Build Iconic Inc. specializes in kitchen renovations for Brooklyn’s historic homes — brownstones, pre-war buildings, and landmarked properties where getting it right means respecting the original character while bringing the space fully up to modern standards. As a licensed NYC general contractor (DCA #2107844), we understand the unique challenges of working within older structures: uneven floors, outdated wiring, plaster walls, and, in some cases, Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements. We blend historical sensitivity with modern function, preserving original details like moldings, exposed brick, and period-appropriate finishes while updating the kitchen for how people actually cook and live today. Our historical kitchen remodeling includes: • Structural and layout updates that respect original building bones • Electrical and plumbing upgrades brought fully up to current code • Custom cabinetry and finishes that complement a home’s original era and style • Careful integration of modern appliances and smart home technology without disrupting historic character • Coordination with Landmarks requirements where applicable

Build Iconic Inc. specializes in kitchen renovations for Brooklyn’s historic homes — brownstones, pre-war buildings, and landmarked properties where getting it right means respecting the original character while bringing the space fully up to modern standards. As a licensed NYC general contractor (DCA #2107844), we understand the unique challenges of working within older structures: uneven floors, outdated wiring, plaster walls, and, in some cases, Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements. We blend historical sensitivity with modern function, preserving original details like moldings, exposed brick, and period-appropriate finishes while updating the kitchen for how people actually cook and live today. Our historical kitchen remodeling includes: • Structural and layout updates that respect original building bones • Electrical and plumbing upgrades brought fully up to current code • Custom cabinetry and finishes that complement a home’s original era and style • Careful integration of modern appliances and smart home technology without disrupting historic character • Coordination with Landmarks requirements where applicable

Build Iconic Inc. specializes in kitchen renovations for Brooklyn’s historic homes — brownstones, pre-war buildings, and landmarked properties where getting it right means respecting the original character while bringing the space fully up to modern standards. As a licensed NYC general contractor (DCA #2107844), we understand the unique challenges of working within older structures: uneven floors, outdated wiring, plaster walls, and, in some cases, Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements. We blend historical sensitivity with modern function, preserving original details like moldings, exposed brick, and period-appropriate finishes while updating the kitchen for how people actually cook and live today. Our historical kitchen remodeling includes: • Structural and layout updates that respect original building bones • Electrical and plumbing upgrades brought fully up to current code • Custom cabinetry and finishes that complement a home’s original era and style • Careful integration of modern appliances and smart home technology without disrupting historic character • Coordination with Landmarks requirements where applicable

Build Iconic Inc. specializes in kitchen renovations for Brooklyn’s historic homes — brownstones, pre-war buildings, and landmarked properties where getting it right means respecting the original character while bringing the space fully up to modern standards. As a licensed NYC general contractor (DCA #2107844), we understand the unique challenges of working within older structures: uneven floors, outdated wiring, plaster walls, and, in some cases, Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements. We blend historical sensitivity with modern function, preserving original details like moldings, exposed brick, and period-appropriate finishes while updating the kitchen for how people actually cook and live today. Our historical kitchen remodeling includes: • Structural and layout updates that respect original building bones • Electrical and plumbing upgrades brought fully up to current code • Custom cabinetry and finishes that complement a home’s original era and style • Careful integration of modern appliances and smart home technology without disrupting historic character • Coordination with Landmarks requirements where applicable

Build Iconic Inc. specializes in kitchen renovations for Brooklyn’s historic homes — brownstones, pre-war buildings, and landmarked properties where getting it right means respecting the original character while bringing the space fully up to modern standards. As a licensed NYC general contractor (DCA #2107844), we understand the unique challenges of working within older structures: uneven floors, outdated wiring, plaster walls, and, in some cases, Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements. We blend historical sensitivity with modern function, preserving original details like moldings, exposed brick, and period-appropriate finishes while updating the kitchen for how people actually cook and live today. Our historical kitchen remodeling includes: • Structural and layout updates that respect original building bones • Electrical and plumbing upgrades brought fully up to current code • Custom cabinetry and finishes that complement a home’s original era and style • Careful integration of modern appliances and smart home technology without disrupting historic character • Coordination with Landmarks requirements where applicable

This piece was commissioned for an outdoor location, a large and extensively landscaped property with abundant and varied plant life. It was our challenge to design a piece that not only fit this remarkable environment, but also echoed and complemented it. The actual installation was to be placed inside an existing fire pit, ringed with stone, thereby tying the piece to the other stone and boulder shapes around it. Taking shapes from the cactus garden and trees around the site, as well as colors from the flowering plants visible nearby, we designed a spiral structure that could be seen from any vantage point on the property, inside or out. The design provides a completely different look from every angle. Simply moving around the piece, even slightly, changes perspectives in such a way that the very character of the piece changes. The design of the ceramic pieces suggests movement even more with their finlike shapes cutting through the air around them. Even the spiral structure imbues the piece with a rising, turning energy as the eye traces the relationships of the forms up and around. Photo by Michael Linsley

Completed in two phases, the kitchen in this home was first overhauled and the wall separating it from the dining room was torn down. The structure, hidden in the boxed ceiling, compliments the original details as they were woven into this new great room. New sliding doors replacing the relocated bathroom at the rear beckon one to the garden. This created the palette for the owner to tailor the finishes exquisitely. The resplendent marble counter top is the heart of their tasteful new living space, ideal for entertaining. For phase two, the owner commissioned ONE Design to flood the upper level of the home with light. The owner, inspired by her rural upbringing in Humboldt, wished to draw inspiration from this and her Eichler-like grandparent’s home. ONE Design vaulted the ceilings to create an open soaring roof and provide a clean three dimensional canvass. Adding skylights which bathe the clean walls in an ever changing light show was the centerpiece of this transformation. Transom windows over the bedroom doors offer additional light to the interior circulation space. Enlarged windows combine the owner’s desire to live in a “glass house,” while paying respect to the Edwardian heritage of the home and providing expansive views of the meadow-like garden oasis. The cherry on top is the attic retreat, adding a north facing dormer that peeks at the Golden Gate Bridge offers a serene perch — perfect escapism for a creative writer!

Build Iconic Inc. specializes in kitchen renovations for Brooklyn’s historic homes — brownstones, pre-war buildings, and landmarked properties where getting it right means respecting the original character while bringing the space fully up to modern standards. As a licensed NYC general contractor (DCA #2107844), we understand the unique challenges of working within older structures: uneven floors, outdated wiring, plaster walls, and, in some cases, Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements. We blend historical sensitivity with modern function, preserving original details like moldings, exposed brick, and period-appropriate finishes while updating the kitchen for how people actually cook and live today. Our historical kitchen remodeling includes: • Structural and layout updates that respect original building bones • Electrical and plumbing upgrades brought fully up to current code • Custom cabinetry and finishes that complement a home’s original era and style • Careful integration of modern appliances and smart home technology without disrupting historic character • Coordination with Landmarks requirements where applicable

In Southern California there are pockets of darling cottages built in the early 20th century that we like to call jewelry boxes. They are quaint, full of charm and usually a bit cramped. Our clients have a growing family and needed a modern, functional home. They opted for a renovation that directly addressed their concerns. When we first saw this 2,170 square-foot 3-bedroom beach cottage, the front door opened directly into a staircase and a dead-end hallway. The kitchen was cramped, the living room was claustrophobic and everything felt dark and dated. The big picture items included pitching the living room ceiling to create space and taking down a kitchen wall. We added a French oven and luxury range that the wife had always dreamed about, a custom vent hood, and custom-paneled appliances. We added a downstairs half-bath for guests (entirely designed around its whimsical wallpaper) and converted one of the existing bathrooms into a Jack-and-Jill, connecting the kids’ bedrooms, with double sinks and a closed-off toilet and shower for privacy. In the bathrooms, we added white marble floors and wainscoting. We created storage throughout the home with custom-cabinets, new closets and built-ins, such as bookcases, desks and shelving. White Sands Design/Build furnished the entire cottage mostly with commissioned pieces, including a custom dining table and upholstered chairs. We updated light fixtures and added brass hardware throughout, to create a vintage, bo-ho vibe. The best thing about this cottage is the charming backyard accessory dwelling unit (ADU), designed in the same style as the larger structure. In order to keep the ADU it was necessary to renovate less than 50% of the main home, which took some serious strategy, otherwise the non-conforming ADU would need to be torn out. We renovated the bathroom with white walls and pine flooring, transforming it into a get-away that will grow with the girls.

Build Iconic Inc. specializes in kitchen renovations for Brooklyn’s historic homes — brownstones, pre-war buildings, and landmarked properties where getting it right means respecting the original character while bringing the space fully up to modern standards. As a licensed NYC general contractor (DCA #2107844), we understand the unique challenges of working within older structures: uneven floors, outdated wiring, plaster walls, and, in some cases, Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements. We blend historical sensitivity with modern function, preserving original details like moldings, exposed brick, and period-appropriate finishes while updating the kitchen for how people actually cook and live today. Our historical kitchen remodeling includes: • Structural and layout updates that respect original building bones • Electrical and plumbing upgrades brought fully up to current code • Custom cabinetry and finishes that complement a home’s original era and style • Careful integration of modern appliances and smart home technology without disrupting historic character • Coordination with Landmarks requirements where applicable

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.

This piece was commissioned for an outdoor location, a large and extensively landscaped property with abundant and varied plant life. It was our challenge to design a piece that not only fit this remarkable environment, but also echoed and complemented it. The actual installation was to be placed inside an existing fire pit, ringed with stone, thereby tying the piece to the other stone and boulder shapes around it. Taking shapes from the cactus garden and trees around the site, as well as colors from the flowering plants visible nearby, we designed a spiral structure that could be seen from any vantage point on the property, inside or out. The design provides a completely different look from every angle. Simply moving around the piece, even slightly, changes perspectives in such a way that the very character of the piece changes. The design of the ceramic pieces suggests movement even more with their finlike shapes cutting through the air around them. Even the spiral structure imbues the piece with a rising, turning energy as the eye traces the relationships of the forms up and around. Photo by Michael Linsley

This piece was commissioned for an outdoor location, a large and extensively landscaped property with abundant and varied plant life. It was our challenge to design a piece that not only fit this remarkable environment, but also echoed and complemented it. The actual installation was to be placed inside an existing fire pit, ringed with stone, thereby tying the piece to the other stone and boulder shapes around it. Taking shapes from the cactus garden and trees around the site, as well as colors from the flowering plants visible nearby, we designed a spiral structure that could be seen from any vantage point on the property, inside or out. The design provides a completely different look from every angle. Simply moving around the piece, even slightly, changes perspectives in such a way that the very character of the piece changes. The design of the ceramic pieces suggests movement even more with their finlike shapes cutting through the air around them. Even the spiral structure imbues the piece with a rising, turning energy as the eye traces the relationships of the forms up and around. Photo by Michael Linsley

This piece was commissioned for an outdoor location, a large and extensively landscaped property with abundant and varied plant life. It was our challenge to design a piece that not only fit this remarkable environment, but also echoed and complemented it. The actual installation was to be placed inside an existing fire pit, ringed with stone, thereby tying the piece to the other stone and boulder shapes around it. Taking shapes from the cactus garden and trees around the site, as well as colors from the flowering plants visible nearby, we designed a spiral structure that could be seen from any vantage point on the property, inside or out. The design provides a completely different look from every angle. Simply moving around the piece, even slightly, changes perspectives in such a way that the very character of the piece changes. The design of the ceramic pieces suggests movement even more with their finlike shapes cutting through the air around them. Even the spiral structure imbues the piece with a rising, turning energy as the eye traces the relationships of the forms up and around. Photo by Michael Linsley

For this Victorian-era home in the Albany historic district, it was essential for us to maintain historic design guidelines. This required a historic design review and approval by the Historic Landmarks Commission before we could start the project. Once approved, we replicated the existing porch design while removing the poor framing details supporting the porch. Almost everything out of view was in dangerous disrepair and required complete reconstruction. In addition to restoring the porch in accordance with historic design guidelines, we repaired the wood windows and installed matching storm windows. Our clients now enjoy the stunning curb appeal of their historic home and peace of mind knowing the structure is solid. Funny Story: Halfway through this project, someone lost control of their vehicle as it headed in the direction of the home. Luckily, they regained control of their vehicle 4 feet from the project, avoiding a huge disaster!

Situated in Houston, TX, this award winning landscape design was inspired by the nautilus shell. The owners of this property are enthusiastic hosts, and this backyard was designed to blend beauty and practicality for backyard bbq’s and cocktail hours. A cobblestone path extends out from the nautilus and enriches the space with an organic touch, adding texture and dimension. The structure of the path is intended to encourage exploration and conversation. Purpleheart flows harmoniously throughout the garden like a river, complementing the succulent garden and dwarf mondo grass that forms lush pockets between the flagstones. The focal point of this design is the custom water feature, comprised of up-cycled musical instruments, that was commissioned by the owners. A custom hammock stand and deck were crafted as a place to lounge and enjoy the Houston sunshine.

Press: "Serenity," Antiques & Fine Art. 2013 It was foretold to both client and architect that they would find in each other the ideal client and the ideal architect. And, so it came to pass that this collector of American folk art commissioned Morpurgo Architects to design a contemporary residence that would encompass her historic Dutch Colonial barn. The barn frame was disassembled, the 200-year-old chestnut beams were restored and the barn was reconstructed in the same configuration on new pier footings on the adjoining property. The open living space rises 35 feet, exposing multiple levels of timber framing and braces. The loft spaces and floating staircases intertwine with the barn structure, uniting the modern and the historic. This contemporary house is infused with the spirit of the old barn, and the barn framing, freestanding and self-supporting, has become the most prominent piece in our client’s noteworthy collection.

This piece was commissioned for an outdoor location, a large and extensively landscaped property with abundant and varied plant life. It was our challenge to design a piece that not only fit this remarkable environment, but also echoed and complemented it. The actual installation was to be placed inside an existing fire pit, ringed with stone, thereby tying the piece to the other stone and boulder shapes around it. Taking shapes from the cactus garden and trees around the site, as well as colors from the flowering plants visible nearby, we designed a spiral structure that could be seen from any vantage point on the property, inside or out. The design provides a completely different look from every angle. Simply moving around the piece, even slightly, changes perspectives in such a way that the very character of the piece changes. The design of the ceramic pieces suggests movement even more with their finlike shapes cutting through the air around them. Even the spiral structure imbues the piece with a rising, turning energy as the eye traces the relationships of the forms up and around. Photo by Michael Linsley

Build Iconic Inc. specializes in kitchen renovations for Brooklyn’s historic homes — brownstones, pre-war buildings, and landmarked properties where getting it right means respecting the original character while bringing the space fully up to modern standards. As a licensed NYC general contractor (DCA #2107844), we understand the unique challenges of working within older structures: uneven floors, outdated wiring, plaster walls, and, in some cases, Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements. We blend historical sensitivity with modern function, preserving original details like moldings, exposed brick, and period-appropriate finishes while updating the kitchen for how people actually cook and live today. Our historical kitchen remodeling includes: • Structural and layout updates that respect original building bones • Electrical and plumbing upgrades brought fully up to current code • Custom cabinetry and finishes that complement a home’s original era and style • Careful integration of modern appliances and smart home technology without disrupting historic character • Coordination with Landmarks requirements where applicable