Some of Frank Dittenhafer’s favorite commissions have been working with clients to bring a creative energy to their home residence projects.
There’s a level of personal detail that goes into designing someone’s home.
For Frank Dittenhafer, asking the right questions and getting to know the personal traits of a client has always been a source of inspiration.
“There is nothing cookie cutter or ordinary about designing someone’s home space,” says Dittenhafer, FAIA, LEED AP, and founder of Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects. “It’s about creating something unique, about the lifestyle and vision that someone has for how they will spend their days.”
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While the firm typically only takes on several residential commissions each year, there’s been an uptick in inquiries from those who are spending more time at home during the pandemic. Projects that would have been on someone’s radar in the next 10 years are getting a higher priority as people realize that time spent at home should be what they always dreamed it should be.
From the farm to the lake
On a 40-acre farm in southern York County is a multigeneration homestead. The property owners live and work in Washington, D.C., but they have visions of holidays and summers at the farm. Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects was called on to design a home that will be host to a new set of memories.
Another client has a second home – a 1970s lake house, built in the style of a Frank Lloyd Wright house. With plans to downsize and make the lake house a permanent home, M&D is designing the right renovation and addition “tweaks” to make the space comfortable for year-round enjoyment.
There’s also the Maryland family who loves to be active. With the shutdown of gyms and many other outlets due to COVID-19, they’re making plans to add an 800-square-foot “Four Seasons Room” along with a lower-level sauna and gym.
Each of the families have different goals. Each envisions a lifestyle unique to their tastes. And Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects is creating the space where those ideas become reality.
Time well spent
Dittenhafer has stood in front of a finished residential commission and heard a homeowner say, “I never looked at my property in this way.”
That fresh perspective, formulating an idea and creating a unique design, is what Murphy & Dittenhafer aims to bring to each house project. That can translate into possibilities that clients haven’t thought of and really appreciate in the end.
When those projects are complete and a client is able to use the space, Dittenhafer believes it is time well spent—not waiting for “someday” when they’ll get around to the project. Instead, they live in the space they always imagined.
From the addition outside Dallastown that sits clad in copper to the early farmhouse renovations outside Stewartstown, Dittenhafer says each home design is unique and memorable.
“All of the custom residential projects I’ve worked on have been so different,” he says. “I can remember every one of them vividly.”
The memorial’s groundbreaking took place in June, and the dedication is set to take place on November 11, 2024, or Veterans Day.