honored by Forbes are alum/faculty-run shops: Annapolis-based GRiD Architects, Gardner Architects and Kimmel Studio Architects. Below, Williams, Gardner and GRiD’s Alick Dearie '99, M.ARCH '04, Brian Grieb '99, M.ARCH '01 and Justin Obringer '10, M.ARCH '12, share the principles behind their projects, the architectural details they love to design and their definition of home:
This was a showcase of the "finest practitioners of the creation of the home," according to Forbes. What makes a house a home to you as an architect?
GriD: There is a quote we love from a book called The Things That Matter by Nate Berkus. It says "your home should tell the story of who you are and be a collection of what you love". This resonates deeply with us, and our interest in creating homes which reflect the particulars of place, including disparate aspects such as program, climate, topography, local culture and perhaps most importantly our clients. A house is truly a home when it reflects its place and amplifies the singular personalities of its inhabitants.
Gardner Architects: People come to us wanting to change something about the way they live. While response to climate, place, and the driving forces of construction are key for us, the joy of a residential practice is getting to meet each client where they are. We don’t espouse a particular style; rather, we work to figure out what each client’s version of “home” is. Is the kitchen the center of the home? Do they have a strong connection to nature? Everyone has their own version of home and we work with each client to articulate theirs in built form.
What is the most important principle you instill in each of your projects?
Gardner Architects: We focus on marrying each client’s sense of “home” with a more sustainable, responsible, and resilient way of using resources both during and after construction. While response to climate has been at our core since our founding in 2003, it is no longer optional or a luxury for some clients but not others. While “sustainability” means something different for each client, building codes are now demanding it for every building, at the most basic level. But sensible passive strategies, a robust building envelope, efficient systems, and the inclusion of active systems only go so far. We create homes that help clients make sustainable choices in their everyday lives going forward.
GriD: Our focus is on getting things built and this requires a broad sense of stewardship. Our philosophy regarding sustainability is to deploy passive strategies (i.e., sun orientation, fenestration, thermal envelope) as a matter of course and to implement active strategies (i.e., solar panels, geothermal) as much as our clients interests and budgets allow. Regardless, we see sustainability as our ability to expertly respond to our clients budget while simultaneously designing incredibly well built, resilient, and durable structures that are also beautiful. In this way, we are stewarding a wide array of resources, including site, natural, environmental, and economic ones.
What's one feature/design intervention that you incorporated into a project recently that makes you love your job?
GriD: We are always eager to infuse our projects, regardless of typology, with subtle nods to local history and culture. One example can be found in a small sauna (70 square feet) we designed, alongside students from Morgan State University's School of Architecture + Planning, in rural West Virginia. There are a number of details incorporating plate steel, where we articulated an abstraction of the iconic West Virginia quilt pattern. The pattern was lightly etched into a heat shield along the wall closest to the stove, and the solid blocks of the quilt were cut out entirely as voids from a quarter-inch-thick piece of steel to create an exterior privacy screen.
Gardner Architects: For us, architecture is the expression of ideas – ideas of home, place, or sustainability – through building craft. How do the parts and pieces come together and tell the larger story of the home? Our involvement as faculty advisors to UMD’s 2011 WaterShed project led us to implement green roofs in our projects. We recently designed a home with enormous green roofs that link the house parts, join the house with the site, and surround a roof deck interspersed with “walkable” skylights to allow natural light to shine through to the space below. The experience of walking on the skylight or standing in the space beneath, surrounded by the green roof, is really the sweet spot of why we do this!