This Year's Norwalk Tree Courtesy of the Grotheers!

This morning, Andrew and I stopped at the Grotheer residence to witness "the chopping of the tree".  The 40 foot pine that used to grace Colin and Nicole's front yard is now this year's City of Norwalk Christmas Tree!  So exciting!  The Daily Norwalk was there doing a shoot and story you can read here.

Colin shot some video on his iPhone you'll have to see of the tree being lifted basically over his house.  A bit scary, but the professionals had it under control the whole time.  Roxy, however, did not seem pleased.

Come join the Beinfield Team at the official tree lighting at 6:30 pm on December 1st at 50 Washington Street in SoNo.  Hope to see you there!

A great article on Bruce from The Hour



photo from The Hour / Matthew Vinci

 Thanks to The Hour for a wonderful article on Bruce Beinfield FAIA, our fearless and talented leader.  Bruce has been a key player with a very measurable role in the dramatic transformation of South Norwalk over the last 25 years.  We are so glad he continues to get recognized for his visionary urban planning, high level of design, and tireless dedication to the community in which he lives and works.

Check out the article, written by John H. Palmer, here.

Beinfield Designs the First Inclusionary Zoning Project in Darien



745 Post Road | Rendering: Beinfield Architecture PC


The project, located at 745 Post Road, and developed by David Genovese and Penny Glassmeyer, will be the first project in Darien to achieve the 2009 Zoning regulations requiring at least a 12% affordable housing component for buildings exceeding 5 housing units.  

According to the October 13th article on The Darien Times front page, the Town of Darien as a whole is at "approximately 2.4% affordable housing stock."  You can check out the full article here.

AIA Connecticut Design Commission honors Beinfield Architecture once again in 2011

We are thrilled to announce Beinfield Architecture's 2011 AIA CT Design Award for their new single family Home in Ridgefield.  This incredible house definitely makes our list of favorite projects and clients.  Congratulations to Andrew Bartolotta AIA, Bruce Beinfield FAIA and the rest of the Project Team for the creativity, hard work, and attention to detail that made this project come to fruition.  Oh, and we had some fun too.



photos by Michele Scotto Trani


This is what the jurors had to say about the project:

This project is based on simple space and volumetric strategies. It provides a simple but effective stage for collections, a stage setting for the content of the building. The traditional heavy post and beam construction makes sense of the chaos of the collection. The New England barn is ideal for a collection such as this, providing form, but observers can see that something else is going on here. There are two important elements on the outside, the first is the translucent glass link, a very effective rhythm maker and the second is the “sideness” of the scheme, wherein the front is relatively impenetrable, but there is open glazing on the backside, making for a very different experience.

Beinfield keeps building around SoNo

There's been tons of action going on over at the 95/7 Parcel in South Norwalk, CT, known as District 95/7 SoNo.  But now that Planning and Zoning has approved the first phase of the project, the ball is really rolling!

Check out this article for more information on the District 95/7 SoNo project.

Another Beinfield designed restaurant hits the scene: Welcome the new farm to table Artisan at the Delamar

Artisan at the Delamar in Southport opened for it's first dinner service on July 13th and we at Beinfield are proud to be a part of it.  Congrats to Mark Goodwin AIA and Bruce Beinfield FAIA on yet another great addition to the Fairfield County dining scene.

We know how to eat over here, and we love farm to table restaurants.  We wish all the best to the team at Artisan.  Head over there now for dinner to experience the 'weekend in the country' feel.  And I hear breakfast and lunch are following come August.

Click here for a great piece on the restaurant from CTbites, and some more of their gorgeous photos (some of which I swiped below).

A Masterful Plan event at Lillian August: narrowly avoiding being swaddled in polyethylene

Did you miss us last week at Lillian August? We missed you.  Even though we had an incredible time at our booth at the Design District event.

So we tend to use common goods over here at Beinfield, to achieve uncommon and unexpected design.  It was touch and go for a while as we fervently debated over black polyethylene, but I wouldn't change a thing. After intensive and serious charrettes, the Beinfield Team came together and designed a modern, industrial and elegant display for our portfolio presentation (if I may say so).  

Many thanks to the team at Lillian August, David at Audiocom, and especially Terry and the crew at Leek Building Products, who made our design come together at the last second.  



action at the booth




preparing for the inevitable




Bruce Beinfield FAIA and Andrew Bartolotta AIA manning their posts




I totally slaved over this book.  Now Seelan wants to keep it.  I think not, Seelan Pather.



Come visit us this Thursday at Lillian August's "A Masterful Plan" event!

Our very own Architects will be there to discuss renovating your home, or designing a new one from the ground up.  Come over to Lillian August's flagship store on Knight Street in Norwalk, Connecticut, to say hello between 4 and 7 pm on Thursday, May 12th.

Click here for more about the event from Lillian August.

Check out Beinfield's new face on Facebook. And 'like' us while you're over there.

Click here to visit and 'Like' us on Facebook.

Stepping Stones Museum for Children and Beinfield Architecture Receive GOLD LEED Certification

Congratulations to the entire Project Team!  Stepping Stones Museum for Children has earned the coveted ranking of LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council! 

The Museum says they "garnered LEED Gold certification because of the solar panels, "green" roof, wind turbine, use of recycled materials throughout the building and [their] focus on related educational stewardship."  The design and program also include energy efficient lighting, storm water management, and a food court offering locally grown, organic produce.

Stepping Stones is now one of only 3 public buildings in the State of Connecticut to achieve the LEED Gold certification.  In case you didn't already know, LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Beinfield Architecture is incredibly proud to be part of this groundbreaking project.

Simple New England Charm

One of the benefits of living and working in Connecticut, is living and working in Connecticut. New England is beautiful. And architecturally, it's history is rich with simple charm and functional beauty.

The materials for this inviting house were carefully chosen to evoke the farm buildings of New England: white clapboard, rustic fieldstone base and cedar roof.  The white-on-white sculptural starkness is most evident in the wide board window trim and articulated entry.

The interiors provide calm for the client by reflecting the casual nature of country living. Tons of light and clean white materials bathe the house with warmth and elegance.  We are thrilled with this house, and it's ability to satisfy our client's vision for a simple and charming New England retreat.

Jewel Box Bath

Check out this cool, new, modern bathroom we've recently completed!

Spring Can't Arrive Quickly Enough

The huge piles of snow seemed to linger interminably this year, but everything is wet and melting.  Colin even came in this week and said stuff is happening in his garden already! So for me that means spring photo shoots.  I can't wait to get out to our recently or just-about-completed residential projects and grab some more shots!

Bruce took these at the edge of fall last year with his little point and shoot, and I have to say, they are not bad!  I knew that man had a good eye.

And we have an amazing project coming together in Wilton that's just screaming to be photographed.  I got a few shots last year before the weather turned and I've been dreaming about getting back there ever since.

Architect Barbie | Amazon Wishlist

It's Crazy Town over here at Beinfield Architecture, and the announcement of Architect Barbie, due out later this year, has only fueled the fires.



image via Mattel



The American Institute of Architect has this to say about the release of the iconic doll as Architect in Barbies "I Can Be..." series.

Although, I am glad to see a long overdue Barbie as Architect, especially with the field so dominated by men, I have give a mild roll the eyes.  (I'm trying to do it pretty far down in the post so Bruce never sees it because he's scarily excited about this development.)  I'll give her the high heels because her feet are designed for them and every woman loves a high heel.  Glasses, because she's studious?  A drawing roll not seen since the early 90s?  And pink?  When was the last time you saw a scale model in pink?  Or clothing other than black (or khaki if you're in Fairfield County) in an Architect's office?

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, the only questions really is, 'how many dolls are we ordering?'  Because she's totally a career step up from this one we've got harnessed up in the back room: