2022 Winners
- Architecture
- Bath Design
- Builder Recognition
- Custom Smart Home Integration
- Garden Design
- Interior Design
- Kitchen Design
- Product Design
- Small Spaces
Saniee Architects
Saniee Architects
In New England, it makes sense for a pool house to be something else in the off-season. As architect Mahdad Saniee says, “The program for this pool house called for creating a calm and modern pavilion, which feels like an open gazebo in the summer, yet is fully usable year-round.” His sleek, elegant, Modern structure is about opposing elements: open in summer versus closed in winter, shade versus sunlight, hard patio materials versus “soft” pool water, public areas for lounging versus private ones for changing. Indeed, the open pavilion plan embraces the pool and lush grounds, while during the rest of the year, its solid masonry mass makes it a thoroughly livable dwelling. A daringly dramatic roof extends and slants 12 feet over the front glass to capture sky and sun, while interior skylights bring in natural light in colder months. An engaging rhythm of slats filter light and allude to a traditional pergola structure. Glass panels open at the touch of a button, transforming the space from an enclosed room to an open pavilion.
Photography by David Sunderberg/Esto
Cardello Architects
Cardello Architects
Every room needs a focal point, and in the case of this bathroom, the freestanding tub, set on a virtual island of graphic marble, assumes that role in the space. The reason this room is so alluring is that, as Cardello Architects boldly admits, “We prioritized aesthetics.” But they did not do so at the expense of function. “Some of the unique challenges of this design were in executing both form and function,” the firm adds, “though we designed the fixtures to function without shower doors, as they would have impeded the desired look of the entire bath.” The existing room in the home was expanded and split into two distinct areas with his and hers vanities. Vintage brass fixtures were chosen as a way to provide a strong contrast against the otherwise light hues in the room. The spacious shower, whose glass wall is secured by an upright portion of marble, is composed of a Tadelakt plaster (essentially a lime wash treatment) rather than more traditional tiles as a way to maintain a cohesive aesthetic.
Photography by Peter Brown
Advanced Home Audio
Advanced Home Audio
From the outside, this house assumes the profile of a traditional-style estate, but inside, its rooms incorporate state-of-the-art technology. As Bill Charney, president of Advanced Home Audio, comments on the work performed by his firm, “The homeowners were passionate about modern living, but with minimal intrusion from the technology. We strove to create a system that could succeed within the complexities of its construction while disappearing into the décor.” So zealous was the team that the house now even features windows equipped with motorized insect screens so that no one inside need ever worry about a mosquito bite. Every window and door features a concealed automated system that regulates everything from blackout shades to draperies, with all devices in the home activated by the touch of a button. Other technological wonders include an 80-inch TV that lowers into the floor. Also, because the family was concerned about safe access to the indoor swimming pool, Advanced devised a biometric fingerprint access system with an audible announcement on the home’s speaker system when any door is opened.
Photography by Steve Freihon
Nautilus Architects
Nautilus Architects
It’s easy to be hypnotized by the architectural rhythm established by this house on the banks of the Connecticut River. The architects conceived of the structure as a series of identically scaled, simply articulated gable-roofed elements linked by flat-roofed connectors. From the entrance driveway, the house appears almost as a village of individual granite residences. These two elements—gables and flat roofs—complement each other, establishing a dynamic of light and dark, smooth and rough, grounded and floating. “The homeowners had some abstract spatial ideas,” architect Christopher Arelt recalls, “one of them being that perhaps the house could be seen through, to the cove beyond.” Arelt responded to this directive by incorporating large expanses of windows that allow one to literally look through the house from the front yard to sailboats bobbing on the water at the rear. “It’s critical to the ultimate success of a building that it be so well suited and connected to its context that it seems like it could not be anywhere else,” adds Arelt. “We positioned the house to capture this view and, in a way, imbue it with power.”
Photographs by Robert Benson
Lankerd Carpentry Custom Builder
Lankerd Carpentry Custom Builder
Some of the best experiences of building this house that is situated on a cove of the Connecticut River occurred during lunch hours. “The property attracts unbelievable wildlife, osprey, and even bald eagles fishing all day,” says Gary Lankerd, “and so we all watched them as we ate.” But in between their admiring the natural fauna, the crew spent the first six weeks constructing eight large gable-end walls on flat subfloors. “People were asking us what was taking so long, but in one day, with the assistance of the construction crane, the house sprung up and immediately took shape. That was satisfying.” Lankerd admits, too, that the exterior craftsmanship was especially challenging, but the results were, ultimately, flawless. The process involved meshing together a standing metal-seam roof and sliding panels with geometrically precise stonework. “Building custom homes such as this is challenging and rewarding, since everyone involved needed to call on their many years of experience to problem solve,” he notes, “because a house like this had never been built before.”
Photography by Robert Benson
Nautilus Architects
Nautilus Architects
A new recipe was needed to make the existing footprint for this kitchen and dining space function and look better. The Nautilus team refers to the room as originally having a “too-tall sloped ceiling leading to nowhere.” And, yet, the room’s height is one of its best features. “The ’80s-style contemporary house gave us the opportunity to introduce dramatic height in the kitchen environment,” explains Christopher Arelt, of Nautilus Architects. “I opted for the empty space to remain the protagonist.” By reworking the very geometry of the space, the architects created a harmonious, voluminous roof coursed by an even 12-foot ceiling. A dropped ash beam demarcates distinct working/living/dining areas. The room easily accommodates an 11-foot island with dual waterfall ends, generously scaled 36-inch-square porcelain floor tiles, and bold rectangular cabinetry. The architects chose ash wood, neutral glass tiles, and light gray solid surfaces as a way to “convey a Zen-like serenity upon the space,” adds Arelt. Walls of black-framed sliding doors foster an interplay between indoors and out.
Photography by Bill Crofton
Thom Filicia for Accurate
Thom Filicia for Accurate
Stamford-based Accurate Lock & Hardware teamed up with interior and product designer Thom Filicia to produce a collection of elegant knobs and levers. The assemblage of four styles and 10 finishes includes a mix of textures and materials. Filicia was influenced by the worlds of architecture, design, art and fashion to create this handsome hardware collection.
Carol Orr Landscape Design
Carol Orr Landscape Design
Although seven individual gardens are configured along the spine of this Essex property—all the way to edge of the Connecticut River—their designer, Carol Orr, prefers to refer to the sequence not as “a pathway, but as a journey.” She adds, “Being able to design seven intricate gardens with one- of-kind materials is a designer’s dream, and, fabulously, the clients’ design sense mirrored our own design style.” Over a period of seven years, Orr created the series of outdoor rooms, each imbued with its own personality and function. Closest to the house lies the Secret Garden, with its bluestone patio covered with a canopy of dogwood. The sunny east side of the property was reserved for the Rose Garden, adjacent to which is the Auto Court Garden encircled with yews and hollies. An Urn Garden features a trompe l’oeil screen to foster the illusion of depth, while the Loft Garden serves as a landing for guests in a second-floor bedroom suite. Both the designer and homeowner continue to populate the gardens with statuary and artifacts, an assemblage so alluring that people are naturally drawn to its river endpoint.
Photography by Peter Aaron/Otto
Charlotte Barnes Interior Design & Decoration
Charlotte Barnes Interior Design & Decoration
Even before Charlotte Barnes uncovered walls that were uninsulated and found roofs that leaked, she discovered something else while redoing a 19th-century Fairfield County carriage house as her new home. “The biggest challenge in redoing the house and in furnishing all the rooms was the fact that I was the client,” notes Barnes. “I can walk into anyone’s house and see immediately what needs to be done, but I discovered that I was my own most demanding client.” What has resulted, though, is, as Barnes says, “a brand new 1800s carriage house.” The dwelling’s historic nature and detailing appealed to her and her husband—but figuring out how to configure its old unconventional layout into fresh livable spaces required planning. In what was essentially a gutting, Barnes added a fireplace downstairs in the main living area, and she created a primary suite upstairs with his/ hers dressing rooms, as well with two ancillary bedrooms. Because this house was the answer to downsizing, she was able to respond to her dream: “To surround myself with all my very favorite things—fabrics, furnishings, objects, artworks, whatever I’ve always wanted.”
Photography by Francesco Lagnese
Outdoor Midday
Outdoor Midday
Innovated and tested to withstand the sun’s rays and extreme environmental conditions, Caesarstone’s Outdoor Collection is ideal for outdoor kitchens. The quartz surface is nonporous, durable and scratch and stain resistant
for low maintenance. The new Midday pattern, in a natural white, echoes industrial concrete and is embellished with warmer grays and a confetti of cloudy sparks.
Cosmopolitan Table Collection
Cosmopolitan Table Collection
The Cosmopolitan Table collection is Danver’s latest collaboration with architect, designer and brand creative director Daniel Germani. The cooking table offers innovative Invisacook induction technology with an option of two or four burners and is a versatile cooking solution for outdoor spaces. Coordinating dining and prep tables are also offered in this collection.
Roughan Interiors
Roughan Interiors
There is fun to be had in a swimming pool but also other kinds of fun in a pool house, like this one designed by Christina Roughan. The columned, pitched-roofed structure punctuated by an oval attic window relates directly to the existing house, with its ample use of stone and sturdy clapboard siding, materials able to weather the New England climate. Inside, expanses of teak wood are combined with blue stone and bronze, materials particularly evident in the shower, kitchen, powder room and on the doors. A soft palette of blues, ivory and coral subtly work their way though the structure—a space that is at once chic and sophisticated, but also inviting and approachable. There are multiple areas for lounging and entertaining—at the vigorously articulated stone fireplace with its giant TV screen, around the pool itself, and at a multi-seat outdoor bar. But while the owners and their guests certainly like to take a dip in the pool, the outdoor shower, a virtual room in itself, beckons too.
Photography by Jane Beiles
Merida
Merida
Merida, a graphic wallcovering from Élitis, is composed of natural raffia fiber. The colorful panels are positioned by hand—like large-scale puzzle pieces—for contemporary, geometric designs.
Robert Dean Architects
Robert Dean Architects
In keeping with the prevailing English Edwardian–style architecture of this former carriage house, the reinvented kitchen could easily be a period piece out of Britain, yet the room remains firmly rooted in today’s Fairfield County. Although the architects speak of the structure as having “great bones,” the kitchen area was one composed of cramped, oddly shaped rooms. The architectural team doubled the original kitchen, a process accomplished largely by expanding the footprint to capture and envelop a former wraparound porch. Subsequent room was found to build a butler’s pantry and breakfast area, the latter now incorporating views of the rear garden. Ceilings reach 10 feet in the main kitchen workspace with cabinetry detailing that references the glazing on the porch. Cabinets in the butler’s pantry assume a more formal character and configuration, rising all the way to the ceiling, though interspersed with multi-paned glass-fronted units. Color is used in a clever fashion to further distinguish work and storage areas—with light grays used in the main kitchen area and a rich teal in the butler’s pantry.
Photography by Neil Landino Jr.
Designer Hood Collection
Designer Hood Collection
Luxury appliance brand Monogram unveiled its first installment of the Monogram Designer Collection with a series designed by renowned interior designer and Monogram creative director Richard Anuszkiewicz. Showcased in two aesthetics—brass and titanium—the tailored range hood is meticulously handcrafted and becomes a focal point in a kitchen.
Fabrics
Fabrics
Interior designer Linherr Hollingsworth’s original designs are translated onto textural textiles in her second collection for Kravet. Boheme II is wonderfully luxe, modern and soulful.
Alpilles
Alpilles
Capturing the colors of Provence, Élitis presents the Alpilles collection. The outdoor fabric has a soft hand in fine or broad bayadere stripes in sunny yellows, iris blues and flax hues.
Urbane
Urbane
Designed by international architect, designer and Danver brand creative director Daniel Germani, the Urbane luxury outdoor kitchen blends traditional stainless steel with colorful powder-coated panels. Urbane can be customized to fit any footprint, style and function.
Fabric
Fabric
Leaning into her love of art and architectural form, interior and product designer Linherr Hollingsworth expanded her Boheme collection for Kravet’s Boheme II. Screen printed wallcoverings with rich grounds in organic neutrals lend a bold, modern vibe in painterly and tribal patterns.
Project Playroom
Project Playroom
Project Playroom supplies the apparatus needed to design and build your own home playroom. Kids will go bananas over the indoor monkey bars, and parents will love that the products encourage gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The bars are made of durable powder-coated metal and are offered in a variety of custom colors.
Cardello Architects
Cardello Architects
Pun intended: The driving force behind this structure is a 1950s Corvette convertible, so valued by its owner that he wanted to display it as a work of functional art on his property. The client commissioned the Cardello team to design what he adamantly emphasized was to be a car barn and not a garage. To best accommodate the request and to best show off the gleaming vehicle, the architects fashioned a dark, minimalist structure that highlights the car while not overpowering the property. Skylights in the metal roof allow for natural light to pour through by day, while hanging light fixtures work as display spotlights at night. As a result of a newly positioned driveway, the client can effortlessly drive his car in and out of the triple-panel industrial steel doors, and should he wish to add to his collection, there is room for two additional vehicles. Frosted glass panels conceal the car from the roadway, while sliding glass panels on the opposite side keep it in full parked view.
Photography by Dennis Carbo
DEANE, Inc.
DEANE, Inc.
a soup bowl or tea kettle, was allowed to block views of Long Island Sound. One method for ensuring this was to build open steel shelving units that maximized storage space while also preserving the water views. Peter Deane designed blackened- steel, open-shelf units over the island and as upper cabinetry flanking the hood to maintain a prevailing sense of light and airiness. While the kitchen itself is, indeed, a distinctive area of the home, it melds seamlessly with the adjacent living and dining areas. The slab-front cabinets with stainless-steel hardware are made of a gray/white rift oak that serves to soften the room as a whole. Clean-lined Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances—along with a sink from the Galley—work to make the space modern and industrial in feel, though intimate, even cozy. Black granite countertops with a Venetian finish add a dash of texture and visual interest to the room. While cooking and dining, scenic Long Island Sound remains in full view.
Photography by Paul Johnson
Havilande Whitcomb Design
Havilande Whitcomb Design
While the waters of Wilson Cove in Rowayton provide a serene blue setting for this house, the homeowner wanted the interiors to reference her favorite flower: the blue hydrangea. To make sure such shades, as well as the living flower itself, would blossom, so to speak, Havilande Whitcomb embraced a largely monochromatic color scheme, with the blues of the flower appearing throughout. Given the narrow site and the resulting narrow structure, the house is arranged so that rooms sequence from front to back, with the core of the main floor occupied by the kitchen. Because one can essentially see through the house, the designers were careful to customize furnishings that never interfered with the water vista, both in terms of their heights and placements in rooms. The primary suite, situated at the front of an upper story, is a private, serene oasis, with a high, pitched ceiling and a clerestory window that brings in extra sunlight and moonlight. Although this was meant to represent a new downsized life for the homeowners, cherished objects and heirlooms were preserved to add a layer of age and character to the rooms.
Photography by Amy Vischio
S.B. Long Interiors
S.B. Long Interiors
The rooms of this shingle-style house feel very tailored, and for a good reason. The client wanted the rooms to have a bespoke masculine feel to them, so Susan Bednar Long responded by choosing textiles, colors and patterns typical of a man’s wardrobe. Stripes, tattersall plaids, windowpane prints, checks, seersucker and crisp solid linens accented with elegant piping work their way through the interiors in subtle but striking ways. A grasscloth wallpaper, for instance, in the great room evokes the texture of a nubby linen sports jacket, while the living room draperies reference the pinstripes on a pair of suit pants. The rooms are furnished with classic American pieces, with a long rustic pew-style bench occupying the entry landing, as a way to announce the style found throughout the home. Shaker-style stools, in a blue and white pattern, are positioned at the kitchen island while antique spindle-back chairs are set at the dining table. While one might characterize the interiors as embodying a quintessential Connecticut style, everything about the interiors is original and inviting.
Photography by Neil Landino Jr.
James Doyle Design Associates
James Doyle Design Associates
When planning garden areas for a Greenwich house, the designers had to be cognizant of both preserving existing elements while creating new ones. This thoroughly modern residence stands out on its two-acre site as an architectural presence, but it adjoins protected wetlands that could be only minimally modified. The designers connected the house to its unique site via a bridge, the aim being to preserve natural outcroppings, mature trees and the undulating topography, while integrating the bold architecture with nature. A zinc wall links the front and rear landscapes, while a variety of plantings are used to visually extend that wall further into the property. To create a sunken parking courtyard, the designers leveled out the grade and clad the retaining wall in a handsome bluestone, while planting a variety of sculptural trees, including ginkgoes and catalpas. At the rear of the house, glass doors open to a hardwood deck, linked visually to the lawn with a bluestone slab. A swimming pool occupies a discreet site near a rock outcrop, with its surrounding plants chosen for their color and textures and seasonal interest.
Photography by Neil Landino Jr.
Devore Associates Landscape Architects
Devore Associates Landscape Architects
A 1930s French Country–style home set on six acres warranted a garden and landscape that would complement
its architecture. A new sinuous entrance approach, parking courts, series of terraces, and a swimming pool were carefully “grown” into the site. At the rear of the house, a sitting terrace, dining terrace and covered outdoor fireplace now follow a linear route. Here and elsewhere, structured plantings are combined with overflowing softer treatments to create an overall relaxed feel to the property. A vegetable and flower garden below the main terrace is edged in wattle. The periphery of the property is planted with native plants that both screen and frame bucolic views. Invasive plants that had taken over areas were removed and replaced with native grasses and colorful wildflowers. Two restored native meadows are now home to a diverse habitat, through which have been mown inviting pathways. A neglected stream was revitalized and has since become a favorite place for the three children of the family to catch frogs and sail their toy boats.
Photography by Anthony Crisafulli
Milton Homes
Milton Homes
Before Milton Homes could begin constructing a new house on an uncannily narrow site in Rowayton, they needed to demolish an existing house. Together with Beinfield Architecture, with whom Milton Homes has collaborated for more than 20 years, the construction firm had to deal with the challenge of the site’s small size and getting trucks and equipment in and out along a narrow road that leads to Long Island Sound. When the existing dwelling was cleared and a new foundation dug, Milton’s workers assembled a steel frame, onto which they would eventually place huge expanses of glass. The water remains visible from every point in the finished home, a dynamic about which Milton is justifiably proud. Because the house is positioned as close to the water as possible, though adhering to 14-foot flood elevation regulations, it feels as if one is on a ship when inside. Some of the more remarkable interior construction details include an open tread staircase and sculptural stone fireplace that is combined with a large-screen TV.
Garrett Wilson Builders
Garrett Wilson Builders
Saving part of a house is often more difficult than starting with a new foundation. Such was the case with this transformation. Garrett Wilson Builders was faced with preserving parts of a 1950s house and reconstructing, transforming and expanding upon it to erect a new residence. “This was a major renovation,” says the company’s namesake, Garrett Wilson, “and we had to deal with existing conditions that weren’t true, or, rather, were off, and then had to incorporate them into the new parts of the house.” Essentially, the work involved preserving portions of the existing foundation and first-floor walls and, as Wilson says, “building up from there.” Multi-paned steel windows punctuate the facades, making for harmonious elevations, but Wilson explains, “Large format windows present challenges when you’re working with preexisting conditions. Getting them 100 percent level and plumb isn’t easy, but we did, and the effect is striking.” Wilson points to his favorite moments—an archway from the kitchen into the living areas, and a steel fireplace surround. “I haven’t done a lot of fireplaces like that, and it was a breath of fresh air to construct something different.”
Photography by Peter Brown
Olivia Charney Interior Design
Olivia Charney Interior Design
For years, this barn was used as a garage and giant storage bin, but the young family now residing in the Southport house just adjacent to the freestanding building, wanted it to function as a pool house for them and a guest house for visitors. Because the building lies within the town’s designated historic district, it was necessary that its footprint not be enlarged and that the structure had to look as it always had, even though it required significant structural repair. In reconfiguring the interiors, especially the bathroom, Olivia Charney salvaged as much of the existing wood as possible, using old floor joists, for instance, to fashion the bathroom mirror stand, as well as vanities and doors. Now incorporating two full baths, the building’s most inviting one is accessible solely from the exterior, off of an open porch/cooking area. While the structure overall, and the bathrooms in particular, feel modern and bright, the use of the antique woods and iron hardware keep the barn connected to and grounded in its original context.
Photography by Amy Vischio
Riverside Design
Riverside Design
In this primary bathroom by Michele Rudolph, two seven-foot- wide by five-and-one-half-foot high windows frame unimpeded views of a park-like reservoir. Depending on the season, magnificent specimen red maple trees appear to grow just beyond the edge of the deep tub and the glass-fronted steam shower, a kind of room in itself. A subtle soft-blue marble, defined by a discreet veining, fosters a prevailing serenity and spa-like feel to the room. While soaking in the spacious tub, the user has the option to view the outside foliage and meadows or watch a sleek mirrored television mounted to the wall, the reflective surface of which acts as another kind of window to the outdoors. A charcoal-hued heated floor grounds the space and allows all of the elements to stand out. Rudolph configured custom vanities that cleverly conceal storage areas and electrical outlets. A large vanity mirror always keeps the natural site in full view.
Photography by Michael Biondo
Beinfield Architecture
Beinfield Architecture
Although this Rowayton house is well anchored on its waterfront site on Long Island Sound, it feels as if you are aboard a steady ship when occupying any of its rooms, stacked on four levels. Despite an uncannily narrow site, the architects and builder were able to position the house as close to the shoreline as possible, while adhering to flood compliance stipulations that the house be raised 14 feet from the water’s edge. The resulting design is at once coastal-casual and urbanely sophisticated. Materials are melded in such a way that the raw steel and concrete elements are softened, even enhanced by expanses of woods, particular cedar used on the exterior. From every room in the house, views are afforded of the water, accomplished in part with large floor-to-ceiling windows. Architectural elements within are as striking as those on the exterior, notably an open tread staircase, all-wood ceilings and a minimalist concrete fireplace in the family room.
Photography by Meg Matyia
Cardello Architects
Cardello Architects
Houses become dated. But with the right architectural team, a house from another era that no longer works for today’s family can be transformed to feel new, fresh and relevant. The 1950s-era house that occupied the site needed a dramatic transformation, inside and out. The architects began, not surprisingly, at the front door. The steep winding approach to the house was made more direct. Hard, constrictive steps leading to the front door were relaxed with gradual stone steps that meld so well with the front lawn they appear to grow in the grass. The roof was lifted and the second story expanded which allowed for extra bedrooms and a soaring entry foyer. The primary bedroom was relocated to the first floor, allowing for an intimate access to the yard. The architects speak of fashioning a “collage” of accent materials that work to imbue the home with character. White oak beams course the kitchen, stone slabs work as outdoor staircases, brass shelves float in space, a rich metallic surface works as a fireplace surround. The house now welcomes a family of today.
Photography by Peter Brown
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