Centerbrook: Reinventing American Architecture

The architecture of Centerbrook defies easy classification. The work is romantic in its regional roots, carefully calibrated in its human scale, genuine in its sense of permanence, deceptively simple in its form and detail, evocative in its imagery, gentle in its humor. The dreams, history, and spirit of the people who inhabit it are always present in Centerbrook's creations. The breadth of the firm's work - houses, schools, laboratories, museums, libraries, stores, urban precincts - is in part a reflection of its five partners, each of whom follows his own design direction under the sheltering roof of Centerbrook.The firm has grown from its early years under the award-winning architect Charles W. Moore (who wrote the book's Afterword) into an independent cadre of designers who pursue their art in a converted 19th century mill beside a waterfall in a small New England town. As the book's author, Michael J. Crosbie, writes: "Centerbrook's home is emblematic of the firm's work: respect but not veneration of buildings that have come before and attention to architecture's habitation in the landscape. It is a world in miniature that demonstrates the architectural values of its designers, and their attention to the creation of place."