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Meet Robert Dean, founder of Robert Dean Architects in New Canaan
Robert Dean thinks of architecture as a vocation rather than an occupation and that was one of the motivations for founding Robert Dean Architects more than 30 years ago.
Dean’s early career crossed the boundaries of academia, the construction business, and employment at high-style design firms. By opening his own firm, it allowed Dean to expand his role in architecture and his New Canaan studio reflected this growth.
According to Dean, architecture is informed by history and aesthetic understanding and his firm applies this ethos to every detail of form and function. He has assembled a seasoned team with significant and complementary talents who enjoy working together.
The firm is grounded on the academic architects of the old school, with a philosophy that demands an intimate knowledge of the history of architecture and a willingness to use style skillfully and respectfully in the design of each building project.
Dean’s team does seek out a “signature style”, instead it uses stylistic themes rigorously to create buildings that respond to the historical, physical, and environmental contexts into which the buildings must be placed.
The firm likes to make buildings that are undeniably new, and yet seem somehow friendly and familiar as if they always should have been there.
Members of the team at Robert Dean Architects incluse Michele Van Steinburgh; Kate Talbott and Marta Chernyk.