2004 Custom Home Design Awards

Custom Home, Sept-Oct, 2004 by Meghan Drueding, Leslie Ensor, Shelley D. Hutchins, Bruce D. Snider

Deft window placement makes the project seem larger than its 2,150 square feet. Long, narrow horizontal glass bands act to break open the boxy plan, while entire walls of windows let the outdoor pool and patio become extensions of the interior. The windows also bring in dramatic mountain views while promoting cross-ventilation. And punkah louvers in the open kitchen/living room push more fresh air through the space, reducing the need for air conditioning in Tucson's harsh climate.--M.D.

Entrant/Architect/Interior designer: Ibarra Rosano Design Architects, Tucson, Ariz.; Builder: Repp Construction, Tucson; Landscape design: Ibarra Landscapes, Tucson; Living space: 2,150 square feet; Site: 3.3 acres; Construction cost: Withheld; Photographer: Bill Timmerman. * For product information see page 158.

Custom Home Less Than 3,000 Square Feet Rosemary Beach, Fla., Residence

From the outside, this 1,860-square-foot house in Rosemary Beach, Fla., conforms to the genteel expectations of its New Urbanist community. Its standing-seam metal roof, double front porches, and muted colors all satisfy Rosemary Beach's design codes, which promote an Anglo-Caribbean style of architecture. Only the project's bright-yellow window frames hint at a bit of rebellion.

Inside, however, the beach house tells a different story. Clean lines and bright colors take it in a less traditional direction. The home's architect and owner, Darrell Russell, used commonplace materials in unexpected ways. Corrugated metal walls for the kitchen, bath, and upstairs hallway refer to another local architectural style, Florida Cracker. The translucent stained flush boards covering many of the inside walls help link the home's interior and exterior, one of Russell's main goals. And a funky floor mosaic of broken limestone, seashells, and crab shells in the second-story hall provides a place for wet bathing suits and towels to drip dry.

The judges found the pair of first- and second-story porches "especially inviting" and so did Russell. Though he originally intended the house as a vacation home, he ended up moving there fulltime to run the Rosemary Beach office of Looney Ricks Kiss Architects. He often takes prospective clients on tours of his residence, showing them how far the limits of design restrictions can be stretched. "They like to see the mix of styles within the house," he says.--M.D.

Entrant/Architect/Interior designer: Looney Ricks Kiss Architects, Rosemary Beach, Fla.: Builder: Residence by Ritchie, Santa Rosa, Fla.; Landscape architect: Professional Lawn Services, Panama City Beach, Fla.; Living space: 1,860 square feet; Site: .08 acre; Construction cost: $235 a square foot; Photographer: [c] Jeffrey Jacobs/www.arch photoinc.com. * For product information see page 158.

Custom Renovation St. Mary's County, Md., Residence

Adapting a historic home to contemporary standards is always a delicate balancing act. It is all too easy to overwhelm an older building with additions sized to our current, more expansive age. This addition to a prominent 18th-century Maryland manor house gracefully avoids that pitfall, greatly improving the house's livability without diminishing its soul. New rooms--a kitchen/great room and master bedroom suite--are linked to the old house only by a narrow entry hall. They proceed in a sequence of volumes, each subordinate to the original building, on an L-shaped footprint that creates a number of useful outdoor spaces. The addition adheres strictly to the materials, scale, and style of the gabled original, down to the chimney details and dormer proportions. But architect Stephen Muse had the confidence to dip further into the period vernacular, introducing hip roofs at the bedroom wing and an octagonal pool house.