Robert Wright

Hive 50 Honors

For empowering an evidence-based vision of a virtuous circle of humans living in nature, with sanctuary as a harmonized go-between, porous to water and wind.

What You Need To Know

The RAAD Studio Beach House is a 2,400-square-foot, Alaskan yellow cedar-clad “forever” home in Sea Bright, N.J., a coastal town Superstorm Sandy clobbered in 2012. The home’s structure is made—amid local maritime-style crafted ipe decking—of two stacked volumes that sit atop the sand dune, almost 15 feet above sea level. A boardwalk between concrete retaining walls runs underneath, serving as a storm canal should seas rise. Architects call this home a “marriage of landscape and architecture.” They note that innovation in residential architecture is a form of personal agency, a way for work to do something to improve people and the world.

Who’s Involved

RAAD principal, James Ramsey; RAAD team Kibum Park, Mike House, and SangYun Han; David Kamp, principal of Dirtworks Landscape Architecture; Lead Dog Custom Homes; Todd Group; GACE, Engineering.

Time Stamp

New Yorkers R.C. and Valari Staab bought two adjacent lots in Sea Bright, N.J., in 2015, hired RAAD Studio to conceive of the plan, and completed the project in May 2017.