New Shingle Style Residence in Construction in Riverside, CT.

Project Team:

General Contractor: Tim O’Malley, Argus Development LLC

Photography: Tim Lee Photography

Winner:  2014 At Home Magazine A-List Awards

Winner:  2012 AIA Connecticut Peoples Choice Award

Project Team:

Landscape Architecture: James Doyle Design Associates

General Contractor: Tim O’Malley, Argus Development LLC

This beautiful new home is on one of the most beautiful roads in Riverside, CT.  The formal facade of this 7,000 square foot stone colonial, complements the distinguished, bucolic streetscape of Meadow Road. 

Winner:  2010 AIA Westchester/Mid Hudson Design Award

The focus of this project examines the relationship between Architecture and landscape. This concept of this project follows the thesis that Architecture can be experienced as a heuristic device that fosters an awareness of the environment and tunes us in to the particular phenomena of the site.

 The house is sited on six acres in Harrison, New York.  Beautiful mature trees and rock outcroppings surround the site, while woods and natural vegetation separate it from its neighbors.  The challenge of the project was how to preserve the natural characteristics of the landscape in a way in which the landscape became an active component of the Architecture and not just a neutral place on which it sits.  As such the sitting and composition of the addition was carefully orchestrated around and within its surroundings.

Every room of the house enjoys expansive windows that provide a visual connection to the landscape and frame views of the property.  Day-to-day changes in weather, foliage and lighting conditions animate the interior and exterior surfaces of the home that were thoughtfully selected and composed in relation to the natural surroundings.

Large scale Addition / Renovation to a beautiful French Provincial home including the renovation of the Poolhouse and swimming pool, hardscape including terraces, outdoor spaces, driveway and motor court and surrounding landscape.

Wonderful collaboration by our fantastic team:

Builder: Argus Development

Interior Designer: Meg Gabriele Interiors

Landscape Architect: Devore Associates

Finalist:  2014 At Home Magazine A-List Award

This 5,000 square foot residence was designed for a wonderful family in Riverside, CT.  The challenge of this project was not only the design of a beautiful shingle-style residence, but also one with a healthy indoor environment for a chemically sensitive client.  As such, a tremendous amount of research was done studying and evaluating all building materials, construction practices and quality control procedures in terms of their effect on the indoor air quality of the home.  Mockler Taylor Architects worked with an outstanding team of specialized consultants, building professionals and dedicated clients to produce a home with safer alternative materials and methods of building to promote a healthy indoor environment.
 
This research was balanced with an equally intensive study of classical shingle-style proportions and details that allowed the home to gracefully integrate into its charming neighborhood context.  The rigorous research conducted towards healthy building materials and practices did not detract from our equally studied approach to the design of graceful homes.  For us, a beautiful home and a healthy house are not mutually exclusive terms as this home demonstrates that quality residential architecture can lift the spirit as well as improve the quality of life of the inhabitants. 

Project Team:

Interior Design: Rachel Sloane Interiors

General Contractor: Jerry Radice, Jarman LLC

Photography: Kirsten Francis

Located in a wonderful Riverside street, this 5,000 square foot farmhouse embraces its relationship to the neighborhood.   The strong silhouette is composed of simple forms with beautiful proportions.  The understated two story structure is broken down in scale with a wonderful wrap-around porch.

Project Team:

General Contractor: Derosa Builders

This shingle style home is located on one of the most beautiful streets in Riverside, Connecticut.  This picturesque shingle style residence with its asymmetrical massing and graceful shingle details contrasts with the formal, symmetry of it's next door neighbor - our Meadow Road Colonial.

Located in a beautiful vernacular setting, this poolhouse structure sits on the site of an old horse stable that was unable to serve the owner’s new use of the structure. The footprint of the existing equestrian structure, reminiscent of the connected farm buildings rural New England, was maintained to preserve the architectural integrity of the existing site.  The hardscape design (stone walls, reflecting pond, planting beds, stairs, paths, and terraces) were designed in such a way that cultivated a rich relationship between the architecture and the landscape. 

The hardscape was organized along two axis that were discovered when diagramming the existing site characteristics.  An existing view formed an axis from the main house at the top of the property to the pond at the bottom.  This existing axis was strengthened by a new perpendicular axis formed by the symmetry of the poolhouse (specifically the barn doors and cupola) on one side and the reflecting pond (specifically a figural bronze sculpture) on the other.  At the intersection of these two axis is located a capstone to an existing abandoned well that was set into the lush grass of the sunken garden space.

Located on a prominent street in Mid-Country Greenwich, Connecticut, this large stone and clapboard Colonial spec house just being completed when the new owners called Mockler Taylor Architects to fix some design deficiencies and add character to the nondescript albeit large residence.

The addition of a front entry with graceful white-painted, trim details and elegant proportions leads into a new entrance hall with a grand, sweeping stair.  This front entry reinforces the strong symmetry of the Colonial style and provides a much-needed focal point on the expansive front elevation.  Large sweeping porches and stone terraces were added to the rear of the house to provide the desired exterior living spaces.

Project Team:

General Contractor: Sullivan Construction

Inspired by the New England country homes of the late 1800's this 8,000 square foot home, located in Riverside, CT, combines simplified volumes clad in wood shingle with a bold juxtaposition of forms.  The Asymmetrical massing of the home is refined with clean, crisp trim details that highlight the shingled surfaces.

The house is configured with program elements located toward the interior of the home which frees the exterior envelope of window/door constraints and allows the maximum amount of natural light to reach deeply into the home.  The primary spaces of the home allow natural light on two or more directions.

Located in Southport, Connecticut this project involved the renovation of an existing farmhouse and a one story addition.  Through the design process, the project solution resulted in a home that was better choreographed around the owners specific life patterns.  Formally, the project is composed of simple forms and details with elegant proportions.

In concert with the architectural services, we were also given the opportunity to provide interior design services as well.  The sophisticated material palette, refined color tones & textures and strong silhouettes compliment, and give a richness, to the simply detailed spaces.

Project Team:

General Contractor: Gallo Construction

Located along the Mianus River, this distinctive home recalls the formal and spacial characteristics of the Shingle Style as developed in the New England country homes of the late 1800's.  This picturesque home demonstrates a thoughtful study of this uniquely American style within the confines of it's tight site constraints.

The 'presence' of this home is brought out though it's asymmetrical forms, refined trim details and continuous skin of rich, natural shingles.  Deep porches stretch out to break down the scale of the building and provide a respectful relationship to the neighborhood.  The continuity of the open floor plan allows for varied, flexible living spaces and an easy flow characteristic of the shingle style.

Located on a wonderful street in Riverside, Connecticut, this charming home sits high on a hill overlooking Greenwich Cove and Tod's Point.  Working closely with the client, with whom we have completed several projects over the years, we provided architectural services for the addition / renovation of the home and interior design services as well. 

Some of the interior design services include new window treatments, carpets & furnishings, refinishing & recovering existing furniture pieces, decorative light fixtures, custom bedding and several custom furniture designs. 

In order to minimize risk in a developer's investment, most "spec houses" follow a formulaic design approach.  The rote, assembly line approach to the design and construction of a typical "spec house" produces generic, uninspired houses.  The result is that, when driving around town, you can pick out the "spec houses" and their typical characteristics - over-sized proportions, poorly resolved overhangs, poorly detailed eaves and gable ends, stone stuck onto the front elevation like wallpaper, etc. etc. etc.  This goes against everything we believe about residential architecture.

So, when Argus Development approached us to design a "spec house" we were a bit cautious.  But after several discussions about their interest in breaking the typical "spec house" mold, and the quality level that they were interested in achieving, we decided to give it a go.

In order to design a distinct, one-off home, we envisioned a specific, yet hypothetical, client.  We let the unique site characteristics along with this "client" inform the design process.  Instead of trying to appeal to "everyone" (which ironically satisfies "no one") we attempted to design a distinct house that a family could make into their own custom home. 

The narrow, sloping site presented a design challenge that was solved with the garage and guest suite down a half flight of stairs from the rest of the house.  The shingle style, with it's picturesque, asymmetrical forms was a natural fit for this difficult site and allowed a more creative solution to the typical "spec house".  The tall, paneled stair tower mediates between this lower garage form and the strong, gabled form of the shingle style residence which contains a circular covered entry.   

This waterfront property in Old Greenwich, Connecticut was renovated and opened up so that most of the spaces on the first floor took advantage of the homes tidal water views.  The kitchen and family room were gutted and completely re-built to highlight the contrast between the clean white millwork and walls with the reclaimed timber ceiling planks and beams. 

Project Team:

General Contractor: Kramer Construction LLC