Stephens Architecture

Bespoke Architecture & Interiors
Artful Homes, Gardens & Communities

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Start Point. European Travels and Graduate Architectural Studies.
Aerial View, Cologny, Geneva, Switzerland. Meeting Location with Grant Benefactor for Princeton Gap Year Study Tour of Modernist Design, 1975.
Photo Copyright 2026 Pinnaclelist.

Bespoke Residential Design & Architecture for Artful Homes, Interiors and Residential Communities

Stephen Synakowski Architect PLLC dba Stephens Architecture | Formative

This page outlines aspects of a Formative Residential Design Approach by suggesting and presenting three corresponding families of design proposal directions.

These families are defined by three architectural basics: Space, Surface & Fabrication, framed by contemporary design sensibilities as follows.

Residential Design of Interior Space including Objects within the Space // Residential Interior Architecture & Design as Exhibit or Gallery;

Residential Design of Enclosing Surface including Windows, Doors & Skylights // Residential Interior Architecture & Design as Mural (2D) and as Room (3D);

Residential Design as Space & Surface considered in terms of Visualized Structure // Residential Interior Archiecture & Design as Assembly;

Supporting material includes historical architectural references such as

Villa Courbe, Geneva;

Art Museum, Aalborg Denmark, Aalto;

Hochhaus, Berlin, Mies van der Rohe;

Steinway Hall, ShoP Architects, NYC.

This Formative page presents a potential Method for exploring new directions in Contemporary Residential Design. This Method is based upon pinciples in Painting, as outlined below and on the following pages.

Architectural Place and Painting

Considered attention to display of exhibited fine art in relation to architectural setting is a central theme in projects shown on this website.

Architectural design and composition, including Interior design, follows the same compositional rules as Painting.

Interior design may therefore include considerations of color, material, lighting, furnishings, etc. in creating scenes.

Heightened levels of visual thought as a result of experiencing a design may be evoked in the process and as a result create impressions and memories.

Landscape. Henri Matisse.

A framed painting as window is a common trope in art history. It operates partly on account of it being a believable methaphor repreesting a virtural gateway into a new scene, person, idea, etc., It operates and draws attention by suggesting ideas of subject/object, here/there, in/at, etc., etc...

These involve aspects of a visual dialogue which connects a viewer to a place.

Exhibited art or artful architectural design in this way offers the opportunity to create memory, draw attention and suggest meaning in a process that might generally be referred to as "creation of place".

Understanding aspects of a visual dialogue which might be operating both within and/or between an architectural setting and the fine art it contains offers a design opportunity to deepen the understanding and the appreciation of both.

This dialogue is a high priority, of course, in commercial exhibition or display architecture; it should also be a priority in high end residential design. The connection between art and architectural setting and the role art, generally speaking, can play in strengthening aspecrs of setting, is a central theme in the projects shown on this website.

One project specifically, the Aho Residence in Rovanieumi Finland, is a Private Residence as Art Museum.

Shown this page

Aerial View. Cologny/Geneva Switzerland. Meeting Location with Benefactor of Gap Year Princeton Grant funding Study of European Urban Modernism; Design Model. Villa Courbe, Cologny, Geneva, Switzerland. Designed and Built By Others Contemporary Design. Residential Interior for Display of Fine Art. 2015. Featuring undulating glass facade and skylight monitor or custom interior lighting; Reference Design Model. Arhaus, Denmark. Museum, Alvar Aalto. Edgeless Slab Design Proposal, Chinese Clients, 2008. Reference Design Model. Berlin HochHaus, Mies van der Rohe. Competition for the First European Glass Skyscraper. 1919; Reference Design Model. Steinway Tower, Manhattan. SHoP Architects. Contemporary Design. Resiential Townhome Interior with Mural. 2014. Featuring atrium pool under pullaway glass floor. Contemporary Prefab Pavilion for Art, Steel & Concrete Prefab. Design. 2016. Full Height Murals, John Constable painting. Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL 1997. Contemporary Designs. Prefabricated Residential Designs. Shown: Volumetric/Paneleied 2 br Lateral Fenestrated and Volumetric/Panlized Micro Transverse Fenestrated. Suitable for detached dwellings, low and midrise. Summary sheet, Aalto, European modernism Design Teaching, University of Illinois Chicago. 1992-1994 Under Stanley Tigerman FAIA Dean. Undergraduate Design Studio with Bruno Ast. Graduate Design Studio by Rem Koolhaas and Danny Liebskind. Book. Living, Learning. Rem Koolhaas. W/R to Teaching as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Archcitecture, University of Illinois, Chicago Urban Design, AIM Cultural Center Competition. Beijing, 2008-9.

Design Model. Aalborg Art Museum, 1965. Alvar Aalto. Jutland, Denmark. Photo Copyright Alvar Aalto

Design Model. Contemporary MultiFamily Bespoke Residential. Hochhaus. Berlin. 1919. Glass Skyscraper / Competition Entry. Drawing Copyright MoMA

Design. Edgeless Slab Proposal. Exhibition. China. 2008.

Contemporary Prefab Glass Pavilion for Art. Design 2016 Copyright Stephen Synakowski

Interior Murals. Landscape Paintings of John Constable.Instituional. Student Center, Lake Forest Collage. 1995.

Prefab Panelized. Cold Form Steel. Lateral Fenestrated Prototype Dwelling Unit.Detached or MultiFamily
Copyright 2023

Prefab Panelized. Cold Formed Steel. Midrise Braced Core Senior Residential Design for a Developer. Chicago Suburbs.
Copyright 2023 Stephen Synakowski

Prefab Panelized. Cold Form Steel. Lateral Fenestrated. ExtraSpace Storage for Seniors.Dedicated Parking. Copyrright 2023.

Prefab Panelized. Cold Formed Steel. Midrise Braced Core Senior Residential Design for a Developer. Chicago Suburbs.
Copyright 2023 Stephen Synakowski

Prefab Volumetric. Corridor Arranged. Dormitories, Apartments, Hospitality. Design Study.
Copyright 2025 Stephen Synakowski

Prefab Penthouse Apartment. Chicago. Panelized Cold Formed Steel. Design 2005 Stephen Synakowski. Built by Othes. Photos Copyright VHT

Prefab Volumetric Midrise. Braced Core. Long Island City. Design Study 2022.
Copyright 2022 Stephen Synakowski

Prefab Volumetric Midrise Twinned Braced Cores. Design Study.
Copyright 2025 Stephen Synakowski

Prefab Detached Single Family. Panelized or Volumetric. Design Study.
Copyright 2023 Stephen Synakowski

Prefab Detached Single Family. Panelized of Volumetric. Design Study.
Copyright 2023 Stephen Synakowski

Prefab Bespoke Modern House. Highand Park, IL. Panelized. Single Family Design Study for a Developer. 2023

Prefab Bespoke Duplex. Panelized. Multifamily Design Study. 2023 >

Prefab Penthouse Apartment. Chicago. Panelized Cold Formed Steel. Design 2005 Stephen Synakowski. Built by Othes. Photos Copyright VHT

SIPs Experimental House. Dutchess County, NY. Tilt Up Insulated Panels. Design 2014. Stephen Synakowski.

Prefab Panelized. Cold Form Steel. Lateral Fenestrated Prototype Dwelling Unit.Detached or MultiFamily
Copyright 2023

Teaching Professional Degree Program. University of Illinois Chicago. 1992-4. HighRise Design, Computers.
Adjunct Assistanct Professor of Architecture. With Stanley Tigerman FAIA, Dean.
With Bruno Ast Undergraduate Studio & Rem Koolhaas, Danny Liebskind Graduate Studio.

Villa Dallava, Paris. Rem Koolhaas. 1995. Design & Photo Copyright 1995 Rem Koolhaas

AIM Cultural Center, Beijing, China, 2008. Competition Proposal. Design & Renderings Copyright 2008 Stephen Synakowski