Walk through a building that has aged well, and you will usually find the same thing: a few good materials, used honestly and put together with care. Stone that wears in rather than out. Wood that darkens and softens with use. Metal that develops a patina instead of peeling.
That idea runs through SM+P’s work, from private homes to restaurants to historic clubs.
A short list of real materials
We would rather use a handful of materials well than many materials badly. At the Greenspring Residence, the palette is slate and copper roofing, bluestone slabs and mitered cedar lap siding. When the owners later added a barn and a pool house, the same materials carried through, so three buildings built years apart read as one place.
Materials with a history
Some of the most characterful materials are the ones that have already had a life. The Greenspring barn includes an office finished in salvaged chestnut paneling. For a pool house in Cockeysville, SM+P worked with barn restorer Ken Epworth of The Barn People to convert an 18th-century New England barn, relocated to Maryland. Recycled barn materials, recycled metal roofing and geothermal energy make it one of the most environmentally considered projects in our portfolio.
Made by hand, made locally
When SM+P designed Woodberry Kitchen in a former industrial mill building, the architecture set out to match the restaurant’s farm-to-table approach: locally sourced food in a locally crafted room. SM+P’s in-house artisans fabricated the interior light fixtures and bench seating, and the work of other local craftspeople appears throughout.
Letting materials do the work
Good materials need little decoration. A marble, wood and brass bar, an oak locker, a slate roof or a blackened steel counter can carry a room on its own. The design job is to choose well, detail carefully and then step back.
Built to last
Honest materials cost more attention at the start, but they repay it over decades. They are easier to repair, they age gracefully, and they give a building a sense of permanence that clients and visitors feel immediately.
Planning a project and want it to feel as good in twenty years as it does on opening day? Contact SM+P Architects to start the conversation.