 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | The work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects Builders reflects the special qualities of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. This is a region of stunning landscapes and water views, crisp ocean-reflected light, classic villages, and abundant opportunities for playful living. Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer presents more than ten years of evocative design and well crafted construction that is rooted in this fabled place. In an architectural world increasingly polarized between strict revivalist classicism and "avant-garde" abstraction, the work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva displays a compelling third way. The book features twenty-five projects that range from modest to elaborate. Each is an individual creation tailored to its specific location and client. Several additional projects are depicted in a chronology of the firm's major work. The volume contains an eloquent introduction and text by Michael J. Crosbie, as well as forewords by renowned architects Cesar Pelli and Robert Venturi. An essay by John R. DaSilva, Design Partner, describes the firm's approach and revisits the genesis of the Shingle Style that is so influential in residential architecture today. Drawings by the firm and more than four hundred color photographs by leading architectural photographers illustrate this sixth volume of the New Classicists series. From the Publisher The work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva depicted in this book has been praised by some of the most well respected architects in the world. The following are some of their comments: "Here is architecture sublimely contextual within the natural/rural, cultural-historical place that is Cape Cod....teeming with exquisite details - rich and varied in their extreme beauty.... One is constantly fascinated and at the same time always at ease when outside and inside these intriguing buildings. Viva the joy and wit, the elegance and charm, of this architecture which is ultimately mannerist in its complex and contradictory quality!" Robert Venturi "... they have reached deep in the architectural traditions of Cape Cod to produce charming and intelligent designs. The buildings... feel like up-to-date evolutions of Cape Cod architecture, deeply influenced by shingle-style architecture. This connection with the tradition of buildings of Cape Cod makes the designs... natural to the place and at the same time feel fresh and of our time." Cesar Pelli "The world of Polhemus Savery DaSilva is so enormously refreshing, as this work takes the best of the Cape's context together with the architect's own personal approach and melds them into a body of uncompromising domestic architecture." Michael Graves "The work of Polhemus Savery Dasilva beautifully melds the traditions of New England with the way we live today, affirming that an architecture of place trumps an architecture preoccupied with passing trends." Robert A.M. Stern |
Average Customer Rating:  Cape Cod Architecture The following review by Edward Maroney appeared in The Barnstable Patriot, 08/22/08 (used and abridged with permission):
Trophy houses aren't built for neighborliness. They pop up like airplane hangars in cul-de-sacs - that is to say, out of scale with their surroundings. How refreshing, then, to see Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer, a celebration of the creations of Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects Builders, a Chatham and Osterville firm. The oversize houses in this oversize book enchant rather than irritate, a tribute to the attention lavished on details by their makers.
The firm's principals have connections to notable architects Cesar Pelli and Robert Venturi, who contribute forewords celebrating PSD's fondness for Shingle Style structures and ability to update traditional forms. Author Michael Crosbie is an amiable companion through a tour of the buildings, which range from magnificent to slyly humorous.
The firm's sense of play is evident in John and Sharon DaSilva's own vacation home, a little gem that riffs on the gingerbread cottages of Martha's Vineyard. Here the Gothic screened porch is on the second floor, providing privacy and a lovely sense of relaxing in the world's most comfortable tree house.
An evening shot of a house on Harper's Island in Nantucket Sound emphasizes the clerestory windows and overhanging roofs, making one imagine that the whole structure is ready to lift off.
There is great surprise in the discovery of the firm's gift for unique smaller structures. These have an appealing verticality that allows them to seize their sites, and provide gorgeous views.
At the end of this tour of exterior and interior delights, John DaSilva contributes an essay questioning whether the firm belongs among the "New Classicists" (the title of the Images Publishing series). He makes it clear that PSD's art is referential but not reverential to the point of re-creation.
Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer satisfies as a substantial, not splashy, showcase for a group that's helping to remake Cape Cod.
Breathtaking Homes The photographs in this book
are outstanding.
The architectural design of these
Cape Cod Homes is breathtaking.
This book is well worth the price
and a great addition to any home
library.
Karen H. Collings A perfect gift I was given this book as a gift and I have since spent many hours thumbing through the pages. The photographs, detailed architectural drawings and renderings give the reader an in depth understanding of each project. The architecture is both beautiful and inspiring. Any designer, architecture enthusiast or student will find this book a worthwhile addition to their collection. Architecture as Art Good architecture can enhance or destroy a natural vista and this monograph of the work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva demonstrates how the development of a piece of property does not mean destruction. The architecture is first rate and like all Images books the quality of the publication is exceptional. The New Look of Summer on Cape Cod This is a great book! Below is an edited version of my article that appeared in The Cape Cod Chronicle, July 24, 2008:
"Inventive reinterpretations of historical elements" are major features of the houses of Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects Builders (PSDAB), according to architect John R. DaSilva.
In this magnificent book 25 major works by the firm are collected into one handsome volume. The houses are pictured inside and out in over 400 color photographs, with site and floor plans included.
In his essay in the book, DaSilva outlines the firm's belief in architecture that recalls the past, "rather than literally re-creating it."
"I always wanted to be an architect" DaSilva said during a recent interview. He followed his dream to Princeton and Yale. He married architect Sharon McGinnis DaSilva (now a senior designer at PSD) whom he met when both were working at Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown.
The decades following the Civil War were the period of America's "first real `summer,'" DaSilva writes. In the introduction, Michael Crosbie, who writes extensively about architecture for such publications as "Architectural Record," compares our time to the earlier period. "It harkens back to the age of grand houses by the sea..."
Take Pepperwood, a 7,500-square-foot house which DaSilva designed (his wife collaborated) in Chathamport. "The client asked for a large house, but one that would not overwhelm the more modest suburban Capes and colonials of its post-war neighborhood," Crosbie writes.
In speaking of his designs, DaSilva frequently mentions great architects of the past. In the case of Pepperwood he evokes John Soane and Edwin Lutyens, who was known for adapting traditional architectural styles in the early years of the 20th century. "The interior of this house is, in many ways, informed by the kind of things they did," he says.
Playfulness and wit are traits that "make our projects fresh," DaSilva says. At Pepperwood this is expressed by repeating the gambrel roof shape of the front elevation throughout the house in whimsical details.
DaSilva proved his versatility as a designer when he took on a radically different project-- a municipal restroom. "This was a challenging project," he says. It's on Chatham's town green. "Putting the rest rooms there, you don't want it to look like a camp structure." DaSilva used, of all things, a Greek temple as his model. "It's a simplified and more abstract version." (On the morning after the grand opening someone strung toilet paper across the portico with "Acrapolis" on it - the firm took this as a compliment!) PSDAB designed the building pro bono.
Do PSDAB projects share common elements? DaSilva believes so. He mentions the firm's fastidiousness in orientation that takes advantage of natural lighting. While every site differs, "we try to have every major room have two exposures," he says.
"Architecture" took about a year and a half to put together. Now, DaSilva says, "I want to put this book aside and create the work to go into volume two." |  |
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