A small boutique hotel in the Grenadines overlooking the island of Mustique was an exercise in local artisanship. The hotel consists of an historic house that contained remnants of British Colonial furniture, and an old beachfront structure that was left in disrepair after years of neglect. We breathed new life into these spaces by whitewashing surfaces and commissioning local artisans to create pieces out of seashells and driftwood to give this property its simple, elegant, Island character.

As a long abandoned structure, this historic late 1800's Shingle style house was a detriment to Cuero's residential historic district. The local preservationist owner commissioned Fisher Heck to restore the house to its original roots, reaffirming its place in the storied neighborhood. Almost everything down to the studs had to be rebuilt or refinished. All new lighting and mechanical systems are installed throughout the house and a 670sf addition was added to the rear of property that adds another bedroom suite to the home. Apart from the house, a new carport and driveway were designed as a modern convenience for the owner. All work was done in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Restoration. Photo by Alfredo Mora.

As a long abandoned structure, this historic late 1800's Shingle style house was a detriment to Cuero's residential historic district. The local preservationist owner commissioned Fisher Heck to restore the house to its original roots, reaffirming its place in the storied neighborhood. Almost everything down to the studs had to be rebuilt or refinished. All new lighting and mechanical systems are installed throughout the house and a 670sf addition was added to the rear of property that adds another bedroom suite to the home. Apart from the house, a new carport and driveway were designed as a modern convenience for the owner. All work was done in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Restoration. Photo by Alfredo Mora.

As a long abandoned structure, this historic late 1800's Shingle style house was a detriment to Cuero's residential historic district. The local preservationist owner commissioned Fisher Heck to restore the house to its original roots, reaffirming its place in the storied neighborhood. Almost everything down to the studs had to be rebuilt or refinished. All new lighting and mechanical systems are installed throughout the house and a 670sf addition was added to the rear of property that adds another bedroom suite to the home. Apart from the house, a new carport and driveway were designed as a modern convenience for the owner. All work was done in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Restoration. Photo by Alfredo Mora.

As a long abandoned structure, this historic late 1800's Shingle style house was a detriment to Cuero's residential historic district. The local preservationist owner commissioned Fisher Heck to restore the house to its original roots, reaffirming its place in the storied neighborhood. Almost everything down to the studs had to be rebuilt or refinished. All new lighting and mechanical systems are installed throughout the house and a 670sf addition was added to the rear of property that adds another bedroom suite to the home. Apart from the house, a new carport and driveway were designed as a modern convenience for the owner. All work was done in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Restoration. Photo by Alfredo Mora.

This project was designed to accommodate the client’s wish to have a traditional and functional barn that could also serve as a backdrop for social and corporate functions. Several years after it’s completion, this has become just the case as the clients routinely host everything from fundraisers to cooking demonstrations to political functions in the barn and outdoor spaces. In addition to the barn, Axial Arts designed an indoor arena, cattle & hay barn, and a professional grade equipment workshop with living quarters above it. The indoor arena includes a 100′ x 200′ riding arena as well as a side space that includes bleacher space for clinics and several open rail stalls. The hay & cattle barn is split level with 3 bays on the top level that accommodates tractors and front loaders as well as a significant tonnage of hay. The lower level opens to grade below with cattle pens and equipment for breeding and calving. The cattle handling systems and stocks both outside and inside were designed by Temple Grandin- renowned bestselling author, autism activist, and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. This project was recently featured in Cowboy & Indians Magazine. As the case with most of our projects, Axial Arts received this commission after being recommended by a past client.

As a long abandoned structure, this historic late 1800's Shingle style house was a detriment to Cuero's residential historic district. The local preservationist owner commissioned Fisher Heck to restore the house to its original roots, reaffirming its place in the storied neighborhood. Almost everything down to the studs had to be rebuilt or refinished. All new lighting and mechanical systems are installed throughout the house and a 670sf addition was added to the rear of property that adds another bedroom suite to the home. Apart from the house, a new carport and driveway were designed as a modern convenience for the owner. All work was done in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Restoration. Photo by Alfredo Mora.

As a long abandoned structure, this historic late 1800's Shingle style house was a detriment to Cuero's residential historic district. The local preservationist owner commissioned Fisher Heck to restore the house to its original roots, reaffirming its place in the storied neighborhood. Almost everything down to the studs had to be rebuilt or refinished. All new lighting and mechanical systems are installed throughout the house and a 670sf addition was added to the rear of property that adds another bedroom suite to the home. Apart from the house, a new carport and driveway were designed as a modern convenience for the owner. All work was done in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Restoration. Photo by Alfredo Mora.

Avery Coonley Residence (Frank Lloyd Wright, 1908), Riverside, IL The spectacular, meticulously restored main residence on the elaborate Coonley estate in Riverside, IL. Photo Courtesy of Dean Eastman

As a long abandoned structure, this historic late 1800's Shingle style house was a detriment to Cuero's residential historic district. The local preservationist owner commissioned Fisher Heck to restore the house to its original roots, reaffirming its place in the storied neighborhood. Almost everything down to the studs had to be rebuilt or refinished. All new lighting and mechanical systems are installed throughout the house and a 670sf addition was added to the rear of property that adds another bedroom suite to the home. Apart from the house, a new carport and driveway were designed as a modern convenience for the owner. All work was done in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Restoration. Photo by Alfredo Mora.

This small brick church in a residential neighborhood had previously served as not only a functioning church but later as a photographer's studio, before ESDB's renovation into a single family home. Upon commission the space was a blank canvas. Our client wanted to preserve the open feeling of the ceremonial space but needed to insert a kitchen and full bath before the Borough would recognize the structure as a single family home. We aided in a modest renovation that preserved the feel of the space and was conscious of a tight budget and schedule, while creating a functional open-concept layout. Recognizable elements of the church, such as the stained glass windows, apse, and lighting were preserved.

This property came with a house which proved ill-matched to our clients’ needs but which nestled neatly amid beautiful live oaks. In choosing to commission a new home, they asked that it also tuck under the limbs of the oaks and maintain a subdued presence to the street. Extraordinary efforts such as cantilevered floors and even bridging over critical root zones allow the design to be truly fitted to the site and to co-exist with the trees, the grandest of which is the focal point of the entry courtyard. Of equal importance to the trees and view was to provide, conversely, for walls to display 35 paintings and numerous books. From form to smallest detail, the house is quiet and subtle.

As a long abandoned structure, this historic late 1800's Shingle style house was a detriment to Cuero's residential historic district. The local preservationist owner commissioned Fisher Heck to restore the house to its original roots, reaffirming its place in the storied neighborhood. Almost everything down to the studs had to be rebuilt or refinished. All new lighting and mechanical systems are installed throughout the house and a 670sf addition was added to the rear of property that adds another bedroom suite to the home. Apart from the house, a new carport and driveway were designed as a modern convenience for the owner. All work was done in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Restoration. Photo by Alfredo Mora.

As a long abandoned structure, this historic late 1800's Shingle style house was a detriment to Cuero's residential historic district. The local preservationist owner commissioned Fisher Heck to restore the house to its original roots, reaffirming its place in the storied neighborhood. Almost everything down to the studs had to be rebuilt or refinished. All new lighting and mechanical systems are installed throughout the house and a 670sf addition was added to the rear of property that adds another bedroom suite to the home. Apart from the house, a new carport and driveway were designed as a modern convenience for the owner. All work was done in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Restoration. Photo by Alfredo Mora.

Hillside Modernism In Context. The owners of this modern hillside home sought to have a home in a nice Los Angeles neighborhood wherein they could raise their burgeoning family. The owners purchased a 1948 2000sf, single story, 2 bedroom English Cottage styled home (believed to have been originally owned by Yul Brynner) on a ½ acre hillside site in the exclusive Brentwood area of Los Angeles. The property slopes downward away from the street and overlooks a mini eucalyptus arroyo. The owners love their new location but are now faced-with having to raise their new and growing family on a hillside with extremely limited yard spaces for children to play and in a location where nature is very close – deer as well as coyotes wander the arroyo. In 2000 the owners commissioned architect Richard Best to add 2500sf to the cottage and transform it into a home more fitting to their growing family’s needs. Subsequently, in 2014/15, the owners again commissioned Richard to create a 2-story master suite addition. Living in or visiting the completed project - the original 1948 home remodeled + the 2000 addition + the 2014/15 addition, one goes through an unexpected and delightful experience as the spaces of the home “unfold” to reveal intimacy and environmental immersion. It was important to Richard and to the owners that their remodels and additions be appropriately designed to fit into the neighborhood and have the feel, scale, and soul of the original cottage. With this in-mind, Richard has interpreted the design intentions of the original cottage - “modernizing” the architectural vocabulary and creating open-plan, 2-story additions which promote site “engagement” at various floor levels and openness to the outdoors in a manner clearly inspired by the original cottage, yet modern. At the front door of the original (still remains as it was) 1948 structure, one is presented with a quaint a low-slung entry which establishes a very comfortable sense of scale. Inside, the remodeled spaces of the original cottage exude comfort and a cozy sensibility evoked by the reuse of the original home’s exposed timber framing structure, open-plan circulation, and an inventive two-sided steel fireplace which acts as a room divider between the living room and a home office. Accordion wood doors connect these rooms to a newly formed outdoor rear patio. At this point one also gets ones first hint that something very interesting is happening just beyond – a glimpse of the 2000 & 2014/15 additions. Moving from the original 1948 structure into the 2-story 2000 addition, one is greeted by a modern and open linear floor plan arrangement – a kitchen, casual dining and family room extend perpendicularly from the 1948 structure into the rear yard and down the hillside. The open framed cathedral ceiling and wood roof trusses establish a lofty feeling and a rhythm discretely separating the open rooms one from the other. Extensive use of windows and French doors connect the indoors to the outdoors and provide abundant natural lighting. This new appendage ends with a symmetrical family room which has no corners – it is a geometry composed of two overlapped squares - one rotated 45 degrees atop the other to create double opportunities for bay windows. The design not only connects the home to the desired exterior flat yards spaces, but it also takes full advantage of the sloping terrain by adding a floor below the original level so as to maintain a scale appropriate to the neighborhood. The exterior materials were chosen taking “hints” from the original 1948 structure – natural redwood siding, reused brick veneer and wood doors/windows all serving to aesthetically connect the addition back-to the spirit of the original structure. By 2014/15 the owners’ family has fully blossomed - the children are now teenagers and there is a need for additional space. However, the owners are very content with their remodeled cottage and Richard’s 2000 addition – unsure how to add to a home which they feel is quite perfect as it is … wanting whatever changes are to be made to be sympathetic to it. They are also concerned about potential additions blocking-out their views of the eucalyptus arroyo. The owners approached Richard with trepidation – we love our perfect house but we need it to be a bit bigger and we don’t want to block-out the arroyo views or create a hemmed-in feeling – how can we add but still see the arroyo. In response Richard created a private yet connected 2-story master suite, which by its positioning, dynamic geometries and extensive glazing create the fourth side of the former rear patio, making it into exterior courtyard with views around and through the new addition into the arroyo. A dynamic angularity in the new master addition (inspired by the 2000 addition) simultaneously reduces the apparent size/presence of the master suite addition on the edge of the eucalyptus arroyo while creating framed views into the arroyo from the newly formed courtyard. The new master suite - a master bathroom, master closet and a master sleeping loft each having exterior decks and/or patios, is connected back to the 2000 addition via a glazed hallway which provides a sense of connectedness and privacy. A modern rustic aesthetic of exposed board-formed concrete, natural finished Corten steel exterior cladding, frameless metal windows, and clear finished Douglas Fir planks serve to “extend” the soul of the original cottage into the master suite. The project is a highly sustainable design as well. Energy use is reduced by employing a high efficiency heat pump heating and cooling system, dual paned/gasketed metal window/door systems, natural lighting through a Kalwall skylight and generous exterior glazing with extensive eaves for shading, rigid roof insulation, and earthen backing – the lower floor is up-against the hillside which tends to even-out the day/night temperature differential. Credits: Architecture & Interior Design: Richard Best Architect Inc. Structural Engineering: Dan Echeto & David Choi Associates Interior Decor: Noelle Schoop Landscape: Connie Heitzman Photos: Carmel McFayden and Adriano Sarmento / James Porschen

A small boutique hotel in the Grenadines overlooking the island of Mustique was an exercise in local artisanship. The hotel consists of an historic house that contained remnants of British Colonial furniture, and an old beachfront structure that was left in disrepair after years of neglect. We breathed new life into these spaces by whitewashing surfaces and commissioning local artisans to create pieces out of seashells and driftwood to give this property its simple, elegant, Island character.

Beazer Homes took home the prize for Residential Community of the Year for Ballard Green, a 521 lot community located in Owings Mills, MD. Amenities include a pool, a community center, a tot lot, and 12.1 acres of open space along with Baltimore County's newest elementary school, Lyons Mill Elementary, which is the centerpiece of the community. The site also includes the Plinlimmon Farm, an existing farmhouse built in the 1800s and two auxiliary structures. CBI collaborated with the Landmark Preservation Commission to maintain each building's character and worked to restore the structures for adaptive reuse as office space. Ultimately the development will feature a number of different attached home designs: 20', 22' & 24' wide townhomes (both front load and rear load), two-over-two stacked townhomes and several 27-unit condominium buildings. The property is being developed by Beazer Homes with active involvement by Land Development Services, Morris, Ritchie and Associates, Geo-Technology Associates and Gaylord Brooks Land Development. Site work to-date has been performed by Dixie Construction and Gray and Son.

sergio camplone

LOS ANGELES, CA / SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL The commission for this 4,300-square-foot residence came with significant challenges for the architects – a house had once existed on the lot but had burned down and the attempt to replace the house had stalled, leading to an abatement order and a lapse of permits. Our first challenge was to revive the lapsed construction permit by proposing to “modify” the existing structure. The practical effect this had was to fix the footprint of the new home to the existing structure’s plan outline. Having thereby inherited the large, dense block of the original house, the new strategy became one of substituting selective areas of indoor space for outdoor courtyard. This strategy of trading indoor space for outdoor courtyard allowed an erosion of the formerly monolithic structure into a series of distinct volumetric elements, and further suggested that the architectural pieces could cohere as a “village.” The main level is further eroded by large, glazed planes, merging indoor with outdoor, and virtually stretching the landscape across interior space. Moving the detached garage from the rear yard to beneath the new living space allowed for a 75-meter lap pool and a shaded olive garden. The gardens include built-in seating, extensive use of ornamental grasses and Zen-like interior courtyards. A material palette of fossilized stone, bonderized-galvanized metal, and natural Douglas fir allows for the warmth desired by the wife, while providing the modernity required by the husband. Programmatically, her music room borrows from the calm and protected olive court in the rear, while his office becomes a pavilion set in the landscape, which both addresses the street and acts as a sheltering monument for the terraced entry garden.