Description: To respond to the unique opportunities of each client and site, Bates Masi + Architects has developed an approach, rather than a devotion to a particular style.
Careful study of the needs of the site and owners uncovers a guiding concept particular to each project. It may be derived from the owner's interests, the site's parameters, or the character of the place. That concept is distilled to its essence, just a few words, such that it can inform the design at all scales, from massing, to materials, to details. The consistency of the concept is evident in the finished product. It imbues even small details and simple materials with meaning, thus making the mundane memorable. The result is an architecture that is cohesive, innovative, contextual, and full of details that delight. Bespoke Home, the first monograph of Bates Masi's 50 year career, highlights the firm's process, illustrating how a concept is derived from the various influences of the site and client, how that concept informs the design process, and how the concept is manifest in the experience of the finished house.Brief description: Harry Bates received a Bachelor of Architecture from North Carolina State University. After ten years with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, he was in private practice in New York City for 17 years before moving the firm to Water Mill on the East End in 1980.
Review Quotes: "Together, Harry Bates and Paul Massi were producing some of the most compellling modernist residential architecture in the Northeast." --Paul Goldberger