“The beauty of the Adirondacks is the remoteness of it — nobody can really find you here,” says Marc Camens, chief architect of Camens Architectural Group.

This part of the country is quite special and significant for Marc — not only did he start his architecture career by working in the Adirondacks, but he also feels incredibly connected to its natural beauty and has so much reverence for its magnificence.

“I’ve seen it where it goes from sunny and warm to cloudy and rainy to snowing in the same day… anything can happen here and that’s the magic of the Adirondacks,” says Marc.

The Influence of the Adirondacks

The homes built in the Adirondacks must blend in with the environment. “Adirondack architecture nestles itself amongst the trees and it flows into the lake beds,” says Marc.

Marc has always had a penchant for being in beautiful locations — which is one of the reasons he now lives and works in the Lowcountry. But it was the early influence of the Adirondack environment (and its stringent building regulations) that really helped establish many of Marc’s design principles; principles that have led him to be considered among the best residential architects in the area.

Early on, Marc started to think about architecture in a new way — from the inside out — as he turned his attention first to how the home feels to move from room to room and how to capture the magnificent views and look out onto the world from inside the house.

Transforming an Original Adirondack Camp

An incredible example of Marc’s most recent work is Adirondack Lakeside Retreat  where he transformed the original camp site into a legacy family property across nearly 12,000 square feet of interior space.

Nestled in the heart of Lake Placid, New York, this camp is a sanctuary from Mother Nature’s ever-changing moods in this region. It also is a quintessential example of Marc’s Adirondack design work, masterfully capturing the spirit of the region while offering unparalleled timeless appeal.

“The camp has a human scale,” says Marc. While it may be grand in size, the goal was for it to feel comfortable and relatable while orienting every single building in the camp towards the lake.

Protect and Connect

“Protect and connect is a kind of a neat little thing to think about how this Lake Retreat was built,” says Marc. All the things that are the classic “Adirondack style” — the embrace of stone, the rustic wood logs, timber beams, and more — frame the way you need to feel inside a building to be both protected from and connected to the environment.

“This project, when you add in the touch of organic and the views and how these fits into the site, this is what makes this project so important to me,” adds Marc.

Whether it’s a magnificent Adirondack camp or a beautiful Kiawah Island residence — and beyond — no matter where Marc is designing a custom home, the same architectural principles apply, including his reverence to the surrounding environment; designing from the inside out; and wrapping a home around the owners’ lives.

Are you ready to apply Marc’s visionary principles to your own dream home? Contact us today. We can’t wait to meet you.