We are a 13-person firm in Blue Hill, Maine engaged in the design of custom houses and small institutional projects. Much of our work is on the Maine coast and islands, and it is this extraordinary environment -- natural, cultural, and architectural -- that provides the starting point and inspiration for our work. As we move beyond this starting point, however, we enter on a process of rigorous design exploration that is the foundation of how we work.

In that process we apply a wide array of forms and methods, offering clients access to the whole language of architecture without limiting ourselves to any stylistic school or niche. By presenting options from across the spectrum, we make clear that our aim is not to make an architectural statement for ourselves, but to produce buildings that express something essential and authentic about their owner, their place, and their time.

Working this way requires that both client and architect resist preconceived images in the pursuit of something that arises genuinely from the matters at hand. It also engages our office in the stimulating, strenuous, and constant business of balancing our taste for novelty with our desire for permanence, our interest in new technology with our love of local and natural materials, an impulse toward order and thoughtful reductiveness with a growing interest in ambiguity and complexity.

Such issues become grist for the mill of our firm, which includes both experienced architects and those recently out of school. Our flat management structure and our single-room studio promote a collaborative process that revolves around an energetic and heartfelt conversation about architecture. In this atmosphere, each project comes to address not only its particular client's program but also the underlying principles that direct our body of work.

We continue to seek ways to reflect upon and respond to the times in which we live, being thoughtful about our use of materials and resources and supporting efforts to sustain and enhance the natural beauty of our surroundings.

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