I don’t believe in experimenting on my clients, a house is too important. It’s an investment in your time, money and well-being that will, we hope, be around for many years, outliving its creators. As such, the house should reflect your life but also be adaptable to changes over time.

I welcome any and all input on your house design. Good design does not exist in a vacuum. I encourage your ideas in any form: photos, stories, your own drawings, even some other house design. Where the house will be and the building site is the essential starting point. The house has to feel as if it belongs and should be a good neighbor.

There are three major steps in the design process. First we start sketching ideas and that leads to a Schematic Design. With that we have a picture of the house and how it sits on the land. Next we flesh out these basic ideas, making all the aspects of the house work well together in Design Development. Finally, we prepare documents that are used by the builders of the house in the Construction Documents step.

It doesn’t actually stop there, though. We have to see that the house is built correctly. This is custom building and not everything is routine. A good builder is crucial. We trust that person to build honestly and intelligently, and for that reason I welcome the builders input. If the builder sees a better way to get the same result, or even a good design idea, I’m ready to listen. For you, the whole process should be rewarding, even fun. Why not? You’re spending a lot of money, and the design and building process should be just as rewarding as living in the house.

For the past three decades at Knight Associates I have been the lead architect for over 100 residential and institutional projects, including most of our Lucia’s Little Houses portfolio. As such, I have been responsible for their final design and construction administration, working closely with our clients and their builders. The projects shown here are ones in which I played an especially significant role in the ultimate design.