 |
|
 |
|---|
We have been making our architecture sustainable since our firm’s inception over 20 years ago. Starting with the simple tried-and-true approach, we keep our firm’s carbon footprint small adapting and re-using buildings, instead of carting them off to the landfill. Then, where appropriate, we add modern energy efficient technologies.
Our Pierside Restoration project in West Chop is an example of tried-and-true restoration. Here we salvaged windows, interior trim, cabinetry, flooring and even plumbing fixtures, repaired and reworked these elements, and recombined them in new ways to fit back into this extensively renovated home. Even the bricks from a torn-down chimney stayed on-site, reused as walkways and as the foundation for the garden shed.
At our Country Tudor project in upstate NY we went further by combining salvage and recycling of old materials with a state of the art geothermal system to heat and cool the house. The geothermal system draws on deep wells and, coupled with super-insulation and efficient windows, provides energy efficiency. The use of used salvaged brick, recycled cypress timber, natural slate roofing with copper trim, and recycled stone slab flooring further limit the carbon footprint of this intensely “green” project.
We celebrate the virtues of Yankee thrift and economy by recombining the salvaged elements with elegance and a keen attention to proportion, all while embracing new approaches to energy efficiency.
J W D F I R M
Our firm has been providing elegant residential designs for a discerning client base for 22 years.
We work on all manner of residential projects, from new homes to historic restoration and renovation of existing houses, to salvaging and transforming existing but inadequate buildings.
Our body of work is extensive. From large houses to the smallest of garden sheds, in locations as diverse as Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod, to East Aurora in upstate NY, to Miami’s Fisher Island, to midtown Manhattan, to Louisburg Square on Boston’s Beacon Hill, we provide our clients with houses that are tailored to their specific needs, to their specific site. No project is too big or too small. No project is alike either; we have no interest in repeating a design over and over; rather we are energized by the challenge presented by each new project.
Much of our work is either by the coast on waterfront sites, in historic districts or adjacent to wetlands, so we are adept at working with and getting approvals from town boards such as conservation, zoning, historic commissions, etc.
We have kept our firm small, on purpose, so as to provide our clients with a direct one-on-one line of communication. We listen to our clients. Our firm consists of two partners; Joseph Dick is a graduate of Columbia College and also has a Master in Architecture from Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, and Michele Maykel was trained as an artist and is a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art. Joseph provides all aspects of architectural services, from conceptual design to interior architecture to construction observation to site design, as well as obtaining town board approvals. Michele’s focus is on interior art, from carpet design to colors selection, stained glass design to interiors finishes selection. Above all we collaborate, bounce ideas off each other, create together.
I N T E R I O R S
We think it is extremely important that the exterior architecture of our projects be designed in concert with the interior architecture; the two combined yield a better whole. We design all of the interior architecture on each of our projects (interiors of all rooms, staircases, all of the built-in cabinetry including complete kitchens, mouldings, tile patterns, floor patterns, plumbing fixtures, lighting plans and lighting fixtures, etc. Interior designers are used to design and provide paint color schemes, furniture and furnishings, window treatments, linens, etc. A separate interior designer is usually, but not always, involved on the larger projects; when on the larger projects an interior designer is not involved, we do the interior design in-house in collaboration with the client. On the smaller projects this in-house approach to interior design is very often used and it works
well.
P U B L I C A T I O N S
M A G A Z I N E S
• Beautiful Homes, “Summer by the Sea,” Spring 2009 (cover article)
• Architectural Digest, “Seaside Sanctuary,” June 2008 (cover article)
• New England Home’s Cape & Islands, “Compound Interest,” Summer 2008
• Cape Cod View, “A Light on the Past,” May 2006
• Home Remodeling Cape Cod & The Islands, “What is Cape Cod Style,” Spring 2006
• Cape Cod & Islands Home, “Bending Tradition,” Summer 2004
• Cape Cod & Islands Home, “A Softer Approach,” Indian Summer 2004
B O O K S
• “The Houses of Martha’s Vineyard,” Quitsa Pond House, Monacelli Press, edited by Keith Moskow
• “Stone By Design, The Artistry of Lew French,” Quitsa Pond, Gibbs Smith publisher
• “Vineyard Days, Vineyard Nights, The Romance of Martha’s Vineyard,” West Chop Post Office, Tisbury and Quitsa Pond, Chilmark, by Nancy Ellison