The Dibello Architecture Design Process

We encourage you to watch this video to learn about our vernacular architecture approach to designing custom homes and unique commercial spaces.

Video Transcript of The Dibello Architecture Design Process

Thank you for considering DiBello Architects for your new home design. Here’s a brief look at our creative process and the passion that drives it.

Initially, I’m really looking to pull out from you your vision for the house, how you see yourself and your family living there, your thoughts about materials and the style of the home, and what’s special to you about the property. These first meetings at the building site in my office are all about uncovering your most important goals and vision for the house design.

We’ll use those goals as the roadmap to guide the design process. We then spend some time out on the site studying the landscape. A lot of times we’ll imagine our client sitting out under a covered porch and looking out to a view. And when we’re walking around the site we’ll try to find the optimum spot for that porch to be placed.

That’s a starting place for us. It anchors the main body of the house and the other spaces can grow out from there. We want the home to feel as if it’s been fit into the landscape, as if it’s been there for a long time. We begin to develop a conceptual design on sketch paper. This is the point where the big idea for the project starts to take shape.

We’re guided in our approach by studying the way old houses are put together. There’s an amazing freedom and clarity that comes when working within the rules of traditional architectural style. The resulting forms are elegant.

We also like to create an implied history for the house to make it look like it’s grown in place over time. We want it to look like an original rock house here, a wing that was added, a porch that was glassed in. This helps to give the home the soul of an old house and provides a way to control the massiveness of the home and connect it to the land.

Your vision for the house is the starting point in this creative process. Our favorite thing is to capture that vision in a home that you’ll love to live in. A well crafted home that is built for the ages, that will be a part of your family’s legacy.