For decades, the award-winning firm, Andrew Sidford Architects in Newburyport, has made its mark on the architectural world in New England, the East Coast, and beyond. Along with partner Cindy Schartman and a talented team, the firm’s founder and principal, Andrew Sidford, is known for its wide range of projects, from commercial to residential, contemporary to traditional, and modern new constructions to lovingly restored historic renovations.
They’ve worked on homes and restaurants, jazz clubs and churches, but no matter the project,” Sidford says he wants the firm to be known for high-level, interesting design that makes “the world a more beautiful place.”
“We’re always interested in doing different types of work, always interested in doing projects that sort of push the boundaries of what architecture can be,” he says. “Whatever we design will be impacting people on a daily basis.”
We caught up with Sidford to talk about his design philosophy, what sustainability looks like in his work, and how his interest in art has shaped his career. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
You studied art while earning your undergrad degree in economics at Middlebury College and before completing a Master of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. How does art inform your work?
Studying the history of art and studying sculpture and drawing and painting opens your mind to different ways of viewing things and questioning things. With most of the work, we don’t think of designing buildings. We think of designing sites. And so from an artistic standpoint, everything we do is an artistic, sculptural statement that’s combined with a machine for living, and that’s the fun part. I realized what was appealing about architecture is that it was art that I love pursuing, combined with the engineering and the real-world impact of buildings and art that people live in.
Is there something that you your firm brings to every single project?
We’re known for certain things. Just last week, we were called by a potential client who told us that the quality of natural light in our projects was very, very unique, and that was what appealed to them and what brought them to our firm. We’re known for a combination of light and space and connection to site. We’re known for very spacious-feeling buildings that have wonderful qualities of natural light and a very important connection to the landscape, a very intimate connection to the landscape. We really love blurring the distinctions between inside and outside space. Like I said, we design sites more than we design buildings.
What does sustainability look like in your projects?
Sustainable design looks, we hope, hidden. We think of it as “Yankee building.” A lot of it is things you can’t see. First and foremost, it’s designing smaller houses that accomplish more and feel larger than they are. So we don’t ever ask clients how big they want their houses to be, we asked what they want to happen and why. Then we look for the smallest solutions to accomplish that and it often surprises clients, because you can do you can do big houses that feel small and small houses that feel big. And so we think from a sustainability and investment [perspective] if you’re doing a house that’s 50% of the size that someone was going to do, then you’re way ahead of the game just in terms of the materials and the energy that wasn’t used. But we don’t want our houses to look like, ‘Oh, that’s a sustainable house.’ We want a house that looks like it lives and breathes as part of the landscape. It’s more how it feels; that it has a very intense connection to this land.
How are you looking at the future?
We love doing houses, but we really are trying to pursue a similar direction with the seeds we’ve planted [in other things]. We’re being considered for another jazz club. We’ve got a couple of projects in Manhattan that we’re looking at. Our best clients are ones that think design matters and recognize how much design matters to them. We’re doing a new artist enclave in Newbury right now. And so we’re excited about pursuing projects… that have a culture impact above and beyond individual houses. We’re pretty excited by that full range.