As with most smaller architecture firms, residential design - both new homes and the renovation of existing homes - is a major part of the business.  Often it is the type of design that is most rewarding and the most fun.  One deals directly with the users - the future occupants - of the design.  Plus the turn-around time from first meeting to project construction is relatively quick.

Residential design, as distinguished from commercial design, usually involves two individuals - a couple - who are “the client”.  Whereas commercial design is usually for one person who is the client.  Part of the architect’s role in residential design is to negotiate between two disparate and un-rehearsed sets of values, desires and programmatic needs.  The Widget House represents the extreme of that client dichotomy.

The projects selected to the right fall into three broad groupings:

The top three are designs produced by Holt and Bosch and are all located near Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.  They represent: one new house in the woods, but close to the road - therefore a “hard side” and a “soft side”; and two modifications to existing ocean-side homes to expand them and to take better advantage of ocean views.

The middle seven designs fit into the same period as the restaurant and commercial projects.  Additional descriptions follow on each project page.

The bottom row presents two current house designs prepared for a 2013 design competition for Northampton, Massachusetts:

1. A New England covered bridge?
   

2. A Santa Barbara courthouse?

Selected projects

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