Year-Round Outdoor Living Spaces
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.
Three Samsel Projects Receive AIA Asheville Awards
We are excited to announce three Samsel Architects projects received a 2022 AIA Asheville Award during their annual Design Awards ceremony on the evening of May 12. We appreciate AIA Asheville for the awards as well as the project team for each winner.
Our Values: Evolution
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
Through the Years: Preservation Projects
2020 marks thirty-five years for our firm. Since our founding, we have worked on hundreds of projects of all kinds throughout the Southern Appalachian region. In honor of the anniversary, we are reviewing the evolution of our projects since opening our doors in 1985. Today we take a glimpse at a handful of our historic preservation projects in downtown Asheville. You can see the previous 35th Anniversary posts here: Hospitality & Education Commercial Residences 1 Residences 2
Through the Years: Residential Projects 2
2020 marks thirty-five years for our firm and we have decades of past work that won’t fit on our website. This summer we are digging through our archives and looking back at the evolution of our work since opening our doors in 1985. This is the second installment of our past residential projects. You can see the first installment here. Check back soon for the next installment.
Through the Years: Residential Projects 1
2020 marks thirty-five years for our firm and we have decades of past work that won’t fit on our website. So, this summer, we are digging through our archives and looking back at the evolution of our work since opening our doors in 1985. Today we take a glimpse at some of our past residential projects. Check back soon for even more of our project archives.
Modern Cabin among the Red Spruces
Our client, an avid outdoorsman and environmentalist, came to us with a unique piece of land in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Our shared vision for this modern cabin design was to minimize the impact on this fragile ecosystem. The building site is within a dense red spruce forest at 5,700 feet elevation. The evergreen forest and high elevation create a micro climate and habitat that supports rare species of flora and fauna. The design concept began with concealing the visual impact of the cabin as much as possible. We placed the cabin downhill, away from the parking area and preserved a
Modern Cottage in Biltmore Forest
This woodland cottage, located in the Town of Biltmore Forest, near Asheville, North Carolina and the landmark Biltmore Estate, is modern in its construction while holding true to historic examples in the area. From the first glimpse of the exterior through the trees, the house appears as if it has always been there. In response to our client’s request that the house not appear dominant or outwardly showy, we rotated the home’s linear footprint to greet guests with its shortest façade, presenting the impression of a small cottage. The design of the house alludes to the countryside homes of C.F.A. Voysey,
Haywood Page Project Update
Samsel Architects is part of the design team creating the master plan for the property at the junction of Haywood Road and Page Avenue, known locally in Asheville as the “Pit of Despair.” We teamed up with Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and the City of Asheville to transform this neglected area into a unique cultural center. History This area of Asheville was home to the original Battery Park Hotel, which sat upon Stony Hill at an elevation seventy feet above the current site. The Hotel was demolished and Stony Hill excavated to flatten the area for the new Battery Park Hotel