Wadia Associates The Fine Art of Designing a Home
Foreword by Catesby Leigh Edited by Anne Walker
The Fine Art of Designing a Home
The Fine Art of Designing a Home
Wadia Associates The Fine Art of Designing a Home
Foreword by Catesby Leigh Edited by Anne Walker
Wadia Associates The Fine Art of Designing a Home
Foreword by Catesby Leigh Edited by Anne Walker
To Gool, my wife of fifty-five years, my love, partner, and soul mate on this special journey
To Gool, my wife of fifty-five years, my love, partner, and soul mate on this special journey
CONTENTS
8 Foreword Catesby Leigh 11 Timeless Architecture, Born of Specific Relationships Robert Butscher 15 Dinyar Wadia and Wadia Associates RESIDENCES 20 A Jacobean Manor 38 Shore Colonial 54 The Quality of Stone 70 A French Manor 84 A Colonial Revival House 96 French Country Estate 114 A Historic Tudor 130 The First Impression 142 A French Normandy House 158 Waterfront Arts and Crafts 172 Reinvigorating the Tudor 194 The Picturesque Queen Anne 212 A Stone Cottage 224 Shingle Style Prominence 242 Curves and Light 260 Enduring Design 280 A Shingle Style Cottage 292 Classic French Style 306 A Classic Colonial 318 American Style
APARTMENTS 334 Art Lovers’ Pied-à-Terre 340 A Traditional Refuge in a Modern Landmark 346 Contemporary New York Splendor 352 Pre-war Family Apartment on the Park 356 Modern Oceanfront Perch 364 365 366 367 368
DESIGNS FOR FLORIDA Mediterranean Revival French Country Manor A Colonial Revival Oasis Beaux-Arts Pavilion Palm Beach Regency
APPENDIX 372 Project Credits 374 In Appreciation 375 Book Credits
CONTENTS
8 Foreword Catesby Leigh 11 Timeless Architecture, Born of Specific Relationships Robert Butscher 15 Dinyar Wadia and Wadia Associates RESIDENCES 20 A Jacobean Manor 38 Shore Colonial 54 The Quality of Stone 70 A French Manor 84 A Colonial Revival House 96 French Country Estate 114 A Historic Tudor 130 The First Impression 142 A French Normandy House 158 Waterfront Arts and Crafts 172 Reinvigorating the Tudor 194 The Picturesque Queen Anne 212 A Stone Cottage 224 Shingle Style Prominence 242 Curves and Light 260 Enduring Design 280 A Shingle Style Cottage 292 Classic French Style 306 A Classic Colonial 318 American Style
APARTMENTS 334 Art Lovers’ Pied-à-Terre 340 A Traditional Refuge in a Modern Landmark 346 Contemporary New York Splendor 352 Pre-war Family Apartment on the Park 356 Modern Oceanfront Perch 364 365 366 367 368
DESIGNS FOR FLORIDA Mediterranean Revival French Country Manor A Colonial Revival Oasis Beaux-Arts Pavilion Palm Beach Regency
APPENDIX 372 Project Credits 374 In Appreciation 375 Book Credits
FOREWORD Catesby Leigh
Across the ages, temples, churches and cathedrals, halls of government, and other civic and cultural institutions, palaces, country houses, luxurious mansions and townhouses have all been formally legible to entire societies and cultures. That’s one significant reason we often speak of architectural styles as “languages” or “idioms.” The creation of these imposing structures was often the work of powerful elites or wealthy individuals. But architectural ambitions were typically realized in terms ordinary people could understand.
training encouraged an informed eclecticism in American architecture without excluding formal experimentation. The houses in this impressive monograph are variously designed in French, English, and Colonial classical idioms, as well as Tudor, Jacobean (a fusion of classical and late medieval elements), French Norman, and the eclectic “Shingle” and Queen Anne styles. You don’t need an architecture critic to explain to you why you should admire these residences. They resonate with us at the most elementary level: as embodied beings. They satisfy our natural attraction to the vivid expression of structural stability and repose, harmonious spatial arrangement, and elegant detail. This rhythmic orchestration of architectural form reminds us of the soundness of the German thinker Friedrich Schelling’s observation that architecture is frozen music. Embodied music, we might say.
The United States inherited this tradition. As the nation grew vastly richer after the Civil War, its architecture became more ambitious. And after the stupendous, if ephemeral, architectural display at the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893, it became more sophisticated. The new sophistication was manifest in a range of historic idioms—monumental classicism for big-city public buildings, museums, and railway stations; Collegiate Gothic for many college campuses; Colonial Georgian for The tectonic quality of Wadia Associates’ work is its most artistically small-town city halls and courthouses and private residences, and so on. significant trait. Tectonics revolves around the configuration and The thread of cultural continuity was cut as a result of modernism’s arrangement of structural elements, whether they have a real or merely ascendancy after World War II. Too many modernist architects turned representational structural role. This tectonic quality gives his houses their backs on the past instead of endeavoring to learn from it. A great a feeling of luxuriantly robust construction. It is of central importance deal of bad architecture resulted, along with successive stylistic shifts over to our reading them as artifacts rather than commodities. The judicious the last four or five decades that have culminated in a pervasive formal selection of fine building materials reinforces this impression. In that incoherence that reflects a seriously fragmented culture. sense, Wadia’s houses are quintessential anti-McMansions insofar as the Dinyar Wadia, on the other hand, is the kind of residential architect typical McMansion is an extravagant exercise in tectonic self-parody best equipped to design contemporary homes in a plurality of styles and, as the term eloquently suggests, an ill-disguised commodity. because he will always insist on learning from the past. Out of the Highly accomplished in both the art of building and architectural design, complex programmatic requirements of his clients and the formal Wadia knows what building well means. complexities of the traditional humanistic styles he works in, he creates not fragmentation but wholeness—architectural wholes that are greater than the sum of their parts. He restores the sundered thread of continuity with the decades following the Chicago exposition, when rigorous classical
8
Like the great Charles Platt (1861–1933), who first practiced landscape painting before moving on to an illustrious career as a self-taught architect and landscape designer, Dinyar Wadia also pays close attention to the visual integration of his interiors with their
outdoor surroundings. Vistas are choreographed in relation to one’s movement through his houses. Gorgeous pool houses play a conspicuous role in these spatial compositions. The houses in this monograph should be regarded as auspicious cultural indicators, with cultivated patrons contributing to the restoration of an architectural culture worthy of the name. For the sad truth is that the post-war decades have witnessed the commodification of our architecture on the broad scale. Our latter-day suburban developments, office buildings, transportation facilities, and even government buildings have not been built to age well; they’ve typically been built for the short term, with reduced up-front costs and unhappy prospects for long-term structural performance and cultural value. Wadia Associates’ houses offer a sane precedent in another respect: that of decorum or appropriateness. For while they address the outside world in readily intelligible, “public” idioms, their interiors are often home to modern art collections distinctly expressive of private sensibilities. Public and private have found their proper places, in other words. What this monograph offers the reader is the work of a highly sophisticated office that not only designs but constructs fine houses while shaping their landscape settings. Suffice it to say that the architects and designers of Wadia Associates—along with the masons, stone-carvers, millworkers, carpenters, plaster-workers, wrought-iron workers, and other tradespeople who collaborate with them—have every reason to take pride in their roles in enriching our nation’s built environment.
Catesby Leigh is co-founder and past chair of the National Civic Art Society and is a public art and architecture critic.
9
FOREWORD Catesby Leigh
Across the ages, temples, churches and cathedrals, halls of government, and other civic and cultural institutions, palaces, country houses, luxurious mansions and townhouses have all been formally legible to entire societies and cultures. That’s one significant reason we often speak of architectural styles as “languages” or “idioms.” The creation of these imposing structures was often the work of powerful elites or wealthy individuals. But architectural ambitions were typically realized in terms ordinary people could understand.
training encouraged an informed eclecticism in American architecture without excluding formal experimentation. The houses in this impressive monograph are variously designed in French, English, and Colonial classical idioms, as well as Tudor, Jacobean (a fusion of classical and late medieval elements), French Norman, and the eclectic “Shingle” and Queen Anne styles. You don’t need an architecture critic to explain to you why you should admire these residences. They resonate with us at the most elementary level: as embodied beings. They satisfy our natural attraction to the vivid expression of structural stability and repose, harmonious spatial arrangement, and elegant detail. This rhythmic orchestration of architectural form reminds us of the soundness of the German thinker Friedrich Schelling’s observation that architecture is frozen music. Embodied music, we might say.
The United States inherited this tradition. As the nation grew vastly richer after the Civil War, its architecture became more ambitious. And after the stupendous, if ephemeral, architectural display at the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893, it became more sophisticated. The new sophistication was manifest in a range of historic idioms—monumental classicism for big-city public buildings, museums, and railway stations; Collegiate Gothic for many college campuses; Colonial Georgian for The tectonic quality of Wadia Associates’ work is its most artistically small-town city halls and courthouses and private residences, and so on. significant trait. Tectonics revolves around the configuration and The thread of cultural continuity was cut as a result of modernism’s arrangement of structural elements, whether they have a real or merely ascendancy after World War II. Too many modernist architects turned representational structural role. This tectonic quality gives his houses their backs on the past instead of endeavoring to learn from it. A great a feeling of luxuriantly robust construction. It is of central importance deal of bad architecture resulted, along with successive stylistic shifts over to our reading them as artifacts rather than commodities. The judicious the last four or five decades that have culminated in a pervasive formal selection of fine building materials reinforces this impression. In that incoherence that reflects a seriously fragmented culture. sense, Wadia’s houses are quintessential anti-McMansions insofar as the Dinyar Wadia, on the other hand, is the kind of residential architect typical McMansion is an extravagant exercise in tectonic self-parody best equipped to design contemporary homes in a plurality of styles and, as the term eloquently suggests, an ill-disguised commodity. because he will always insist on learning from the past. Out of the Highly accomplished in both the art of building and architectural design, complex programmatic requirements of his clients and the formal Wadia knows what building well means. complexities of the traditional humanistic styles he works in, he creates not fragmentation but wholeness—architectural wholes that are greater than the sum of their parts. He restores the sundered thread of continuity with the decades following the Chicago exposition, when rigorous classical
8
Like the great Charles Platt (1861–1933), who first practiced landscape painting before moving on to an illustrious career as a self-taught architect and landscape designer, Dinyar Wadia also pays close attention to the visual integration of his interiors with their
outdoor surroundings. Vistas are choreographed in relation to one’s movement through his houses. Gorgeous pool houses play a conspicuous role in these spatial compositions. The houses in this monograph should be regarded as auspicious cultural indicators, with cultivated patrons contributing to the restoration of an architectural culture worthy of the name. For the sad truth is that the post-war decades have witnessed the commodification of our architecture on the broad scale. Our latter-day suburban developments, office buildings, transportation facilities, and even government buildings have not been built to age well; they’ve typically been built for the short term, with reduced up-front costs and unhappy prospects for long-term structural performance and cultural value. Wadia Associates’ houses offer a sane precedent in another respect: that of decorum or appropriateness. For while they address the outside world in readily intelligible, “public” idioms, their interiors are often home to modern art collections distinctly expressive of private sensibilities. Public and private have found their proper places, in other words. What this monograph offers the reader is the work of a highly sophisticated office that not only designs but constructs fine houses while shaping their landscape settings. Suffice it to say that the architects and designers of Wadia Associates—along with the masons, stone-carvers, millworkers, carpenters, plaster-workers, wrought-iron workers, and other tradespeople who collaborate with them—have every reason to take pride in their roles in enriching our nation’s built environment.
Catesby Leigh is co-founder and past chair of the National Civic Art Society and is a public art and architecture critic.
9
TIMELESS ARCHITECTURE, BORN OF SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS Robert Butscher There are many ways to speak about architecture; but ideally speech is, and should be, completely unnecessary. We should be able to stand in the presence of a beautiful building without any need for explanation and experience a state of silence where the building speaks for itself. Though a book can never reproduce the experience of living in a home, the photographs and descriptions in this volume admirably endeavor to accomplish this.
as new needs evolved. The end result of this evolution was a pleasing happenchance spun over a period of decades or even centuries. It’s not like that anymore. Everything gets compressed into a nanosecond—or, as it is in the architectural world, into the few short seasons it takes to shepherd a building from conception through construction. But this condensed tempo can never relieve the architect of the responsibility of creating that same sense of equilibrium and quiet timelessness with which happier old If we must use words, what then is the most meaningful way to speak or houses were once imbued. write about architecture, particularly private architecture, the homes of This is where the relationship part comes in. The generations of families? To this writer, the only worthwhile story to tell is that of their adjustments that once took place in the traditional world, with buildings creation, of how they came to be by growing out of specific relationships constructed then modified and added onto over time, now must occur forged between the families who live in them and the people who helped in conversations over a table strewn with drawings, where people in their design. These homes emerged out of conversations, words that share their ideas and gradually pursue the exciting act of creating intersected with a piece of land and a moment in time. From each of these something together. ephemeral relationships a permanent place was created, a home that will I have had the privilege of working with Dinyar Wadia, the eponymous be enjoyed for many years to come. principal of Wadia Associates, for twenty-three years, and in that time have Every home begins as an act of imagination—a cluster of images that might be actual pictures that the client has accumulated, or visceral, physical memories of spaces that have been experienced since their childhood. From this rich material it is the architect’s mission to translate the various images and ideas onto paper and to oversee their realization in the built world. Real homes solidify out of the powerful and complex wishes of their clients as they intersect with the ideas of their designers and the vicissitudes of budget, zoning, and site. With nostalgia, we might wish for some organic process that would allow these complexities to sort themselves out gradually over time, as naturally and inevitably as possible. Historically, this was what happened back before architecture grew into a specialized profession and buildings were no longer made by hand. Houses grew organically and were modified slowly over time. Builders followed local patterns, made adjustments, and the next generation would add on
10
witnessed the way he fosters this quality of relationship with his clients. The homes in this book illustrate this collaboration between Dinyar and his clients. Clients, on a very deep level, always know what they want, though they cannot always express it. Wadia Associates’ task is to draw it out, facilitate it, and—with the several centuries of experience accumulated by all the members of Dinyar’s architectural team—shape it into something new, beautiful, and unexpected. The firm’s humility is borne out of close observation and respect. Dinyar quietly and carefully tries to divine the thought process behind the images in a client’s head. He clarifies and gives order to them, then adds options and subtle additions, always working through rational explanation and gentle persuasion. And, for what would be the hardest part of the creative process for a different architect, Dinyar instead cheerfully and constructively finds alternative solutions in the rare case when a first design misses the mark. For most projects, however, the
11
TIMELESS ARCHITECTURE, BORN OF SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS Robert Butscher There are many ways to speak about architecture; but ideally speech is, and should be, completely unnecessary. We should be able to stand in the presence of a beautiful building without any need for explanation and experience a state of silence where the building speaks for itself. Though a book can never reproduce the experience of living in a home, the photographs and descriptions in this volume admirably endeavor to accomplish this.
as new needs evolved. The end result of this evolution was a pleasing happenchance spun over a period of decades or even centuries. It’s not like that anymore. Everything gets compressed into a nanosecond—or, as it is in the architectural world, into the few short seasons it takes to shepherd a building from conception through construction. But this condensed tempo can never relieve the architect of the responsibility of creating that same sense of equilibrium and quiet timelessness with which happier old If we must use words, what then is the most meaningful way to speak or houses were once imbued. write about architecture, particularly private architecture, the homes of This is where the relationship part comes in. The generations of families? To this writer, the only worthwhile story to tell is that of their adjustments that once took place in the traditional world, with buildings creation, of how they came to be by growing out of specific relationships constructed then modified and added onto over time, now must occur forged between the families who live in them and the people who helped in conversations over a table strewn with drawings, where people in their design. These homes emerged out of conversations, words that share their ideas and gradually pursue the exciting act of creating intersected with a piece of land and a moment in time. From each of these something together. ephemeral relationships a permanent place was created, a home that will I have had the privilege of working with Dinyar Wadia, the eponymous be enjoyed for many years to come. principal of Wadia Associates, for twenty-three years, and in that time have Every home begins as an act of imagination—a cluster of images that might be actual pictures that the client has accumulated, or visceral, physical memories of spaces that have been experienced since their childhood. From this rich material it is the architect’s mission to translate the various images and ideas onto paper and to oversee their realization in the built world. Real homes solidify out of the powerful and complex wishes of their clients as they intersect with the ideas of their designers and the vicissitudes of budget, zoning, and site. With nostalgia, we might wish for some organic process that would allow these complexities to sort themselves out gradually over time, as naturally and inevitably as possible. Historically, this was what happened back before architecture grew into a specialized profession and buildings were no longer made by hand. Houses grew organically and were modified slowly over time. Builders followed local patterns, made adjustments, and the next generation would add on
10
witnessed the way he fosters this quality of relationship with his clients. The homes in this book illustrate this collaboration between Dinyar and his clients. Clients, on a very deep level, always know what they want, though they cannot always express it. Wadia Associates’ task is to draw it out, facilitate it, and—with the several centuries of experience accumulated by all the members of Dinyar’s architectural team—shape it into something new, beautiful, and unexpected. The firm’s humility is borne out of close observation and respect. Dinyar quietly and carefully tries to divine the thought process behind the images in a client’s head. He clarifies and gives order to them, then adds options and subtle additions, always working through rational explanation and gentle persuasion. And, for what would be the hardest part of the creative process for a different architect, Dinyar instead cheerfully and constructively finds alternative solutions in the rare case when a first design misses the mark. For most projects, however, the
11
T HE F INE ART OF DE SIGNING A HOM E
process is a matter of continual adjustment and refinement. It steadily evolves from the client’s nascent thoughts, emerging to become a solid, well-proportioned home that achieves finally that state of silence where a building can eloquently speak for itself. While some of the houses presented in these pages are entirely new, they are designed to fit into their surroundings and appear embedded in their context as if they have always been there. Others are renovations and additions to historic homes—subtle interactions sympathetically woven into the original structure. In effect, this way of working continues that accumulative quality that gives older homes their livability and charm. And while they are inspired by history and tradition, these homes are completely of our time, designed for today and perfectly functional. Each is well-integrated into the landscape and often surrounded by terraces and well-designed gardens—Dinyar’s second love. They settle calmly and securely into what becomes their natural habitat—an effect that enhances their timeless appeal.
12
ru n n i ng h e a d
The time a client spends with the designers of their home should be exciting and enjoyable, a shared process in which everyone is thinking about the house. It’s almost a miracle that something as large and complex as a house can simultaneously exist inside the thoughts of several people and yet gradually come together as a singular place. Through their conversations, through dozens of drawings and months of construction, an idea comes into the world and finally becomes a place that one can come home to, share a family meal inside of, then turn out the lights, turn in to bed and dream within. As Dinyar Wadia works with his clients, the goal is not to produce a specific kind of building, but to foster a quality of relationship that enables a home perfectly right for its owners to be created. This ethos began forty-five years ago, long before the prior monograph on his work saw print, and it continues today. The individual stories of the homes gathered in this book are just a few examples chosen from the last twelve years that show how many ways and with what varied results this mysterious collaborative process can happen.
13
T HE F INE ART OF DE SIGNING A HOM E
process is a matter of continual adjustment and refinement. It steadily evolves from the client’s nascent thoughts, emerging to become a solid, well-proportioned home that achieves finally that state of silence where a building can eloquently speak for itself. While some of the houses presented in these pages are entirely new, they are designed to fit into their surroundings and appear embedded in their context as if they have always been there. Others are renovations and additions to historic homes—subtle interactions sympathetically woven into the original structure. In effect, this way of working continues that accumulative quality that gives older homes their livability and charm. And while they are inspired by history and tradition, these homes are completely of our time, designed for today and perfectly functional. Each is well-integrated into the landscape and often surrounded by terraces and well-designed gardens—Dinyar’s second love. They settle calmly and securely into what becomes their natural habitat—an effect that enhances their timeless appeal.
12
ru n n i ng h e a d
The time a client spends with the designers of their home should be exciting and enjoyable, a shared process in which everyone is thinking about the house. It’s almost a miracle that something as large and complex as a house can simultaneously exist inside the thoughts of several people and yet gradually come together as a singular place. Through their conversations, through dozens of drawings and months of construction, an idea comes into the world and finally becomes a place that one can come home to, share a family meal inside of, then turn out the lights, turn in to bed and dream within. As Dinyar Wadia works with his clients, the goal is not to produce a specific kind of building, but to foster a quality of relationship that enables a home perfectly right for its owners to be created. This ethos began forty-five years ago, long before the prior monograph on his work saw print, and it continues today. The individual stories of the homes gathered in this book are just a few examples chosen from the last twelve years that show how many ways and with what varied results this mysterious collaborative process can happen.
13
DINYAR WADIA AND WADIA ASSOCIATES The Classical Journey Continues Since founding his practice in 1975, Dinyar Wadia and his team at Wadia Associates have built a substantial body of residential work inspired by classical and traditional sources. Based in New Canaan, Connecticut, the office has come to be recognized throughout Fairfield County and beyond for its skill and versatility at transforming the lessons of the past into the modern day, creating comfortable and luxurious homes tailor-made for its clientele. In the years since the firm’s first monograph in 2007, Wadia Associates has considerably added to its portfolio with a number of magnificent new houses and sympathetic renovations and additions to historic homes accompanied by interior and landscape design projects. While primarily centered in Fairfield County, an area entrenched in architectural history, work has taken Wadia Associates further afield: New York, Rhode Island, Colorado, and California. The firm continues to expand its reach, designing a number of apartments in both contemporary and historic buildings. Recently, Wadia opened a new office in Palm Beach and is at work on several projects in Florida. As the figurehead of Wadia Associates, Dinyar Wadia has a quiet but knowing manner, both steeped in knowledge and fortified by culture and good taste. As a child growing up in Bombay (Mumbai), India, he developed his love of design and his unerring eye through exposure to the country’s rich architectural heritage. The great buildings and public squares erected by the British for their “international Capital of the World” left little to be desired for a young aspiring architect. The Gateway of India, Victoria Terminus, Town Hall, the Central Post Office, the City Library, the Gothic buildings of Bombay University, the Venetian Gothic clock tower, the High Court, the Prince of Wales Museum, the Bombay Zoo, and the Taj Palace Hotel were formulative in shaping his partiality for classical and monumental work. And since his mother came from a family
14
of builders, it was only natural that he would develop a keen interest in the landscape of his native city. Spending summers in Baroda (Vadodara), another Indian city with many beautiful Gothic buildings and palaces, he gained an appreciation for the relationships between large buildings and accessory structures, and the way they complement each other through the element of landscaping. After completing a five-year program at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in India, a curriculum that included a year’s study of fine arts and several courses in landscape architecture, Dinyar met and married his wife, Gool. In 1968, the newly married couple left their home country so Dinyar could work toward a graduate degree in architecture at Columbia University. He graduated as a William Kinney Fellow and subsequently went to work for one of his professors, Victor Christ-Janer, at his architectural firm in Fairfield County. Along with the Harvard Five, Christ-Janer helped establish the quaint New England town of New Canaan as a haven for modern architecture in the 1940s and 1950s. Under ChristJaner’s tutelage, Dinyar Wadia began his career in the modern vernacular, but as his skill set grew, he found his inspiration waning. Drawn to the beauty and charm of the traditional and historic buildings of southwestern Connecticut, he discovered their scale and elegant detailing reminded him of his native India, reawakening a passion for what had attracted him to the field of architecture in the first place. At a time when the appeal and intrigue of modernism was ebbing, Wadia struck out on his own in 1975 to design traditionally inspired homes. New Canaan and its lush green surroundings provided the perfect backdrop for Wadia to impose his hand; its rich and eclectic architectural fabric and mix of building styles from the Colonial period, through the golden era of the country house from the 1910s and 1920s to the present day provided an inspirational canvas
15
DINYAR WADIA AND WADIA ASSOCIATES The Classical Journey Continues Since founding his practice in 1975, Dinyar Wadia and his team at Wadia Associates have built a substantial body of residential work inspired by classical and traditional sources. Based in New Canaan, Connecticut, the office has come to be recognized throughout Fairfield County and beyond for its skill and versatility at transforming the lessons of the past into the modern day, creating comfortable and luxurious homes tailor-made for its clientele. In the years since the firm’s first monograph in 2007, Wadia Associates has considerably added to its portfolio with a number of magnificent new houses and sympathetic renovations and additions to historic homes accompanied by interior and landscape design projects. While primarily centered in Fairfield County, an area entrenched in architectural history, work has taken Wadia Associates further afield: New York, Rhode Island, Colorado, and California. The firm continues to expand its reach, designing a number of apartments in both contemporary and historic buildings. Recently, Wadia opened a new office in Palm Beach and is at work on several projects in Florida. As the figurehead of Wadia Associates, Dinyar Wadia has a quiet but knowing manner, both steeped in knowledge and fortified by culture and good taste. As a child growing up in Bombay (Mumbai), India, he developed his love of design and his unerring eye through exposure to the country’s rich architectural heritage. The great buildings and public squares erected by the British for their “international Capital of the World” left little to be desired for a young aspiring architect. The Gateway of India, Victoria Terminus, Town Hall, the Central Post Office, the City Library, the Gothic buildings of Bombay University, the Venetian Gothic clock tower, the High Court, the Prince of Wales Museum, the Bombay Zoo, and the Taj Palace Hotel were formulative in shaping his partiality for classical and monumental work. And since his mother came from a family
14
of builders, it was only natural that he would develop a keen interest in the landscape of his native city. Spending summers in Baroda (Vadodara), another Indian city with many beautiful Gothic buildings and palaces, he gained an appreciation for the relationships between large buildings and accessory structures, and the way they complement each other through the element of landscaping. After completing a five-year program at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in India, a curriculum that included a year’s study of fine arts and several courses in landscape architecture, Dinyar met and married his wife, Gool. In 1968, the newly married couple left their home country so Dinyar could work toward a graduate degree in architecture at Columbia University. He graduated as a William Kinney Fellow and subsequently went to work for one of his professors, Victor Christ-Janer, at his architectural firm in Fairfield County. Along with the Harvard Five, Christ-Janer helped establish the quaint New England town of New Canaan as a haven for modern architecture in the 1940s and 1950s. Under ChristJaner’s tutelage, Dinyar Wadia began his career in the modern vernacular, but as his skill set grew, he found his inspiration waning. Drawn to the beauty and charm of the traditional and historic buildings of southwestern Connecticut, he discovered their scale and elegant detailing reminded him of his native India, reawakening a passion for what had attracted him to the field of architecture in the first place. At a time when the appeal and intrigue of modernism was ebbing, Wadia struck out on his own in 1975 to design traditionally inspired homes. New Canaan and its lush green surroundings provided the perfect backdrop for Wadia to impose his hand; its rich and eclectic architectural fabric and mix of building styles from the Colonial period, through the golden era of the country house from the 1910s and 1920s to the present day provided an inspirational canvas
15
T H E F I N E A RT OF DE SIG N I NG A HOM E
into which new sympathetic design could seamlessly fall. With its natural rolling topography, back country scenery, shoreline exposures, and water views, the landscape of Fairfield County also created opportune moments to integrate houses, outbuildings, terraces, and gardens. Rather than specialize in a single type of design, Dinyar has always sought to excel in all traditional styles of architecture, calling upon what elements and styles best suit the confines, conditions, and context of each commission. His design philosophy encompasses a strict attention to detail, exceptional workmanship, the use of luxurious materials, and the integral relationship between a house and its surrounding landscape. This holistic approach permeates every Wadia project and has earned the firm several prestigious architectural and landscape awards as well as inclusion in Luxe, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, East Coast Home & Design, Traditional Home, Serendipity, and other magazines. With a staff of ten architects, an interior decorator, four construction managers, and support staff, the office is small yet dedicated and talented. This enables a hands-on approach. For everyone at Wadia Associates, designing a home is a process of discovery, building upon information gathered from the client and about the site. Some clients may know what they want; others might only have a general sense. The designer’s task is to draw it out and shape images and ideas into something new, concrete, and better than what was expected. At Wadia Associates, the professional relationship between architect and client results in houses that perfectly pull together the client’s needs and desires and respond to a specific site and context.
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A B OU T DS W
Depending on the direction of a project, Dinyar Wadia and his team can fluidly move between building styles and techniques, reinterpreting the past for the present. A sister company, Wadia Construction, works in tandem with the architectural team to ensure that work is exacting and cost-effective. While informed by history, tradition, images from the clients or books from the extensive office library, and buildings seen in travel, each project is unique and ultimately contemporary, designed for the modern day. Whether it be a renovation, addition, or new house, Wadia Associates strives for appropriateness, comfort, and human scale, no matter the size of the project. Defined by classic proportions and exquisite details inspired by houses from a bygone era, these homes have all the amenities and technology to meet the needs of the modern American family. Responding to the trends in taste and style, Wadia Associates has also produced traditionally inspired work that is sleeker and sparer in expression. Even the firm’s modern apartment commissions reflect the lessons of classical architecture. With a new office in Palm Beach, Florida, Wadia Associates continues to expand its repertoire with commissions inspired by Spanish Colonial and Mediterranean styles. But regardless of the locale or architectural composition, each Wadia Associates home is characterized by an innate sense of timelessness, settling calmly and easily into its surroundings.
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T H E F I N E A RT OF DE SIG N I NG A HOM E
into which new sympathetic design could seamlessly fall. With its natural rolling topography, back country scenery, shoreline exposures, and water views, the landscape of Fairfield County also created opportune moments to integrate houses, outbuildings, terraces, and gardens. Rather than specialize in a single type of design, Dinyar has always sought to excel in all traditional styles of architecture, calling upon what elements and styles best suit the confines, conditions, and context of each commission. His design philosophy encompasses a strict attention to detail, exceptional workmanship, the use of luxurious materials, and the integral relationship between a house and its surrounding landscape. This holistic approach permeates every Wadia project and has earned the firm several prestigious architectural and landscape awards as well as inclusion in Luxe, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, East Coast Home & Design, Traditional Home, Serendipity, and other magazines. With a staff of ten architects, an interior decorator, four construction managers, and support staff, the office is small yet dedicated and talented. This enables a hands-on approach. For everyone at Wadia Associates, designing a home is a process of discovery, building upon information gathered from the client and about the site. Some clients may know what they want; others might only have a general sense. The designer’s task is to draw it out and shape images and ideas into something new, concrete, and better than what was expected. At Wadia Associates, the professional relationship between architect and client results in houses that perfectly pull together the client’s needs and desires and respond to a specific site and context.
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Depending on the direction of a project, Dinyar Wadia and his team can fluidly move between building styles and techniques, reinterpreting the past for the present. A sister company, Wadia Construction, works in tandem with the architectural team to ensure that work is exacting and cost-effective. While informed by history, tradition, images from the clients or books from the extensive office library, and buildings seen in travel, each project is unique and ultimately contemporary, designed for the modern day. Whether it be a renovation, addition, or new house, Wadia Associates strives for appropriateness, comfort, and human scale, no matter the size of the project. Defined by classic proportions and exquisite details inspired by houses from a bygone era, these homes have all the amenities and technology to meet the needs of the modern American family. Responding to the trends in taste and style, Wadia Associates has also produced traditionally inspired work that is sleeker and sparer in expression. Even the firm’s modern apartment commissions reflect the lessons of classical architecture. With a new office in Palm Beach, Florida, Wadia Associates continues to expand its repertoire with commissions inspired by Spanish Colonial and Mediterranean styles. But regardless of the locale or architectural composition, each Wadia Associates home is characterized by an innate sense of timelessness, settling calmly and easily into its surroundings.
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RESIDENCES 18
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RESIDENCES 18
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A JACOBEAN MANOR Updating a Historic Style
Named after King James I, the Jacobean architecture of seventeenthcentury England incorporated elements of Renaissance design with a freer and more fanciful touch than the Elizabethan style that preceded it, making liberal use of columns, pilasters, arches, and open parapets detailed with carved stone. Inspired by British landmarks such as Crewe Hall in Cheshire and Bank Hall in Lancashire, this new Jacobean house in Greenwich, Connecticut, borrows aesthetic ideas from the historic models and wraps them around a thoroughly updated plan for a modern family.
centered on the entrance to the house while the rear is anchored by the dining room bay.
Like its precedents, it was important for the front and rear elevations to be predominately symmetrical, but the program modifications the client desired added an extra challenge. It wasn’t simply a matter of super imposing new façades on a pre-existing plan. Since the client wanted a much larger kitchen and breakfast room, Wadia had to find a way to incorporate more square footage into the plan without losing the basic symmetry of the rear elevation. To achieve this, Wadia pushed the dining room outward, making it the central axis point of the east elevation, and added symmetrical curved bays off the living and breakfast rooms to frame the covered porch in between. As a result, the main axis of the house subtly shifts from front to rear: the west-facing front elevation is
into the living and dining rooms where French doors access deep covered porches on both the rear and sides of the house. Carried out in shades of blue and cream, and richly stained paneling, the sun-filled rooms are decorated with comfortable furnishings. Instead of the heavily carved and ornate elements of Jacobean architecture, the interior details are lighter and more stylized, in keeping with the lifestyle of its modern-day occupants.
The solidity of the house is underlined by the extensive use of stone—as cladding, as detail, and as the thick graduated slate on the roof. On the exterior, the gold-and-cream-colored granite veneer and carved limestone are enhanced by the large punched openings of glass, articulated with a more typical muntin pattern on the lower window panels and more playful diamond panes above. As the thread tying the various elements of the façades together, a deeply carved limestone band course encircles This particular client had seen a conceptual design for a Jacobean manor the entire house, at some points weaving into the entablature of a side in Wadia’s office that had never been built and, while they loved the porch or the trim of the curved front bays and, at other moments, bowing elevations, they were not convinced by the corresponding floor plans. outwards as the cornice of the rear covered porch. Rather, they were taken by a plan for a Georgian country estate that On the first floor, twelve-foot ceilings create ample height for the tall Wadia had designed years prior and asked if the various elements from windows, French doors, and deep crown moldings. West-facing windows the two very different designs could somehow be married cohesively. flood the primary hallway running the width of the house with light. The result is a house that merges and subtly modifies the more formal The intersecting entry vestibule opens into a double-height hall with Georgian floor plan and incorporates exterior forms and details evocative a towering ceiling and a wraparound stair accented by a Chinois-style of the Jacobean style. painted wood balustrade. Large framed openings allow this space to spill
To the east, the lawn rolls down to a sunken tennis court surrounded by planting beds. At its head lies a pool and open pavilion with details that echo those of the rear porch overlooking the property.
Opposite Carved limestone details accent the stained mahogany front door.
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ru n n i ng dzialga head
A JACOBEAN MANOR Updating a Historic Style
Named after King James I, the Jacobean architecture of seventeenthcentury England incorporated elements of Renaissance design with a freer and more fanciful touch than the Elizabethan style that preceded it, making liberal use of columns, pilasters, arches, and open parapets detailed with carved stone. Inspired by British landmarks such as Crewe Hall in Cheshire and Bank Hall in Lancashire, this new Jacobean house in Greenwich, Connecticut, borrows aesthetic ideas from the historic models and wraps them around a thoroughly updated plan for a modern family.
centered on the entrance to the house while the rear is anchored by the dining room bay.
Like its precedents, it was important for the front and rear elevations to be predominately symmetrical, but the program modifications the client desired added an extra challenge. It wasn’t simply a matter of super imposing new façades on a pre-existing plan. Since the client wanted a much larger kitchen and breakfast room, Wadia had to find a way to incorporate more square footage into the plan without losing the basic symmetry of the rear elevation. To achieve this, Wadia pushed the dining room outward, making it the central axis point of the east elevation, and added symmetrical curved bays off the living and breakfast rooms to frame the covered porch in between. As a result, the main axis of the house subtly shifts from front to rear: the west-facing front elevation is
into the living and dining rooms where French doors access deep covered porches on both the rear and sides of the house. Carried out in shades of blue and cream, and richly stained paneling, the sun-filled rooms are decorated with comfortable furnishings. Instead of the heavily carved and ornate elements of Jacobean architecture, the interior details are lighter and more stylized, in keeping with the lifestyle of its modern-day occupants.
The solidity of the house is underlined by the extensive use of stone—as cladding, as detail, and as the thick graduated slate on the roof. On the exterior, the gold-and-cream-colored granite veneer and carved limestone are enhanced by the large punched openings of glass, articulated with a more typical muntin pattern on the lower window panels and more playful diamond panes above. As the thread tying the various elements of the façades together, a deeply carved limestone band course encircles This particular client had seen a conceptual design for a Jacobean manor the entire house, at some points weaving into the entablature of a side in Wadia’s office that had never been built and, while they loved the porch or the trim of the curved front bays and, at other moments, bowing elevations, they were not convinced by the corresponding floor plans. outwards as the cornice of the rear covered porch. Rather, they were taken by a plan for a Georgian country estate that On the first floor, twelve-foot ceilings create ample height for the tall Wadia had designed years prior and asked if the various elements from windows, French doors, and deep crown moldings. West-facing windows the two very different designs could somehow be married cohesively. flood the primary hallway running the width of the house with light. The result is a house that merges and subtly modifies the more formal The intersecting entry vestibule opens into a double-height hall with Georgian floor plan and incorporates exterior forms and details evocative a towering ceiling and a wraparound stair accented by a Chinois-style of the Jacobean style. painted wood balustrade. Large framed openings allow this space to spill
To the east, the lawn rolls down to a sunken tennis court surrounded by planting beds. At its head lies a pool and open pavilion with details that echo those of the rear porch overlooking the property.
Opposite Carved limestone details accent the stained mahogany front door.
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Inside gatefold The formal symmetry of the house is established by the layout of the parking court, the front door, center gable, and chimneys. Left The colors of the gold, brown, and cream fieldstone are complemented by the Indiana limestone, while the curved front bays counteract the planar effect of the front gables. Below A hand-drawn pencil sketch shows a conceptual study for the carved balustrade on the entrance faรงade.
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Inside gatefold The formal symmetry of the house is established by the layout of the parking court, the front door, center gable, and chimneys. Left The colors of the gold, brown, and cream fieldstone are complemented by the Indiana limestone, while the curved front bays counteract the planar effect of the front gables. Below A hand-drawn pencil sketch shows a conceptual study for the carved balustrade on the entrance faรงade.
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ENTRY PORCH
KITCHEN PORCH
BREAKFAST ROOM ENTRY HALL LIVING ROOM
LIBRARY PORCH
DINING ROOM
P.R.
LIBRARY
COATS
BASEMENT STAIR
BUTLER’S PANTRY
COAT HALLWAY
KITCHEN
FAMILY ROOM
MUDROOM
KITCHEN HALL
SIDE ENTRY PORCH
SIDE ENTRY
COATS
ENTRY VESTIBULE
BATHROOM OFFICE
STORAGE
3-CAR GARAGE
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ENTRY PORCH
KITCHEN PORCH
BREAKFAST ROOM ENTRY HALL LIVING ROOM
LIBRARY PORCH
DINING ROOM
P.R.
LIBRARY
COATS
BASEMENT STAIR
BUTLER’S PANTRY
COAT HALLWAY
KITCHEN
FAMILY ROOM
MUDROOM
KITCHEN HALL
SIDE ENTRY PORCH
SIDE ENTRY
COATS
ENTRY VESTIBULE
BATHROOM OFFICE
STORAGE
3-CAR GARAGE
N
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page 24 A dramatic first impression is created by the double-height entry hall with a stylized painted wood railing. Above A conceptual hand-drawn pencil sketch for the newel post and railing of the main stair RIGHT The large sunlit living room has an elaborate plaster ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows on two exposures.
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page 24 A dramatic first impression is created by the double-height entry hall with a stylized painted wood railing. Above A conceptual hand-drawn pencil sketch for the newel post and railing of the main stair RIGHT The large sunlit living room has an elaborate plaster ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows on two exposures.
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Above (left) The living room, stair hall, and dining room are arranged in an enfilade, allowing for views from one space to the next. (right) The carved stone mantel in the dining room is more Georgian in spirit. Opposite The mirrored backing of the dining room wainscoting, which echoes the design of the main stair, adds visual depth.
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Above (left) The living room, stair hall, and dining room are arranged in an enfilade, allowing for views from one space to the next. (right) The carved stone mantel in the dining room is more Georgian in spirit. Opposite The mirrored backing of the dining room wainscoting, which echoes the design of the main stair, adds visual depth.
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Above The warm and inviting library, which doubles as the husband’s office, is paneled in richly stained white oak. Opposite Heavy timber beams and shiplap details accent the vaulted ceiling in the family room.
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Above The warm and inviting library, which doubles as the husband’s office, is paneled in richly stained white oak. Opposite Heavy timber beams and shiplap details accent the vaulted ceiling in the family room.
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Opposite (top) The focal point of the master bedroom vestibule is the finely carved mantel. (bottom) The master bedroom has a curved seating bay and a door leading out to the balcony. Above The soaking tub fits neatly into the curve of the window bay.
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Opposite (top) The focal point of the master bedroom vestibule is the finely carved mantel. (bottom) The master bedroom has a curved seating bay and a door leading out to the balcony. Above The soaking tub fits neatly into the curve of the window bay.
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Above To the east, a covered stone terrace extends off the entry hall and kitchen. Above the covered terrace, the bedrooms enjoy balconies and direct access to the outdoors. Opposite (Top) The rear yard gently rolls down to a sunken tennis court surrounded by planting beds. (Bottom) At the head of the sunken tennis court sits a pool and an open pavilion with detailing that echoes the rear terrace of the house. FOLLOWING PAGES This dusk view of the rear of the house highlights the symmetry created by the clad gables and the intimate spaces created by the overhang of the rear balcony.
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Above To the east, a covered stone terrace extends off the entry hall and kitchen. Above the covered terrace, the bedrooms enjoy balconies and direct access to the outdoors. Opposite (Top) The rear yard gently rolls down to a sunken tennis court surrounded by planting beds. (Bottom) At the head of the sunken tennis court sits a pool and an open pavilion with detailing that echoes the rear terrace of the house. FOLLOWING PAGES This dusk view of the rear of the house highlights the symmetry created by the clad gables and the intimate spaces created by the overhang of the rear balcony.
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In the intervening years since Wadia Associates’ first monograph in 2007, Dinyar Wadia and his New Canaan, Connecticut-based team have substantially expanded their portfolio while continuing to demonstrate the versatility and adaptability of classical and traditional architecture in residential design. Whether a renovation or addition to a historic home or an entirely new house, each project is defined by its livability, timelessness, and thoughtful integration into its surroundings. And while they are inspired by history and tradition, each house is ultimately contemporary, designed for the modern day, and reflects the many conditions, voices, and collaborative forces that went into its design, telling a story of its own.
ISBN 9781864708738 ISBN 9781864708738
9 781864 708738 9 781864 708738
58000 58000
$80.00 [USA] ÂŁ65.00 [GB]