Meet the Architects

Mark A. Hutker, AIA

Hutker Architects Inc.
Falmouth, Massachusetts
(508) 540-0048

YEARS IN BUSINESS 25

WHAT IS YOUR MOST RECENT NOTABLE PROJECT? A home on Martha’s Vineyard that grows out of the landscape where one can experience the house by moving up and over it, front to back, always aware of your relationship to the land of which the home is a part.  Yes, there is an occupy-able green roof and geothermal heating system.  

WHAT IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE YOU’VE SEEN IN CLIENT REQUESTS OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS? Clients are much more aware of building sustainably, but a lot of it is surface gloss.  So we enjoy really digging into the ethos of stewardship with each client and see how they want to connect with the community of which they are becoming a part.

WHO IS YOUR DESIGN MENTOR? I admire most of Alvar Aalto’s work.  Peter Bohlin, Brian Mackay-Lyons, Rick Joy, Frank Harmon and other regionalists are all creating inspiring architecture.  

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME AN ARCHITECT? Making tree houses in the woods in Bloomington Indiana.

 

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John R. DaSilva, AIA

Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects Builders
Chatham, Massachusetts
(508) 945-4500

YEARS IN BUSINESS 14

WHAT IS YOUR MOST RECENT NOTABLE PROJECT? We recently won three Bulfinch Awards for excellence in traditional design and construction in New England. Our most notable project, however, is yet to come.  It is always the next one!

WHAT IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE YOU’VE SEEN IN CLIENT REQUESTS OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS? The economic conditions of the last two years have made clients more cautious. They do more research and demand clarity in all their interactions. We welcome this as it is the way we have always insisted on working.

WHO IS YOUR DESIGN MENTOR? Robert Venturi taught me to love architectural history. His insistence on studying architects (like Lutyens, Soane, Furness) who eschewed easy solutions and were committed to both solving problems and developing architecture as a practical, evolutionary (rather than revolutionary), art has always resonated with me.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME AN ARCHITECT? I always wanted to be an architect. My mother was an amateur painter whose works often depicted complex geometric relationships.  I loved them, and I was also very excited by construction sites.  Architecture brought these passions together.

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Shannon Christopher Alther, AIA

TMS Architects
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
(603) 436-4274

YEARS IN BUSINESS 26

 

 

 

WHAT IS YOUR MOST RECENT NOTABLE PROJECT? A renovation/rejuvenation of an existing automobile dealership that was a metal building built in the 1970’s into a zero energy building.  I was also the project manager for the Wentworth By The Sea Hotel of which we are all very proud.

WHAT IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE YOU’VE SEEN IN CLIENT REQUESTS OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS? Clients want projects done sooner but with the same attention to detail and information in the drawings. Homes are also getting smaller with more attention paid to energy efficiencies.

WHO IS YOUR DESIGN MENTOR? I am not sure that I have a design mentor.  I typically try and let the client, the site and the budget help shape the design.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME AN ARCHITECT? Working with my Dad in the construction field and building sculptures out of macaroni elbows on my kitchen table when I was eight years old.