Residential / Home

Residential / Home
I have often been asked why I have not established a signature style. The brilliant architect Renzo Piano (Centre Pompidou) when asked why it is not essential, articulated my design approach perfectly.  “I have always loved the fact that, in our profession, every time you do a new job, it’s a new story. It’s a bit like finding yourself on a new island with new materials and new people. There are so many things that change when you do a new project that you would have to be a bit stupid not to take the opportunity to change and renew yourself, too. There is a thread that runs through all my work, however. And it is something I like to call coherence. Coherence and perhaps, integrity.”  Renzo Piano, Azure Magazine May 2020

TIMELESS – COMFORTABLE – HEALTHY       Your home should be a place of health, comfort and happiness with timeless beauty; whether it’s a custom waterfront home or a writer’s studio in the forest. JC Scott brings experience and creativity to find the best possible design solutions for each unique residential project.  Every site is different, and as Renzo Piano notes, every client brings new needs and outlook.  Pleasure and challenge converge in residential design on several levels.  Satisfaction comes with each completed new home or renovation, a process which is often challenged by schedules, budgets and contingencies.  A designer manages the challenges and brings pleasure to their clients.

• The joy we can find in luxury materials can be challenged by budget constraints.
• Creative vision and imagination sometimes meets challenges in sourcing the best workmanship in a demanding labour market.
• Today wanting a safe and comfortable home can be challenged by the availability of materials and installers.

It is a designer’s responsibility to use their knowledge, creativity and experience, combined with patience and determination, to create optimized residential solutions for their clients.

The clients with whom we have created the most satisfactory “Machines for Living”1. have tended to be creative, demanding and yet open minded. A client centered residential design practice has ranged from artists to professionals and academics, from business-people to (much to my personal satisfaction) trades-persons from the construction and hospitality industries.  As John Lennon once said ” A workingman’s hero is something to be” and although JC Scott has designed homes for people from some of Canada’s and Victoria’s wealthiest families and for Americans who were even more wealthy, at the fundamental design level, all residential design has similar pleasures and challenges, throughout the process. When money is abundant, time can be challenged.

• The joy and pleasure of creativity meets the challenge of building permits and municipal approvals.
• The satisfaction of working with the most discerning clients meets the plumbing part lost in shipping.

All custom residential projects are approached with what one client described as “more questions than my psychiatrist asked me!” because although design for multi-unit residential projects involves the designer’s own selections, when design is done for a custom home or renovation for specific clients, their home should fit like a Savile Row Mayfair, suit, perfectly tailored to the client’s needs and taste.

Do you cook, entertain, work from home, want a gym, a studio, a spa, a man-cave, recording studio, workshop or sewing room? How many kids, how many for a typical dinner, how many sit down for a holiday feast?  Do you garden, want a swimming pool now or want to plan for a pool in your future? Bar-b-que, outdoor living with fridge and TV? You probably get the idea, and all of these and many more have been integrated into homes of every size. How many live-in staff? Private dock, tennis court?

Anyway, everyone is different and everyone therefore has different needs and wants. Also we all change our lifestyles and needs as we age, as families evolve, for example ‘Age in Place’ is a growing demand that design can support with good planning and features like vertically stacked closets that can become in-home elevators, mortgage-helping suites that can become in-home caretaker’s residences or in-law suites or aging parents’ accommodations.

TEN DESIGN ASSURANCES

1. Your needs and wants will be listened to and heard. Your residence will be fitted to you.
2. The design will be fully reviewed at the concept development stage to ensure your satisfaction and to avoid unwanted features and costs.
3. All necessary permits and approvals will be obtained, local regulations and bylaws will be followed, ensuring legal occupancy and a fully insurable residence.
4. Your home will be healthy and free from harmful toxins and VOC’s. The Healthy Home Guidelines 2. will be followed.
5. Your contractors and tradespeople will be honest and respectful, we work with people we know and trust.
6. Your suppliers will give the project proper attention leading to timely delivery schedules.
7. You will see all invoices and be kept up to date on project costs and expenses.
8. ‘Smart home’ features will not invade your privacy and enjoyment but will be designed to meet your specific needs.
9. The Life-Cycle aspects of your home’s construction and finishing materials as well as the furnishings and decor will be reviwed for durability, sustainability and long term value.
10. Timeless beauty and comfort is the goal.

Through web media, magazines and TV, residential clients looking for a designer today, bring a high level of awareness to their search for a better lifestyle.  The JC Scott eco Design studio is a knowledge based design practice, and clients who challenge us to find creative solutions are always welcome.

Throughout the residential design process, attention is given to being contemporary in function, yet timeless in aesthetic.  Whether it’s a modern penthouse condo or a heritage home renovation, there are some solutions that will simply last longer and wear better over the years, so avoiding fashion trends when selecting semi-permanent things like flooring and appliances is given priority.  Mauve paint can easily become white paint when your daughter moves to college, but an avocado-green tile shower?   Not so easy.

The ‘Healthy Home’ is also one of the prime mandates of 100 Mile eco Design, and JC Scott has knowledge and experience gained from creating safe and healthy spaces for clients with everything from common allergies to medically diagnosed, chemical sensitivities.  From rustic vacation home to elegant ‘downsized’ townhouse or penthouse, your home should always be comfortable, livable and uniquely yours.
A track record of award winning custom home designs and renovations shows that design consideration is given to many factors including; the site, the general conditions, your budget, your style and the project timetable.  But the starting point for JC on every residential design project is always; who are you, and what do you want or need in this next home or home renovation? “In my opinion, your home should fit you like a well tailored suit, not fit the taste of your designer.” JC Scott

Therefore there is no single and readily identifiable JC Scott style.  Some designers today work with their all white ‘look’ or a casual clutter style because it works for clients who like their designer’s ‘look’ and it is good marketing technique for repetitive exposure in social media for those designers.  However, for clients who are more individual and confident, who want their residence to define their own personal sense of quality and character, not their designer’s taste, they will find that although there is no repetitive JC Scott design style, ask the local tradespeople, there is definitely a JC Scott demand for quality and character in every completed project.

“When I began my career, I specialized with commercial projects because few residential clients truly understood the value of quality interior design for their homes. Today however, some of our most sophisticated projects are residential.”  JC Scott

1. Machines For Living In: Le Corbusier’s Pivotal “Five Points in Architecture”
2. The Healthy Home: Simple Truths to Protect Your Family from Hidden Household Dangers, by Dave Wentz & Dr. Myron Wentz, Amazon 2011

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