What draws a lot of people to live in Western North Carolina are the beautiful mountain views at every turn. When designing a home in the mountains, creating a strong connection to the outdoors is a must. Whether it's a patio, a deck or a screened-in porch, these outdoor spaces extend the interior living spaces to the outside for year-round enjoyment. Below are six inviting outdoor living spaces.

We have fallen in love with the “bach” - and so have our clients! While living in New Zealand, our clients discovered the bach (pronounced “batch”), a traditional and modest beachside home tucked among the cliffs. The name is thought to derive from “bachelor pad” or perhaps from the Welsh word for “small.”

Our studio has a set of 12 values that are the foundation of our work. Continuing with our blog series that highlights each of the values, today we will focus on Family. “We work in a place where trust and communication create meaningful human relationships. We support each other, we laugh and cry together, we enjoy the challenges of our work together and we appreciate each other. We believe in supporting each other as we grow as humans and as architects.” Each member of our team brings unique strengths and personalities to our studio. It’s important to us that we take the

We are continuing our blog series on our studio’s core values. Today we focus on Civic Responsibility. “We stay informed of local, regional and global issues and make time for service to these issues and our community. We are advocates for society’s shared success and believe that one person can make a difference.” 2020 has brought many changes to our studio: we celebrated our 35th anniversary, we transitioned our team to working remotely, and supported our clients in adapting to a pandemic. On November 3th we all have the opportunity to create change in our community by using our vote to

Continuing with our blog series that highlights each of our studio's core values, today we will focus on Evolution. At Samsel Architects, we thrive on evolution. We spend time during the design process in each project to explore new ideas and push our design, building on our past to push us towards our future. As individuals and as a firm, we value learning in every way. We are most satisfied when we challenge the status quo in our design and in our own lives. We move the bar, play with the existing paradigm, and are unafraid to let go of what