Features
The 25 – Thomas A. Kligerman
Through his award-winning architectural firm, Ike Kligerman Barkley, Thomas A. Kligerman has designed and renovated residences around the world that fuse the past and present so exquisitely that they have become models in the traditional field.
The shapes and materials and proportions and layouts of traditional-style buildings inspire me—whatever the style of building,” says Kligerman, who established his New York City-based firm in 1989.
The award-winning firm—its accolades include being on the AD100 and Luxe Gold lists—is noted for designing and popularizing Shingle-style residences.
Although that style dates to the 1880s, Kligerman says that its “simple geometric shapes, interesting and often mannered proportions, and open, flowing floor plans with large windows and doors are still modern today and are elements that we like to bring into our own work. We try to capitalize on these ideas in a way that is new and contemporary but still deeply linked to architecture of the past.”
Blending the old and the new (structures are imagined with impressionistic watercolors and sketches as well as digital images, 3D printing, and virtual reality renderings) is integral to Kligerman’s then-and-now design process.
“Each historic house is inventive in its own way,” he says. “We continually learn from looking at the past, and working on older buildings gives those lessons a welcome immediacy—a dimension you can’t get by simply reading about houses in books.”
