In. Site: Architecture

We proudly received 2 awards at this year's AIA Rochester Design Awards Celebration!

First, the Grand Honor Award for our work in partnership with EarthPlay and TWM, a Fisher Associates Landscape Architecture Studio on the Autism Nature Trail at Letchworth State Park. This is the highest honor awarded by AIA Rochester, a distinction rarely given out as part of the design awards. We invite you to come visit the ANT in Letchworth if you haven’t yet, and enjoy the regionally renown trail!

Secondly, a Design Award for buildingOUT, a multi-stage renovation of a historic homestead on Long Island dating back to 1688, in collaboration with Summerhill Landscapes.

📷 : Tim Wilkes Photography

Thanks to the team at Views and Vines Homes, the tower house overlooking Keuka Lake is taking shape quite quickly!

Like our children, we give our buildings roots and wings. This tower house will climb four stories to commune with the tree canopy and distant Keuka Lake. But it starts with "ground-breaking". Here, our fine builders Views and Vines Homes helping give it roots. More to come through the year.

Farmers' Market season is upon us. We look forward to sharing one of our most recent one soon (that's you Brighton Farmers' Market )
At their best, these markets are community Third Places. Design enters in. And that means thinking about design in a broader way. Click the link for some tips.

Embracing Earth Day in our earthy colors, blossoming Bradford Pear trees and clear blue sky. The office of In. Site: Architecture overlooks beautiful Main Street in Perry NY.

We're thrilled to announce that Rick has been awarded the AIA Rochester Medal of Distinction! 🎖 This prestigious accolade recognizes a lifetime of exceptional achievement in architecture, highlighting Rick's outstanding service to the profession, our chapter, and the community. This award stands as the highest honor that AIA Rochester can bestow upon one of its members. Join us in congratulating Rick for this well-deserved recognition!

buildingOUT | Part 3 Building Out

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The out-ing of so many elements allowed us elbow room to integrate the three parts of the home. From the 17th-century wing, the kitchen flows outward in all directions:

- south to sunshine and vegetable gardens;

- north to an elevated dining patio affording harbor views;

- east to arrival;

- west into a wide-open dining and family room; and

- up, via a removed ceiling, to grab light and air from existing dormers, while stairs climb to a mezzanine linking the sleeping spaces.

Throughout, precise modern craft, material and detailing showcase 300-year old timbers, penning the next chapter on this storied property, written in sun, stone, steel, water and wood.

Building Contractor: Lettieri Construction
Landscape Contractor: Summerhill
Photographer: Tim Wilkes Photography

buildingOUT | Part 2 Landscape

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The landscape knits the dispersed outbuildings together. Lushly-planted dry creekbeds become the organizing design armature, capturing stormwater that once caused flooding. De-paving, paths, footbridges, patios and gardens link destinations, facilitating indoor-outdoor living.

Building Contractor: Lettieri Construction
Landscape Contractor: Summerhill
Photographer: Tim Wilkes Photography

buildingOUT | Part 1 Out Buildings

A growing family makes room for modern living in a historic home by identifying key needs… and then kicking them out.

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Over the centuries, two structurally distinct additions to the original 1688 house resulted in segmentation and squirreliness, leaving three-quarters of the home rarely used.

Fortunately, the home sits on ten acres, with ten outbuildings that once served traditional functions. So, to make space for interconnected living inside the house, we evicted several program elements that now live, scattered, in these white-washed brick structures:

-Where the milkman once kept his delivery cool in a flooded-floor pondhouse, we created a home office.

-A small, earth-sheltered icehouse now holds exercise equipment.

-Near the kitchen door, the tiny white-washed summer cottage serves as a lofty, self-contained suite for visitors.

-Finally, the stables became a “knockbox,” an all-weather space where their five kids can let loose. Sliding barn doors conceal its purpose when not in use.

Building Contractor: Lettieri Construction
Landscape Contractor: Summerhill
Photographer: Tim Wilkes Photography

We are excited to see this new residence taking shape!

Contractor: Peyton Barlow Construction Inc

Do you have a building in your community that is vacant and deteriorating? Does the cost of rehabilitation seem to be beyond the financial ability of its current owner or any buyer? Come and hear how the Main Street LLC model can help!

“Main Street LLC” is a proven model that can create a success story that itself leads to wider reinvestment in a community. Rick Hauser of In. Site: Architecture will share how this replicable model was created and has helped to transform multiple properties in the Village of Perry.

📍Where: The Hillcrest Estate, 1940 Craig Road, Pavilion
📆 When: Monday, June 12th at 7PM

There is no cost to attend this event but space is limited. Registration is required, be sure to register by Friday, June 9th! Sign up today at https://tinyurl.com/rv3cn5vd
Visit our website growlivco.com today to learn about how we work to grow Livingston County every day.

The Brighton Winter Farmers Market is beginning to take shape!

Our office is expanding! We are looking for a Front Office Assistant Manager to join our team! Please share and help us find the next ISA team member!

this week in our Nature at the Center Studio

Another to FLIPhouse, one of our award-winning projects from 2010

We flipped a 1924 village home around. A transformational addition contains open living space that expands three-dimensionally to engage site, access light, and commune with the sky.

The splayed geometry originated from the turning radius of a small car from the shared driveway into the garage. The extension of that angle serves to open the kitchen and living space to the intimate back yard and park beyond. Windows on the south and east rise up over a neighboring fence to capture winter sunlight and connect occupants with the light and colors of the changing seasons.

in our Downtowns Studio

to our award-winning project from 2009: TREEhouse

An artist and a writer mandated a "treehouse on the cliff" overlooking Irondequoit Bay. Our design goes vertical. 1500 sf of living space is kept open; infused with southern light, while knitting space at each of four levels to the western view via patios and balconies.

The sculptor gets a “lair” at walkout level while the writer’s “nest” is perched at the top. A rooftop terrace provides a modest square of sunlight for growing roses on an otherwise densely shaded property.

recently in our Nature at the Center Studio

Unveiling this year's holiday work-of-art by James with a special appearance from the three "ANT aunts!" Season's Greetings and Happy New Year from all of us at ISA!!

Delighted to see our team-built ornament, "From the Rubble," displayed prominently on our friend's tree!!

Aquired at auction at the AIA Rochester holiday celebration 😀 .sitearchitecture

Ali is in town so that means Phase 2 of our office expansion is underway!

to our award-winning project from 2008: SLIDEhouse

A retired couple chose to occupy an uninhabited 1800's farmhouse with low ceilings, sparse windows, steep stairs, no 2nd-floor bathroom, and lots of "charm." The directive was to make everything work.

The roof over this pint-sized addition visually "slides" away, allowing the house to breathe in light and air - and retain views - from its second floor. Inspired by a vernacular roadside strawberry shack, the roof cantilevers over an expansive protected patio to encourage outdoor living.

Sometimes the growth of a downtown requires taking infrastructure that has outlived its usefulness and reinventing it as something more. Shown here is a new vision for a former single-lane automobile bridge that has long been closed due to structural deterioration. Working closely with the NYS Canal Corp., Village of Waterloo, and several other entities, we developed a plan for converting the bridge into a multi-modal connection from downtown to the Seneca-Cayuga Canal Trail.

The ANT at Letchworth State Park

Winner of the 2022 Upstate ASLA Honor Award Designed in partnership with TWM, a Fisher Associates Landscape Architecture Studio and EarthPlay

The Autism Nature Trail, or ANT, began as an In. Site: Architecture napkin sketch at the request of three women who would go on to become the ANT Aunts - Loren Penman, Gail Serventi, and Susan Herrnstein - to help them visualize the possibilities of a trail designed to serve those on the spectrum. Seven years later, that vision has been turned into an engaging one-mile-long trail with stations along the way that help orient and lead visitors - especially special-needs visitors - on a sensory journey to explore nature at their own pace.

Have you ever wondered if a Star Trek-themed hotel was a viable business model? We worked with a developer in Ticonderoga, NY to assess the existing conditions, necessary life-safety improvements, and overall feasibility of the project while navigating several New York State incentive programs.

to our award-winning project from 2004: NATUREhouse

A wooded knoll inspired the owners to commune with the site; our solution viewed the house as a path back to nature. This path extends from the entry, through the home, to a raised deck amidst the trees. An adjacent block wall weaves the outside in, stores winter sun’s warmth, separates private and shared functions. Materials include cedar siding, steel roof, concrete block, and bamboo floor.

Are you listening to what your site is telling you?

CALL AND RESPONSE: The Site Speaks - We Listen: A Case Study. — in.site:architecture “Site” is a loaded word – in a good way. It’s loaded with opportunity for us as architects, if we’re quiet enough to hear what the site is saying. A previous post, “ What Camping Teaches Us ”, describes the lessons we can learn in the process.