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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Westport Builder Wins Award for Best Custom Home

A waterfront home at 32 Edgewater Hillside in Westport built by Miro Builders of Westport was honored with the 2008 HOBI award for best custom home (3,000 - 4,000 square feet) by the Home Builders Association of Connecticut.
The award-winning builder called the residence at 32 Edgewater Hillside “a spectacular beach house.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo by Olson Photographic, LLC

The winning home was designed by Norwalk-based architect Roger Bartels of Bartels-Pagliaro Architects, LLC who also won the 2008 HOBI award for architect of the year.

In addition, the house was selected by the editors of Architectural Digest as one of the top design projects worldwide for 2008. The home is currently being featured on the magazine’s Web site.

The residence was honored both for the architecture as well as the interior design which was done by the homeowner and Kathy Groener, owner of the Westport firm, K & D Design.

Don Miro, principal of Westport-based Miro Builders, was honored by the HOBI judges for his creativity in dealing with the challenges of executing a “one-of-a-kind” project with many curves and special finishes.

“This is a spectacular beach house that represented some unprecedented challenges for us,” sad Miro.

“Unusual design and structural elements included the uniquely curved roof lines and walls, conical shaped turrets which house shower enclosures, custom doors and details and the zoning restrictions in constructing the foundation system which was built on piers.

“When the final stucco was applied, it located the walls within one-quarter inch of the setbacks on three sides of the home. Given the enormous amount of detail in the scaled-down footprint, this endeavor was truly similar to building a Swiss watch. This was a terrific challenge which I am truly proud to have been a part of.”

The prestigious HOBI Award was decided by peer review after judges received submissions from the Association’s 1,400 member firms.

The Home Builders Association of Connecticut is a statewide professional organization representing builders, developers and contractors that provide service to the building industry.

The antithesis of the box-like spec houses of the past decade, Westport’s waterfront HOBI winner was also designed to be environmentally sensitive and celebrate the beauty of the native plantings along the fragile shoreline

The architect, Roger Bartels, said, “The house could be thought of as living life within a two-story magic wall, with an undulating stucco surface facing the street and a facetted glass plane facing the water.

“Within these two screens, a meticulously detailed three bedroom, three and a half bathroom home has been crafted – filled with form and vistas – enlivened by sunlight and water views.”

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Credit should also go to the homeowners themselves, whose vision this was.

The homeowners are Charlie and Victoria Gelber.

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