Todd Richardson, Richardson & Associates

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Rob Whitten is the founder of Whitten Architects, a residential architecture firm based in Portland. And Todd Richardson, a landscape architect, is the owner of Richardson and Associates in Saco. Thanks for coming in today.

Rob Whitten:

Well, thank you.

Todd Richardson:

Thanks for having us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Rob, you and I have had a conversation or two before, but on the radio. Todd, you and I have just met. You have both been working together on some interesting projects, I hear.

Rob Whitten:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And that's why we wanted you to come in today is to really talk about the collaboration between the of work that each of you are doing to create nice spaces for people. So how did you come to start working with one another?

Rob Whitten:

You know, I've been looking for a landscape architect that was a complement to our residential practice, someone that really understood the sort of Maine vernacular, the main tradition, and what made Maine have a special sense of place. And someone said, you should talk to this guy, Todd. So I did, and we started collaborating on a project and 10, 12 years ago. Todd.

Todd Richardson:

Yeah, at least.

Rob Whitten:

Yeah. So when the subject was collaboration, the first person that came to mind was you. I said, great, here's a guy that can finish my sentence. Perfect.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that is good. And I'm not sure everybody, I think people understand what an architect might do. Todd, tell us, what does a landscape architect do?

Todd Richardson:

Yeah, that's a great question. A lot of people do not understand what we do. The joke in the profession is that we all drive green trucks, but that's obviously not the case. Although I do have a truck.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is it green?

Todd Richardson:

It's not green, but anyway. I think the analogy that could be used is Rob's role as an architect is to design a building. My role as a landscape architect is to design a landscape. So that's the level of work that we do is focused on design. Certainly develop construction drawings and have construction administration associated with what we do. But I think, like, an architect would design a building, we would design a landscape. And those landscapes can be of various types. The common work that Rob and I share is focused on our residential work, for sure. Yeah.

Rob Whitten:

And I like bringing Todd in as early as I can. So oftentimes, a potential client will reach out to us and we'll explain that we would like to meet them on the site they're considering, because that means as much to us in many respects as their program of spatial needs. And it can also really define the type of house they're looking for. And ideally, Todd can be part of that initial meeting because we read a landscape one way, Todd reads it another. And I think it would be. I value his input. And there's sort of. There's assets and there's liabilities to everybody, every site and every project. And so the trick is to turn those liabilities into assets, if possible. And I think Todd's really wonderful at that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So describe what would a liability and an asset of. I guess there's two possibly separate things, but what would that mean?

Todd Richardson:

Yeah, I think that the dollop of optimism that Rob talks about, where a constraint might be turned into an opportunity, I think is really the frame that you. How you view it, I guess. And so for us getting on a site early, and I think Rob hit a point that I think is really valuable in the work that we do together, that it starts early. It's not something where we would come in at the tail end of a project, and there'd be a couple issues that the architect may be asking us to address. I think with the work that we do with Witten Architects, it's terrific in that the conversation starts early, and it starts at the conceptual level. And often that's paired with visiting the site together. And often that's without clients, which has its benefits. Both do. But I think it's great to get on the site with Rob to talk about what we're seeing and what things really strike us as drivers for a particular project. What are the opportunities? You know, constraints can be many. I think that sites and sites are more and more challenging that can align with regulatory constraints. As an example, you know, setbacks or critical resources that obviously need to be respected. Other examples might be runoff or drainage or steep slopes that begin to put some building blocks around where you might not choose to site a house. But I think that we take those in light of where the real opportunities are, and we gravitate the project to. To the place on the site where we can find the most opportunities and make the most of the project.

Rob Whitten:

Yeah, oftentimes, as we approach a site, I love Google Earth because it gives us great overview. You sort of see it from a mile up, and you see big patterns and you see big relationships, and you can really see it in a very macro way that thanks to doing this for a number of years, I can kind of read that landscape and that site and get a feel for it. And the other thing that happens oftentimes is Maine is over 300 years old. The good sites got picked early, and the first comers get choice. So if you're dealing with a new site today, it's been passed over probably many times. And so whether you have to be more creative and more inventive to make that site really work for the family whose home you're designing. And I think that, again, plays right into landscape. So it could have unstable coastal bluffs. It could have wetlands. It could have soils problems that are creating other issues. So its exposure could be bad. Now it's a northwest slope, and the best slope is southeast. So, okay, how do we. How do we design for that? You know, how do we work with that? So if the view is to the northwest, I want a house that's long and narrow, so the sun's on your back as you're looking at the view. I mean, just. And again, playing with that. And I really love. Because Todd will have a grade problem, and he'll be like, oh, here's an opportunity. We can manage the grade with a series of subtle manipulations. Whether it's. Todd loves bringing in large native boulders, and they just become part of the landscape. And it's like they've always been there. One of our sites that we worked on together was a pond that was so pristine, it was a trout hatchery. And we had fairly big interventions on that site. At the end of the day, it looks like it always had been just like that. So it's kind of fun to think about.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how. So an intervention, I'm assuming, is something that disrupts dynamite. That's pretty interventionist. Right. So how, Todd, would you keep something like a pristine pond intact so that the people who are going to move into a house on that site can enjoy it and the people and, like, creatures that are using the pond already don't stop enjoying it.

Todd Richardson:

Yeah. I think that begins with the conversations that we might have early on in the process where we identify it as a real asset. And then I think the extent to which one goes to preserve or conserve that, I think becomes how we begin to talk not only amongst ourselves, but with the client as well. Because part of the role from the beginning, moving forward is educating our clients as to what some of those values are and beginning to paint a vision for a project that puts value in protecting the pond or a boulder or a cluster of trees, which, truth be told, would be easier to take down or to roll over to do that. And I think what we're able to do is talk at the ground level about what will make this project great. And I think that one of the things that Rob and I focus on collectively and collaboratively is many times it's the things that you preserve and that you reveal that ultimately make the project. I mean, there's certainly some things that are brought to the project. How about a house and some landscape? But I think fundamentally it starts with some of the core things that are pivotal in the project, some existing condition that really inspires the direction for the project. And when we got excited about that and started thinking about ways to design with that, not against that, but with that, and then fold our client into the process, I think that's where some of the magic takes place.

Rob Whitten:

Yeah. And it is fun to, as I say, have this overview, this Google view, the mile view, mile high view, and then to have identified perhaps some things that will influence the design of the house or the landscape, and then to have that information in hand and then go visit the site for the first time, this is really kind of like there's always a revelation, like, oh, that's a cranberry bog. Cool. You know, that means wonderful color, wonderful fruit, wonderful bird life. It also means it's a wetland. So we understand that, you know, but again, it can become this great asset. Whereas perhaps an unsympathetic person could say, that's just a swamp. But, no, it's a wonderful resource. We really enjoy things like that. The other thing is to try to visit the site with Todd, but also to visit it with a client. So you can see the site through their eyes, so you can see what they saw, why they're buying it, what it means to them, or there's some things that they're particularly focused on. And oftentimes it's helping educate a client so you could say, what part of the site do you really like? What's the best part of the site for you? Is this why you bought it? And then you say, well, then let's not put the house right on top of it. Let's let it be beside the house. So it's still the best part of the site and the house gets to share it. And there's this real synergy now between the house and the landscape. And I think when that starts to work together. We've recently done a project in a pretty well established coastal community, and there was an older home that wasn't a good fit, didn't serve the family very well, didn't have good inside, outside living spaces in a principally a summer recreational community. And when we all finished, I'd like to think we have a house that fits it, respects its context. It really feels like it has been there and everybody's enjoying the outside living there. You know, I mean, it's always fun when you go in a house and it's under construction, you say, so where do the guys have their lunch? You know, they get to pick. They get to pick the room with a nice view, with a nice sun, with a nice exposure. So it's always kind of fun. It's very telling. You know, it's like, where does the dog lie in the sun? Okay, right there, you know, so you. I just. I think that kind of information you get somehow from nature is really influences the way we make a lot of design decisions.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I remember having a conversation about the sun and how you can never really know the way that the sun is going to be in a building until you've lived in a place for a full year.

Rob Whitten:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So I mean, that's very much an inside, outside element. How do you design around something that you won't be able to actually experience, but is clearly very important to the people who are going to live in that structure.

Todd Richardson:

Yeah. I would answer that by saying there is some ways, techniques to understand generally what the sun might be telling us about morning light, midday light and afternoon light. And I think that, Rob, I think it was you that said people are drawn to light in the home and outside. And I think that's important. I think it's maybe as important or more important for people that cherish Maine and come to Maine because they really like outdoors, many of them. So I think really understanding what is the south aspect, what's the early morning light, and then designing kind of a reciprocity between indoor and outdoor spaces so that their living can Flow seamlessly inside and outside. And I think that's an interesting way that Rob and I have often talked about the work that we do and that is less about the divisions between architecture and landscape. I mean, Rob's a terrific architect, I'm a landscape architect. We have our roles and responsibilities in a project. But I think sort of eroding some of those differences and really focusing on some of the commonalities really makes a lot of sense early on in a project. So we're thinking more holistically about a place and the qualities of place. So the light to which you refer, I think it's not an architecture conversation or a landscape conversation. It's really born out of a conversation that says how do we want to collectively maximize our clients opportunity to really and enjoy the sun here? So where the entrances are, where indoor outdoor living and eating might occur are a couple ways in which we would focus on that.

Rob Whitten:

Yeah, we really think about it from the very beginning. And we actually, on every project, all our work is site specific. We show the client in the very beginning a site plan showing where the prevailing breezes are. You know, here come the tropic storms that are going to hit here in March and November that come from the east, east, they're loaded with moisture, they come from the northeast. The prevailing summer breezes are southwest. The big polar highs in the winter are coming out of the northwest. And they're cold and they're dry. So it's just getting to think that they have a. They bought a piece of nature and now we have to design a house that works with nature. And also we love Maine precedent, the vernacular precedent. All of Maine was off the grid until 1900, let's say. So how they use their resources, how they use the sun, how they organize their day, how they organize their workspace, where their families lived. There's a lot to be learned from that. So, you know, we like that precedent. And so, you know, the house has a bigger allegiance to the sun than the road, for example. I mean, the sun is really fundamental. And ideally, if you're warm, dry and comfortable and your health is good, you have a sustainable house. And the sun is a huge player in that. So we think about that a lot. I mean, that's number one for us. And you know, it's kind of funny, here we are almost at 44 degrees north latitude. That's a huge player. I mean, that's. And if someone's coming from away, you kind of have to educate them about that. And so it's just again, I like that process. I like having bigger forces help us make decisions, because they'll be right at the end of the day.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As you're talking about this, I'm almost getting the sense of the house on the landscape as being its own. I don't want to say creature, but entity being.

Rob Whitten:

Oh, it is, absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And more of a living thing versus a structure.

Rob Whitten:

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. So you can bring nature in. And so also, Maine has a pretty grim climate many times a year, so we have to protect you from it. But when it's nice, it's got to be accessible. You've got to get out into it. So it does have a dynamic quality. It is like an animal, in a sense. It makes changes. And the other thing, as you work with your building forms, you can start to create these little microclimates. So here's this little sun pocket. Here's a, you know, the barn or the garage that's protecting you from that north wind. You know, you just play with all those elements and you end up, as I say, with a happier, better place to live. It's really what it amounts to.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me about. I know you've had some recent projects and some that Maine Home Design has been particularly interested in, that you've worked on together. Tell me about one of your favorites that you've worked on and what that process was like for you.

Todd Richardson:

I can talk to the Spurwink retreat. I think that for me, that's a really great project. That was meaningful from a number of perspectives, I think, and I'll talk to the collaboration as being one of those, but I think also just an outstanding site and a terrific client. I think that was the sort of trifecta, if you will, there. But one of the aspects of that project that was terrific on this end was the call that Rob placed to me early when his office was getting on board with the project. And we began to get on board and Rob said, could you come up to the office? We're going to do a charrette where we're going to. Everyone in the office is going to participate in thinking about this project and putting some ideas out as a way to generate a departure point for the conversation, and we'd like you to be a part of that. And it was just a memorable morning or afternoon. I forget what it was where Rob's office really, to me, demonstrated a clear understanding of site and building and the relationships between the two. And it was a really. It was an open forum for me to contribute to the work that they were doing. And Help sow some seeds early on in the process. So the beginning of that project was, I think, fundamental to the outcome of that project, to be honest with you. I think it was the early days that the collaboration really began to talk about the direction and the vision of how the building and the site would become kind of synonymous with each other. And I think, you know, that worked tirelessly to every detail, including materials that started on the inside and moved right to the outside and walls that literally slid away so that the landscape flowed through the house. So I think there's a couple exemplary outcomes that I really think were talked about not from day one, but in the early part of the process. So that was a really great one for me.

Rob Whitten:

Yeah, and it was a really significant project. But at the same time, we, both of us together, took on my office. Russ Tyson works closely with me in my office, and he was project architect on that. But it was a house on a lake in Maine, in western Maine. And it was a totally unsympathetic, what shall I say, uninspired vinyl clad house. And they just destroyed the landscape. And our client approached us and said, I want to make it different. And we stepped up and did that in terms of design of the house. But most of all, it was Todd's remediating, really of a landscape that could have been lovely once, but boy, when we got there, it was just run off right to the lake. No features at all, really hostile. You couldn't be out in that landscape because it was, particularly in the summer, because it just was bright, sunny, and you felt very exposed. And by the end, unsolicited, we got. Todd's office received an award from the Lakes Commission for doing all the right things.

Todd Richardson:

Yeah, that project was really interesting in terms of the client standing in front of the house early on and saying, you know, this just doesn't fit. How can we make this fit? I mean, look at the context here and what we're looking at. And I think that, you know, Rob's office really worked hard to transform, quite honestly, almost a suburban character home that was on a beautiful lakeside into just a tremendous lakeside cottage. And, you know, our mandate was to integrate it and make it fit. So we used a lot of native plants, we addressed some of the runoff challenges, which, you know, being right on the lake's edge, to think of what was happening and how that could change. We were really excited about that and we had the support of the client and wove together a lot of aspects of the indoor outdoor living. So I think we, the house did a 180 overall and the landscape followed.

Rob Whitten:

Yeah. So it was a complete turnaround. The other thing that as yet unacknowledged, is the collaboration we get with both the builders and the installers. And again, there's a wonderful sense of Maine craft. We're fortunate in that we don't have to tell them how to do it right. Inherently, I think they want to do it right and if your budget is sufficient, they can do it right. And we will be advocates for doing it right and we're not disappointed. And I think there's a sense of pride and there's a sense of continuity. And the other thing that we both are fortunate, we tend to work on what I'll call sustainable projects because they are going to stay with this family for a long period of time. It's not a short cycle, it's not a five year cycle, it's a 30 year cycle or it's the next generation. So it's really fun to plan and think that way. And it's also fun to watch Todd's landscapes mature and it's fun to watch our houses age a little bit bit. You know, when we photograph them for the magazine, we don't photograph them day one. We like to give them a year. You know, let them get seasoned, let them become assimilated, let them become part of Maine. And then there's something special that goes on. And so again, it's that sense of time is an important continuum here.

Todd Richardson:

I'd like to echo something that Rob said that I think is really fundamental and that is, you know, we're having a conversation here with two principals of two offices. But as Rob alluded to, I think the notion of collaboration extends beyond Rob and I. I think both our offices fundamentally operate that way and benefit from that process. But to Rob's point about how contractors and owners, if the team of collaborators is broader and they really understand not just the content but the intent of what the project is, I think that it serves the project really well. And I think that. I think I can speak for both of us really trying to nurture that sense of the more holistic team collaborating. And I don't know if that's selfish or not, but I think the outcome is far better when you get people that really understand what they're doing and why they're doing it. And I think we've seen terrific results working with builders and craftsmen and suppliers and our own staff and our offices to make that all come together. So I think it's. That's collaboration With a capital C, I think. Yeah.

Rob Whitten:

And the sense of place can really be reinforced by the materials you use and how you use them. And I think Maine has this abundant supply of, you know, stone and wood and craftsmen to work with products. And it's fun. It's really fun. And I think what's exciting for us now is the palette has grown. There's more and more materials to work with, and there's better performing, more sustainable, more durable materials to work with. And I think that it's a very exciting time, quite honestly, to be an architect.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How about you, Rob? Do you have any particular favorite projects that you've worked on with Todd that you can think of as being exemplary?

Rob Whitten:

Well, it's always the next project, you know, that's the optimism that drives us all. I do. But they're all very, very different. You know, I think it's the seamlessness between. Todd has an ability to understand the architectural intent and his responses really reinforce what we're designing. So whether it's, you know, Grady's Lake or Spurwink Retreat or recently completed project up in Yarmouth, it just. They fit, they belong. I think at the end also to sort of have the owner say, gee, I didn't know where you guys are going. Perhaps we like to think we're good communicators. We'd like to think they know where they're going. But at the end, they're always pleased, you know, they're always really pleased where we are. And the result is they do own these houses for a of lot period of time. You know, they really enjoy. They really settle in, they really fit, you know, so it's the fit, the collaboration that's important.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Do you think that we went through a time where we were more thinking of ourselves as protecting ourselves from the elements, where we were building houses. So it's just sort of protection against

Rob Whitten:

the storm, us and them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Exactly, exactly. Because the way you're describing it, it seems like a more natural, beautiful back and forth. But I've lived in many houses. Well, actually I haven't lived in that many of them because I can't stand to be in that space too long. But I've been in industrial spaces where it's like we have to put these walls here because there's scary stuff on the outside of them. So we have to protect ourselves.

Rob Whitten:

Yeah, to a certain extent. If someone has an attitude like what you're describing, they wouldn't be attracted to our work. So there is a little bit of a self selection goes on here. But I Do think the materials are better? I think we can do a better job of making you warm, dry, and healthy in a house today than we could 20 years ago, five years ago, just because it's gotten more sophisticated. And I think people are thinking differently about how they live in houses. I think they are thinking about their relationship with a house. And so the main climate is an enemy because we have better materials and better ways of designing. It's not quite as much of an enemy. We can coexist better today, don't you think, Todd?

Todd Richardson:

Yeah, I don't know.

Rob Whitten:

I think we've made the right decisions. You and I have made the right decisions, and it's been carried through.

Todd Richardson:

I don't know if this is a subjective opinion about this, but, you know, I feel that in Maine we have unique clients, and I think that at the end of the day, they're looking for something that really brings meaning to them and their family and connects them to place, and that's through the terrific architecture and the way that the site works. And, you know, I talk to colleagues outside of Maine and I'm continually reminded that, wow, that's different. It's different in Maine. And I just think that the. The people that come to Rob and my offices and are really soulful about the way that they appreciate what Main is and what makes Maine distinctive. I think at your magazine, you know this, but I think that translates into architecture and landscape architecture, and the way those two can perform together is really what's the there there, and why are people coming to Maine and choosing to develop a property? And a lot of things matter, I think the quality of the materials, the exposure, I think all those are significantly important. But I think at the end of the day, those are contributors to that connection to the place that I think people are really longing for and yearning for when they decide to come to Maine or decide to stay in Maine. So I think that's a fun part of what we do is from the get go, those clients are keenly interested in some things that we're passionate about and think we do well together.

Rob Whitten:

The Spurwink retreat project that Todd mentioned, there was a house on that site, and it was a big site, but we were limited to a building envelope that came with the property. Again, there's a constraint. So how can we make the best use of this portion we're working in? Our client had said that all the other houses he looked at and the house he was buying seemed to get in the way. In other words, it was an obstacle. It didn't protect him, but it was a barrier to his being able to reach out into the landscape. And so his early charge to us was, I want to feel like I'm connected to the landscape. And I'd like to think that's why the house is such a success. We had a sympathetic owner. He was very clear in his wants. He's a very good communicator and we provided it, you know, so

Todd Richardson:

well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm fascinated by this topic and I could really keep talking about it forever and ever because I think there's a lot of crossover between the way that I look at human beings and their relationships with one another and my medical practice and the way that you're talking about people's relationships with the way that they live their lives. I encourage people to read more about your projects in Maine Home Design and hopefully give you guys a call if they are feeling like they were equally soulful as homeowners home builders. I've been speaking with Rob Whitten, who is the founder of Whitten Architects, a residential architecture firm based in Portland, and Todd Richardson, a landscape architect who is the owner of Richardson and Associates in Saco. Thank you so much for the work that you're doing.

Todd Richardson:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I appreciate the time that you've come in today.

Rob Whitten:

Thanks. Yep, Our pleasure.