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For anyone in the building industry, the past year ranks as one to forget—fast. Architectural and design firms and contracting companies alike suffered through one painful downsizing after another. Planned projects hit the skids as banks tightened their fists and homeowners cinched their belts.
But for those who were out there transforming blueprints into buildings, designs into reality, the finished works were, well, lovely.
In the following pages, you will see photos and descriptions of the first-place winners in the second AT HOME Architect & Design Awards, selected from 133 entries. To see the work entered by the second and third placers, click here. They are all here, category by category, one stunning structure or room after another.
Our judges—designer Jonathan Adler, architect Marlon Blackwell, House Beautiful editor Stephen Drucker, Dwell editor Sam Grawe, designer Charlotte Moss, and architect Ron Radziner—were discerning, to say the very least. In their comments, they pulled no punches and careened toward brutally honest.
Our winners varied from one-man or -woman shops working out of home offices to well-established firms in sleek skyscraper digs. Of the first-place winners in 2008, five showed up in the same circle this year. But to all the brave souls who entered, we thank you and encourage you to do the same next year. And to all those lucky ones who placed, our heartiest congratulations. Great work. You make St. Louis proud.
Category 1 / Historic Residential Renovation
Winner: Ray M. Simon Architect, 1910 Cherokee, 314-776-5130
The Project: The Harry Hammerman House, located in Ladue, is a classic example of midcentury Modernist architecture. Designed, built, and occupied by Mr. Hammerman, a prominent local architect/engineer, the 55-year-old house fell into neglect and disrepair upon his death in 2001. By 2007, this architectural gem was being advertised as a “teardown.”
All the house’s water, sewer, gas, and electric lines had been severed in anticipation of the structure’s demolition. The cost of replacing this infrastructure, in addition to the restoration of the house’s unique architectural features, quickly inflated the project budget to an amount that justified the use of state historic-rehabilitation tax credits. With the assistance of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, the house was nominated and added to the National Register of Historic Places.
During the previous four years, when the house sat vacant, the building fortunately suffered little water damage. But the first task in its rehabilitation was the complete replacement of the 3,000-plus-square-foot, multiplaned roof. This was accompanied by a simultaneous upgrade to the building’s insulation.
The original redwood-heartwood siding had been painted in an attempt to retain its original coloration. During the renovation, each of the 1- by 10-foot boards was removed, planed, refinished, and re-installed. All the original wood soffits, beams, doors, and windows were hand-stripped of their darkened finish in situ.
Replacing the entire plumbing system involved extensive excavation through the concrete slab and foundations. The original in-slab radiant heating system had been rendered useless, so a new geothermal heat-pump was installed to provide both heating and cooling to the rehabilitated residence. Because the house lacks both a basement and attic space, the ductwork for the HVAC system had to be carefully and discreetly woven through existing architectural elements.
The Judges Wrote: “Kudos for saving something modern!” “Would love to see more, but what is here is thoughtfully considered.”
Category 2 / Small Remodel (Less Than 1,000 Square Feet)
Winner: Denise Fogarty Interiors, 1044 Bristol Manor, 314-757-1112
The Project: This one-story bungalow in Kirkwood included an outdated ’70s addition, complete with indoor hot tub. The main challenge was finding a comfortable place to relax in the evening—that wasn’t in the basement rathskeller but was in the main portion of the house. The living room was too formal, with its predictable Queen Anne–style furnishings, and the family room was furnished with uninviting wicker furniture. Neither room had a cozy seating area with great family entertainment space. The house, being small, didn’t flow well from one room to another.
In redoing the living room, the designer reupholstered some of the wife’s favorite furniture pieces, which included a channel-back wing chair, in natural, textured fabrics. Multicolored cord selected to match the room’s green-and-white, buffalo-check silk drapes was used as trim on the chair. The walls were painted a soft, pale blue. The color choice also gave the home some much-needed flow from one room to another. The tired brick fireplace was updated by adding a limestone surround and white mantel to match the woodwork in the rest of the house.
The old indoor hot-tub area became a dining space and family-entertainment area. By painting the walls of the dining room and adjacent family room a bright grass green, the rooms became richly reinvigorated.
The floor plan places the kitchen off the entry on the northeast corner of the home. The property’s massive trees made the space seem darker than it really is. The designer kept window treatments to a minimum and add-ed white-painted beadboard to the walls. In the less than 300-square-foot kitchen, the designer added granite countertops, a new faucet, and a kitchen niche for a collection of colorful pottery.
The Judges Wrote: “A fully thought-through and beautifully executed project!” “Charming… Appreciate the attempt to make green the theme. Seems like a livable place.” “Attractive. Fresh. Cohesive. Has the personality of the client—guided by the decorator. Bravo/brava (whichever is the case).”
Category 3 / Large Remodel (Greater Than 1,000 Square Feet)
Winner: Studio|Durham,1856 Menard, 314-664-4575, studiodurham.com
The Project: The house, which is organiz-ed around a central open-air atrium, had many quirky features, such as an indoor trellis and built-in bench in the living room and a number of “choke points” in the plan. The owner wanted the spaces to flow together better, in order to display her collection of contemporary furniture and artwork.
The living room was simplified, and interior windows were removed to create a large art wall; the shape of the atrium was altered to increase the width of the foyer, and a Japanese rock garden was designed for the space; the kitchen was reworked to eliminate a narrow island that divided it; and a large, frosted-glass barn door was added as the entrance to an enlarged master bathroom. The unfinished basement was completed to create a private entry sequence from the basement-level garage, and the second floor was simplified and renovated. A new wooden deck with a steel–and–frosted glass railing system was installed to provide access to a rear garden.
Tongue-in-groove hickory flooring with a black, low-gloss stain was also added. Cabinets are European steamed beech with honed black-granite and stainless-steel countertops. The open-air atrium was refinished with anodized aluminum–clad windows with aluminum trim and horizontal cypress siding installed in a rain-screen system.
The Judges Wrote: “Super chic!” “Nice to see a project that creates more solid walls. The rock garden/atrium works well. The furnishings work well with the finishes.”
Category 4 / Addition to Existing Residence
Winner: Gunn & Smith Architects,6244 Clayton Avenue, 314-644-3150, gunnandsmith.com with Jamieson Design Associates, 4100 Laclede, 314-371-1777
The Project: The original house had little natural light, outdated kitchen and bathrooms, and no lighting for a vast art collection. Among many needed improvements, the couple specifically requested a library to house countless volumes of books, his-and-her studies, an art vault, and a new powder room—all on the ground floor.
The design required developing a planthat completely updated the existing house with a new kitchen, new bathrooms, new lighting, and a new elevator that replaced a rear stair hall. Given the scope of the changes and the verticality of the existing two-story house, however, the architects didn’t seek to match the building’s original style.
The library reads as a pavilion with a standing-seam cooper roof and is visually separated from the house by a series of flat roofs with skylights and covered with stone pavers. The rooms themselves are more casual spaces, with superb circulation.
Stone floors in the new spaces flow seamlessly to stone terraces and the lawn beyond. And finally, a stone garden wall wraps around the entire house, integrating the old with the new.
Category 5 / Addition Independent of the Home
No entries
