For architect Dinyar Wadia, classic design and high-end homes have been the perfect mates in getting work through the down economy.
“We haven”™t let anybody go because of the recession, or the depression, which ever you”™d like to call it,” said Wadia, founder and principal of Wadia Associates, a longtime residential architectural firm in New Canaan. “We are lucky, we still have work coming in and I think the environment is improving. I”™m seeing people become more and more confident about the economy going forward.”
Wadia said in times like this it”™s important to accept the principle of working harder to get paid less.
“Housing and construction are the last ones to go out and the last ones to come in in a recession,” Wadia said. “What”™s already on the boards is already invested in, and people like to wait until they”™re absolutely confident.”
Many of Wadia”™s clients, who are in the high-end residential sector, are using the recession as an opportunity to build, because the prices of construction are so far down.
“We just did a house in New Canaan where after the house was built the roofer took $40,000 off the top on a $200,000 roofing job, just because he wanted the contract,” Wadia said.
The individualism that exists in America can create great architectural disparity, Wadia said, even in places known for particular architectural styles, such as New England.
“Some like to live in a cottage-style home, some like a manor style and some like to live in a castle, literally,” said Wadia. “There”™s always a trend toward better design. We are looking for casually elegant. If you look at our portfolio you”™d see that many of our homes look like they were built in the early 1800s and nicely maintained. They”™re classic. People need to be able to relate to their homes.”
Wadia, who grew up in Bombay, India, said he always wanted to come to America. The reason? “I always wanted to own a bright red Chevy Camaro.”
Wadia became interested in architecture while studying at the library and followed that interest to college. He received a scholarship from Columbia University in New York and came to America.
“I trained as a modern architect.”
Wadia moved to Fairfield County 40 years ago. He did small-scale jobs as he ventured out on his own eventually growing to his own firm, Wadia Associates, more than 30 years ago.
Though trained in modern architecture, Wadia quickly learned the benefits of the use of classic architecture, especially in the Fairfield area.
“It is all about traditional architecture for the modern world,” said Wadia.
Wadia said of all the homes that his firm has designed over the last 20 years; they are all with their original owners.
Wadia said has seen a large trend in Fairfield architecture in the inclusion of mudrooms and more interior-like garages in people”™s houses.
“Many garages have floor tiles, crown molding, baseboards and built-in cupboards.”
Wadia said to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification can be over the top; but by using recycled wood, low-VOC paint, geothermal heating systems and replacing asphalt roofs with slate or cedar, are a few ways that he has been helping his clients be environmentally conscious without it becoming the gating characteristic in building a home.
“Some clients are more socially responsible than others,” Wadia said.
