Duo Dickinson, architect of Madison, CT was founded on November 1st, 1987 - marking 25 years of design, writing and service to clients - for those who pay and those who cannot pay but work for the greater good. Duo graduated from Cornell in 1977 and opened his own architectural practice in 1987. Licensed in multiple states, he has built or renovated over 500 homes and worked on projects for over 40 not-for-profits in over 10 states, with budgets ranging from $5,000 to $5,000,000.
His work has received more than 30 awards, including Architectural Record Record House, Metropolitan Home Met Home Awards, and Connecticut and New York AIA design awards. He is the first non-member award-winner of the Society of America Registered Architects' 2009 Special Service Award and is the co-Founder of The Congress of Residential Architecture (CORA), the first national organization dedicated to professional home design, which has grown to over 20 chapters and 1,000 members in eight years.
Dickinson's design work has been featured in over 70 publications including The New York Times, Architectural Record and House Beautiful. He has written seven books, including The Small House for McGraw-Hill and The House You Build, published by Taunton Press and as a paperback entitled House on a Budget. His most recent book, Staying Put, received positive reviews in The Washington Post and The New York Times, among other publications, and has been a best-seller in its field.
This 10-person firm has flourished through three recessions and currently is working on over 40 commissions including projects in New England, California, South Carolina, and Michigan as well as projects for not-for-profits such as the Open Arms Mens' Shelter in White Plains, New York, and the renovation of St. James' Church in Woodstock, Vermont.
Duo is a commissioned blogger for Architecture Boston magazine, the New Haven Register, Design Bureau, and proudgreenhome.com, and his own blog, "Saved By Design" has been up since the summer of 2010. Additionally, he is the architecture critic for the New Haven Register and is contributing writer in home design for New Haven Magazine. He was a contributing writer on home design for Money Magazine and was a contributing writer for the "By Design" column for This Old House magazine. Dickinson has written articles for more than a dozen national publications including Residential Architect, Home and Fine Homebuilding.
Dickinson has taught at Yale College, Roger Williams University and at the Harvard Graduate School of Design Summer Program. Additionally he has lectured at scores of universities, professional associations, and at national conventions.
Duo is the Design Editor of Binnie Klein's "HomeWork," a new radio project for the WNPR network. He has appeared on a variety of national media platforms, including Heritage Radio Network's "Burning Down the House," NPR's "Studio 360," "On Point," and "Weekend Marketplace." Dickinson was the co-host of the CNN/Money Magazine web series "Home Work." He was under contract with Lightworks Producing Group to create production ideas for cable television programming focusing on residential design. Duo co-hosted (with Bruce Barber) the regional radio program "The Real Life Survival Guide" which aired in 2011, and he is now a frequent contributor on the program and its website.
Dickinson sits on the board of seven not-for-profit organizations, including the New Haven Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, the Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, the New Haven Preservation Trust, and Madison Cultural Arts (which he co-founded). He is the Properties Chair for Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven and sits on the Property Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut.
20-30% of the ongoing work in his office is dedicated to pro bono or at-cost work for not-for-profits, totaling over 50 projects for over 40 organizations over the last 25 years, including work for Children's Village, Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, Habitat for Humanity, and dozens of housing, arts and religious institutions.CKINS
Dickinson's own home won 2 national design awards - a Record House and Met Home Award, and served as an object lesson for his two books on small houses published by McGraw Hill.
A house under construction in California represents the reach of Dickinson's 30 plus years as an architect, and 25 years in his own practice.
The new Chapel at Incarnation Center in Ivoryton, CT was finished in June and is emblematic of the pro bono work Dickinson does for not-for-profits.
Unusual sites, especially on the coast, are a central part of Dickinson's 25 year solo practice - here a home on an island in the Sound in Branford, CT was prefabricated and helicoptered into place in a 3-day erection frenzy followed up by a year of finish work.
Interning at Breakfast Woodworks in the late 1970's gave Dickinson an appreciation and knowledge base to create furniture, millwork and carefully crafted trim - this project won a Met Home Award.
Additions are at the core of Dickinson's practice and were the subject of his first book, published almost 30 years ago, "Adding On" - here a new space in Guilford, CT connects the homeowners with their landscape.
