Andrew Welch Photography
A custom "aging-in-place" home built by emerymcclure architecture in Arnaudville, Louisiana.
On the banks of the picturesque Hidden Hills Lake in rural Arnaudville, this custom home by emerymcclure architecture easily draws the eye of passing boaters and fishermen. Stunning and full of intrigue of its own accord, the home is also representative of Louisiana’s ongoing legacy of adaptation and innovation in home design. Just as our ancestors adapted their traditional Acadian, French, Spanish, Indigenous, Haitian, and African building methods to the hot, humid, storm-prone world of South Louisiana—now contemporary designers must contend with the challenges of the modern day, building a more energy efficient, better quality-of-life future. In this “Deep South Design” issue, part of that innovation is literally bringing the past into the future through creative restorations and renovations, and by utilizing the wisdom our predecessors gained through their own trial and error building on this swampy landscape we call home. As Adam Ortego puts it in his article “Innovation is Our Tradition,” “It is adaptation—improving upon our traditions—that will help us embody the resilience needed to sustain life in this region for the century ahead.”
.jpg)