Arielle C. Schechter, AIA

Every day I realize how lucky I am to have found Arielle. I chose her because I recognized the light and beauty in her work, and she definitely brought that magic to my house. What may be even more impressive is that she was able to translate my eclectic musings about things I'd always envisioned having in a house into spaces and characteristics that fully realized my dreams and fit into the broader aesthetic. Despite my inexperience at building and design, Arielle listened to me and made it all work as she guided me through the process. She also helped me choose lighting, countertops, plumbing fixtures, and tile, and she entertained my crazy design questions. Working with Arielle was a fun and easy experience from beginning to end, and living in the house reminds me every day what a genius she is.

We had a wonderful experience with Arielle from start to finish of the design (and then throughout the build) of our new house. The house is lovely to look at and lovely to live in. There are some particularly thoughtful touches that make the outdoor spaces very livable and pleasant. We can't recommend Arielle highly enough!

From our first meeting, it was apparent that Arielle possessed the attributes of a fine architect - efficiency, innovation, an understanding of the homesite in relation to its natural surroundings, use of quality, sustainable materials, reliance on natural light, a deep attention to details. She skilfully applied this talent into designing a harmonious and energy-efficient home near Chapel Hill, NC. I could not be happier with the outcome. Working with Arielle was a delight - she listened to and understood our needs and priorities, was always available for a consult, submitted 3-D design drafts at appropriate intervals, introduced us to state-of-the art technologies and innovative ideas, all while respecting our budget expectations. During the construction phase, Arielle coordinated carefully with the builder and contractors, frequently meeting at the home site to review progress and to provide advice when needed, overseeing the process through completion. I enthusiastically recommend Arielle to anyone seeking a creative, committed architect.

Arielle is wonderful! We wanted a modern, energy efficient home, filled with natural light. Arielle explored how we live, creating open rooms where we wanted them but also private areas, a kitchen for cooking and entertaining, and spaces that could flex as our lives changed. Once we settled on a design, she continued to work with us, helping with many of our selections and staying engaged throughout the build. We love the end result! It maximizes natural light while also adjusting seasonally to warm the house with sunlight in the winter and keep it cooler in the summer. We have large gatherings with friends and family regularly in an open space, a master bedroom and bathroom that feel like a private retreat, space that could convert to a master suite for older relatives, and outdoor entertaining space. We highly recommend her!

I chose Arielle because I love her designs but working with her was a delight. She really listened, communicated effectively and responded creatively to challenges imposed by the site. The house suits me perfectly. It's a modern house in an historic district and I've received very positive comments from neighbors.

After retirement, we decided to move to Chapel Hill, NC with the intention of building a contemporary “net zero” home. Even before we bought land, we studied Arielle Schechter’s work and decided to request her to be our architect. We were lucky to find land very close to university. Arielle visited the site and agreed that it would be suitable for our project. Arielle proposed a few layouts for the house and guided us in finalizing the layout plan. We as we lived at that time in another city, we had several zoom meetings to finalize the layout. Arielle was very patient and explained the pros and cons of each layout. Arielle laid out the house to maximize electricity generation from our solar panels. Also, the roof over the master bedroom and bathroom was oriented and tilted to collect the rainwater for our vegetable garden. The house has abundant natural light and high ceilings in the living/dining room and kitchen areas. The views from the living room, kitchen and master bedroom are outstanding. Arielle selected energy efficient doors and windows, flooring and tiling material, kitchen and bathroom plumbing fixtures and light fixtures. She also designed kitchen cabinets to accommodate the appliances that we owned. The design of our pantry is elegant, and we can now spot anything we need with easy. She also helped us select modern furniture for house. Arielle specified fiber cement and cedar panel cladding for the front face of the house that made it look both welcoming and attractive. It was an educational experience for us to select materials for a modern energy efficient house. Arielle was very responsive to the builder’s questions and suggestions. Her periodic visits to site were very helpful for the successful completion of the project. Arielle has mastered the art of blending her customers and builder’s requirements with her architectural vision. We are very pleased with Arielle’s work, and happy that we chose her for our project. We wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone who wants to build a unique, energy efficient and strikingly beautiful home.

Designing our home had been a life long dream for me. As such our choice of the architect meant everything to us in fulfilling our aspirations and dreams. We clipped pictures from magazines like Dwell and saved pictures from a plethora of sites like houzz. And yet we couldn't crisply articulate what we wanted. With my wife and I having both similar and different design and feature perspectives. Arielle worked with us and designed a home we both equally LOVE living in. Fulfilling our dreams. Arielle's use of digital, 3D technology in the design process makes the translation of what we couldn't exactly articulate into a design process that resulted in the perfect house for us both. Arielle is patient and worked with us to iterate the design. We appreciated the way she brought her experience, ideas and style to it while completely listening to us. Her inverted truss design literally gets "this is a cool house" from all that arrive. What we are most thankful for is how Arielle intrinsically understands this is personal - to design one's own house. Inasmuch, how she invested in us, wanting us to be happy, fulfilled with the design. An architect that's about you, able to bring your exterior and interior dreams to reality. Where no detail is too small.

Arielle designed our lake house. It was a great experience working with her. She successfully incorporated everything we wanted despite the many site restrictions. We would definitely hire her again.

It was a pleasure to work with Arielle. I couldn’t have imagined a more dedicated, patient, client-focused architect to work with. I appreciated not only her obvious talent and creativity as an architect but also her continued involvement through construction and well beyond to ensure we were happy with the project. A true gem.

Arielle was the perfect architect for our Haw River House project. We wanted something custom from top to bottom and net neutral or even net positive, if possible. Arielle spent a considerable amount of time at the property, letting it "tell" her how to design our home. She gave us several options from which to choose. Once we decided on a design, Arielle listened to our concerns and desires so she could tweak the design until we had what we wanted. After construction began, Arielle was always available to come on site to review the construction and to point out areas that needed attention or alteration. After construction was complete (537 days after breaking ground), Arielle has been on site several times to help with "green" issues. She was and is professional, personable and affordable. Our home sits on a bluff overlooking the Haw River, has zero utility bills because of the solar array on the roof, a geothermal heating and air conditioning system, and a roof designed as a rainwater catchment system dispersing rainwater into two 5000 gallon cisterns which filtrate the water in accordance with standards adopted outside the state (North Carolina has yet to regulate this renewable resource). We couldn't be more happy!

We hired Arielle to build our modern house in the woods. We worked remotely, with only a few in-person meetings as we were from out of state. She listens, excels at brainstorming and troubleshooting, and has the technology to both make changes on the fly and present interactive 3-d renderings. She absorbed and executed the minutia such as having enough wall space for our art, yet keeping enough window space to let the forest in. She recommended the builder we used, was proactive in siting the house on the perfect spot on the land, and all in all assured it was a great experience. We had never built a house before and Arielle helped with myriad decisions -- providing invaluable guidance in not just the architectural aspects but also the design details. We interviewed two other architects besides Arielle and are so happy that we selected her. We love our home. We value Arielle as an artist and as a human being.

Arielle was absolutely amazing to work with. She’s incredibly talented when it comes to incorporating functionality and modern design. From the start of the design process through completion of our new construction, Arielle was always available to offer suggestions, advocate for us, and listen to our concerns. She was simply a joy to work with, and made our building experience smooth and seamless. We cannot say enough good things about our experience with Arielle!