DRAWING ON THE PAST

Richard Buchanan,

“Symmetry can be deadening…so we want to be artful in our application of it to give the design much greater vitality,” he says.

Richard believes it was his and A&B’s “enthusiasm for mirroring clients’ goals” that won them the job when the homeowners went shopping for an architect. And knowing how important the swimming pool was to his overall design, in the end “the house supports the pool.”

Also, with the owners’ permission to make some spaces more generous than usual, “we didn’t design to minimum dimensions” but for “fewer, better rooms.”

“That goes a long way to make your guests and family feel comfortable and gives an easy, open feeling rather than the density of a typical urban house.”

Richard doesn’t hesitate to give credit to the Ernst team: The owners’ “best decision, after hiring A&B of course, was to hire Ernst Brothers.”

“I’d worked with Mark Townsend on the very first house he ever built, so our ease of dialog meant we got a lot done with the minimum amount of effort.” He gave an example: “I could make a sketch in my car and take a snapshot of it with my phone and he was able to work with that efficiently.” Comprehension at a high level of detail with a minimum of back and forth—which seems to be a hallmark of an Ernst project.

“They really make us look good,” Richard quipped. “We cherish that relationship.”