Heirlooms to Live in

A specific region's environmental needs often leads to a regional vernacular architecture that embodies a common style. Yet, Hutker Architects, Inc., has designed over two hundred homes in coastal New England that avoid a single style. The twenty-five diverse residential projects in this book illustrate a process not a preordained style. The common thread through the Hutker projects is use of the life equity principle: a home should generate social and emotional equity over time. The conversation between the architect and each client unveils how to design and build this home once well to ensure positive and enduring social and emotional outcomes. A home with life equity provides for the owner's long term needs, both physical and psychological, uses materials best suited to the spaces needed, and accommodates ever-changing family arrangements. The Hutker homes fit clients so well, that they are rarely sold outside the families that build them. Whether small or large, owners treat these homes as heirlooms to be preserved and handed down to the next generation.