Whole-House Remodeling

All Together Now

By David Zuckerman

Though this whole-house remodel covers 3,800 square feet, cohesion is the design's defining feature. Marked by an obsession with grids, architect-homeowner Barry Sugerman's design aesthetic dominates every room.

The project, deemed by one judge "a successful composition," comes off as much because of its idiosyncratic details as the consistency of its singular style. One example is the profusion of niches, build-outs, and recesses that, with help from well-placed accent lights, display the family's art collection. Another is the living-room ceiling. After stripping the drywall, Sugerman removed every second joist and doubled those remaining, then redrywalled the joists to produce both another grid and a seemingly higher ceiling.

Remodeler Rick Gay, whose company, Bedrock Construction, built the project, says Sugerman's fondness for clean lines meant his crew had to be dead-on. "The biggest challenge was getting everything to line up," he says. "Everything had to be precisely on the mark."

Category: Whole-house remodeling, over $300,000

Location: Bay Harbour Islands, Fla.

Contractor: Rick Gay, Bedrock Construction, Miami

Designer: Barry Sugerman, Barry Sugerman Architect, Miami

REMODELING Design Awards 2003