Roots of Home

Within each category of influence, you show new houses that beautifully illustrate your points. How did you find these houses?

We did a lot of Googling. We wanted to find examples of new old houses to show that the old traditions are still fresh, still evolving. We began by looking at the portfolios of firms that are members of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America. We also looked at new traditional homes that had won design awards or had appeared in magazines that feature classic houses, such as Southern Accents. We contacted colleagues and posted on Listservs, and when those sources ran dry, we turned to the American Institute of Architects to look at the Web sites of hundreds of firms. It was a painstaking treasure hunt.

You’ve been practicing architecture for more than two decades. How did you become interested in it?

A flair for the artistic was hardwired in my family. My mother is an art historian and museum curator, my father is a plastic surgeon, and both parents are avid art collectors. My two sisters went into creative professions -- fashion design and the theater -- and I followed my brother into architecture, after starting as a sculptor, furnituremaker, and preservationist. I have approached architecture as a craftsman rather than as a theorist. I like to hold the making of a house in my hands, to feel what materials it’s made of and how the artisans fashion the parts. Knowing the craft is what makes me a traditionalist.

What is your own house like?

I live in a tiny 1740s Virginia German stone farmhouse, the original home on an old farm that now sits right on the fairway of a golf course. It’s 1,600 square feet with well-worn heart-pine floors, beamed ceilings, and cast-iron rim locks, and nothing is plumb or square. I’m in traditionalist heaven. When I moved there 10 years ago, I thought it would be a temporary roost until my fiancée and I could find a large, gracious old Southern home, or the right land on which to build. But that hasn’t happened yet, and, actually, it’s been a blessing. Our ideas of what we need and want in a house have changed a lot in the past decade.

You advocate thinking globally and building locally. What do we gain by this?

Building a new home in the style that is native to your area is really a green way to build. The old building traditions were developed by our forefathers with great respect for the natural world and the power of climate and weather. For years Americans behaved as if weather was merely an inconvenience; after all, we had air-conditioning and heating, cars and office jobs. But recently we have seen the realities of fossil fuel depletion and climate change; places have been leveled by huge natural disasters. As a result, we have begun to regain the respect for the natural world that guided our ancestors’ lives. By using local building techniques, we create houses that stand up to the weather, use less energy, and take advantage of native materials. It’s a natural way to build that’s “traditional-green” rather than “techno-green.” The result is homes that enhance the places we love.

RESOURCES: Russell Versaci Architecture, 540/687-8777, www.russellversaci.com; Michael G. Imber Architects, 210/824-7703, www.michaelgimber.com; Donald M. Rattner, Studio for Civil Architecture PLLC, 212/625-3336, www.thecivilstudio.com; Ignacio Salas-Humara, Lopez Salas Architects, Inc., 210/734-4448, www.lopezsalas.com.