DaSilva '85 showcases summer house designs

 

The author: The principal in charge of architectural design for the firm Polhemus Savery DaSilva, the author seeks to create “fresh interpretations of traditional approaches” and designs that are in “harmony with the land [and] relate appropriately to both the neighboring context and the continuum of architectural history.” Said DaSilva, “I like to do work that is related to historical architecture but that is also fresh and of our times.  I think our architecture should not take itself too seriously — it should be playful and fun, even whimsical.” DaSilva, who lives on Cape Cod, also is the author of Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer (2008).

The book: This monograph of the recent work of the design/build firm Polhemus Savery DaSilva includes more than 400 color photographs of shingled summer homes. With short introductory text in each section, the book is organized by elements, including façades, porches, family rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens. DaSilva’s firm, which serves as both the architect and general contractor for its projects, works primarily in coastal southern New England. Robert Venturi ’47 *50 has written of DaSilva’s work: “Here is architecture sublimely contextual, … teeming with exquisite details — rich and varied in their extreme beauty. One is constantly fascinated and at the same time always at ease when outside and inside these intriguing buildings.”

 

From the book: “Harriet Beecher Stowe, the 19th-century social reformer, first identified the single-family home as our country’s great spiritual center. This is even more true in today’s highly complex world than it was in Stowe’s. … For most people one’s own home, along with the family that occupies it, is the spiritual center of one’s life. … Our dreams are bound with, and nurtured by, our homes. … More than just a picture book, [this book] is a catalog of dreams and possibilities for those considering their own shingled house in the summer sun.”