It’s always fun to see the evolution of our projects, as they change hands with new ownership. Our original client for Benedict Canyon was from the sports world, and he wanted an open-plan house for entertaining, that would also include a photography studio and gallery space for displaying his large scale artworks.

Open volumes add spaciousness to a home, and skylights bring in floods of natural light. Together these signature design elements create a bright and modern living environment.

The pandemic has changed how we live in our homes, and there’s a growing desire now to build ones that we can really fall in love with.

Our work is seen as the inventive orchestration of space realized in stone, wood, glass, and steel. But there is another, ethereal, yet fundamental component to the design–daylight. Understanding its direction, movement, and intensity in terms of the building site is the starting point. 

Looking through our design archives at the number of projects and the terrific clients we’ve enjoyed serving, three and a half decades has added up to a body of work we are excited to celebrate and share with you, along with commentary from principal architect Marc Whipple.

A house open to the outdoors is now a staple of modern residential design and is a defining hallmark of Whipple Russell’s design for a West Coast lifestyle.

In his travels, Marc has spent time in the Far East where the presence of water is essential in both Chinese and Japanese landscape design.

Most basically, our houses give us shelter from the weather, a place to sleep protected from lions and tigers and bears, and room to keep our stuff.

Our client, who is from the sports world, wanted an open-plan house for entertaining but also a photography studio and a gallery space suitable for hanging his large art projects.