Architects and Designers · the Lowcountry
Design work here starts with the rules on the lot. On Hilton Head, new homes in AE and X flood zones put the lowest floor at least 3 feet above base flood elevation or 13 feet above mean sea level, whichever is higher, and over 70 percent of the island's land sits inside planned unit developments. Beaufort's historic district answers to the Historic Review Board, and Daufuskie has its own code with transect zones and architectural standards.
Ask how well the designer knows the review boards and flood rules for your town, and whether the drawings show how water is kept out at windows, doors and roof edges. Wade Banks sorts out who issues building permits.
Pretty drawings don't keep water out. I'd ask the architect to show me how the details handle a sideways rain at the windows and the roof edges. That page of the set matters more than the rendering.
Based in the Lowcountry
Old Town Bluffton is home base for Pearce Scott Architects, on State of Mind Street. The firm designs new homes, full residential remodels and commercial buildings, and its site points to custom waterfront houses, historic preservation, mixed-use development and master planning, with projects in the Lowcountry, coastal Georgia, Florida and North Carolina.
House plans are a big part of the business at Allison Ramsey Architects, a Beaufort firm on Charles Street that sells more than 4,000 stock plans online, by its website's count, from coastal cottages and farmhouses to ADUs and multi-family buildings. The firm dates itself to 1998 and says it started out rooted in New Urbanism.
Michael A. Vaccaro, AIA, leads Vaccaro Architecture from an office on Oglethorpe Lane on Hilton Head Island, and his site describes him as the one source for a project, from first conversation through the drawings used to build it.
Commercial work in the portfolio for Brent Robinson Architect includes Mama G's, the One Hot Mamas garage bar, Woof Gang and Cornerstone PT, next to a run of custom residences. The Hilton Head Island firm, with a mailing address on Central Avenue, handles new construction, renovations and additions, as-built drawings, 3D renderings and help choosing a contractor, and its site also names Beaufort, Bluffton and Savannah.
Architecture and interior design sit under one roof at Court Atkins Group on Bruin Road in Bluffton. The firm designs custom homes and commercial spaces and handles residential and commercial interiors, and its site calls it award-winning and mentions work on Hilton Head Island and in Savannah.
Simple, modern spaces oriented to their natural surroundings are the stated aim of andrew brown, architect, a small practice on Calhoun Street in Bluffton. It takes on residential new construction, renovations and additions plus small commercial projects, and offers supervision while the design is being built.
Out-of-state buyers planning a retirement or relocation home are the clients Frederick + Frederick Architects writes for. The Lady's Island firm, on Meridian Road, claims more than 35 years designing high-performance custom homes built for heat, humidity and storms, and it uses 3D modeling and virtual reality to walk remote clients through the design.
Floor plans, foundation plans and construction documents for custom homes come out of Low Tide Designs on Plantation Park Drive in Bluffton. The residential design shop also produces 3D and exterior renderings and helps with planning and zoning approvals.
Town planning in the New Urbanist mold is half the practice at MK Design Group, based in Habersham in Beaufort. The firm designs walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods and the buildings that go in them, sells and modifies plans from its catalog of cottages, manors, duplexes and outbuildings, and draws custom homes.
Kary Gregor owns Bluff & Bay Interiors on Flatwater Drive in Bluffton, and a good share of the work is for people building a new home, often from out of state. Besides furniture and decor selections and room layouts, she offers builder liaison: reviewing floor plans for furniture placement, helping with builder selections and keeping an eye on construction progress.
Renovations and the submittal paperwork come up in reviews of Martelli Architects, LLC. The firm works from an office on Persimmon Street in Bluffton.
Since 1987, per its website, KRA Architecture + Design has handled residential and commercial work from an office on Johnston Way in Bluffton. Services run from land planning and site analysis through design development, construction drawings and in-field construction administration, plus interior design, finish selection and 3D renderings.
Landscape architecture and planning, not buildings, is the work at Witmer Jones Keefer on Promenade Street in Bluffton. Its portfolio runs from community and village plans and parks such as Shelter Cove Park to estate gardens, with services that include planting, grading, lighting and hardscape design, outdoor kitchens, fire pits and water features.
An architecture, design and construction firm on Johnston Way in Bluffton, listed as a custom home builder. Google shows it open weekdays, with no service list posted.
A Connecticut firm with an Okatie office on Pole Creek Lane, Eric Baker Architects designs new homes, estates and additions as well as institutional and commercial buildings. It describes more than three decades of award-winning work, and beyond standard architectural services it offers feasibility studies, programming, site and master planning and interiors.
Roxana Vortisch founded Golden Line Construction, a Bluffton remodeler on Trotting Hill Lane that also works in Hilton Head Island, Beaufort and Okatie. Kitchens, bathrooms and interior remodels are the focus, and the company offers 3D renderings so clients can see a design before work starts.
Christopher Epps runs InCircle Architecture himself, and the firm's site makes a point of clients working with the principal rather than being handed off. From Red Cedar Street in Bluffton, it focuses on residential additions and renovations, commercial tenant upfits, problem existing buildings, historic and architectural review board approvals and permitting.
Established in 2013, by its own account, JHN - Residential Building Design draws custom house plans, additions and remodels from an office on Sams Point Road in Beaufort. Garages, sunrooms, decks and patios are regular projects, and the shop also does site plans, permit drawings, kitchen design and CAD conversion of existing blueprints.
Google lists Shore Line Design Inc as an architect, at an address on Field Sparrow Court on Hilton Head Island. Its profile offers little beyond that.
Stone By Stone Design Inc keeps an office on Spanish Wells Road on Hilton Head Island. Google lists it as an architect, with weekday hours and no other details.
Kitchen and bath remodels, multi-room renovations and additions make up most of the service list at Beaufort Design Build, which has a Sea Island Parkway address in Beaufort. It also takes on major home repairs, interior space planning and remodels to accommodate a disability, and its site asks people to call for an appointment.
Garlinghouse sells house plans, with an address on Boundary Street in Beaufort and a website of stock floor plans, garage plans and duplex plans that can be customized. The plans are the one thing reviewers bring up.
Beaufort is one of three studios for Architecture 101, which also has offices in Savannah and St. Augustine, Florida, per its site. This one sits on Market, and the firm offers architecture, interiors and planning.
Palmetto Bluff, Sea Pines, Spring Island, Brays Island and Colleton River are among the communities DePauw Architects names on its website. The firm works from May River Road in Bluffton on custom homes and commercial architecture, including adaptive reuse, and describes itself as a small, family-owned practice with more than 25 years of combined experience.
Fire stations, police stations and private clubhouses show up among the project types for Grady Woods Architects, alongside custom homes and commercial offices. The firm has an address on Grays Highway in Ridgeland, and its site says Mr. Woods takes hands-on responsibility for every commission and that the office administers construction contracts to help the builder.
Renovations and floor plans for houses are the focus at Hefner Residential Architecture on West Street in Beaufort. Its Google profile lists it as open around the clock.
Low country homes are the stated specialty of Thomas L. Hiatt, a residential architect with an office on Bluffton Road in Bluffton.
Custom homes and remodeling are the core at LowCountry Custom Built Homes, a Bluffton-based builder that Google also files under architects. Its service list adds exterior siding, interior trim, custom finishes and some commercial projects.
James Ogden describes his Hilton Head Island practice, on Honey Locust Circle, as a boutique one built around personal attention. The work is mostly custom homes, renovations and interiors, and the service list goes beyond drawings to site selection, zoning and code analysis, construction documents, and soliciting and analyzing contractor bids.
Parker Design Group, which goes by PDG Architects, works out of Palmetto Business Park on Hilton Head Island. It designs custom residential and commercial projects and advertises more than 35 years in the area.
Historic preservation and restoration projects sit next to new residential design at R Stewart Design, an architectural designer on Johnston Way in Bluffton. Concept design through construction drawings and details is on the service list.
On Bay Street in Beaufort, Thomas & Denzinger Architects lists house restoration, renovation projects and residential interiors, along with educational design.
Serves the area from nearby
Reardon Design, a Savannah architect on East Oglethorpe Avenue, dates itself to 2009 and says its work runs from a modest house to an auto dealership. Project types include housing, offices, religious buildings, medical, retail, restaurants, hotels, mixed-use and industrial work, and services cover adaptive reuse, exterior renovation, interior design, space planning and project management.
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