New England Design Hall of Fame 2008

The Second Annual New England Design Hall of Fame awards inductees have been announced by sponsor New England Home Magazine. The gala awards dinner will take place on Wednesday, November 12th at the State Room in Boston. I am so bummed - I have an invitation to attend but have a conflict and can't do it this year. It was an exciting event last year so if you're thinking of going, I highly recommend it!

I am going to spend the next week or so profiling the work of the five inductees. I start today with:

James Estes - Estes|Twombly Architects, Newport, Rhode Island

From their website:

Estes/Twombly's work consists of simple, innovative designs with firm roots in the New England tradition. We approach programs and problems with the belief that the best solutions are logical and direct, that a good design will appear inevitable.

After years of work on renovation and new construction projects in the northeast, our design aesthetic has evolved into a quiet modernism based on traditional methods and materials, with a sensitivity to local site and climatic conditions. Every site is different and necessarily requires a unique solution, whether it is responding to a view, a neighbor or the terrain. Through careful siting and design, we can break down the usually solid wall between indoors and outdoors, extending the warm seasons and providing natural heat and ventilation, in spite of the rugged New England climate.