America’s Top Architects: Anderson Studio Embraces The Scenic Challenge Of A South Carolina Barrier Island

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ESSENTIALS

Firm Name: Anderson Studio of Architecture and Design

Principals: Scott Anderson

Headquarters: Charleston, South Carolina

Accolades: Forbes Architecture's “America's Top 200 Residential Architects,” 2025; Forbes Architecture's “America's Best-in-State Residential Architects,” 2025

House Name: River Watch

Location: Kiawah Island, South Carolina

Area & Layout: 5,190 square feet, 5 BR, 7 BA

Architectural Photographers: Brennan Wesley (brennanwesley.com), Kelly Ferguson

Salt marshes and coastal waterways etch the edges of South Carolina’s southern shore, beguiling vacationers and residents alike with sublime scenery and southern charm. Asked to design a winter home for a globe-trotting family on Kiawah Island, one of the Lowcountry’s barrier islands, the team at Anderson Studio of Architecture and Design was confronted with a challenge: How do you elevate a house to take advantage of the views without compromising the views you’re celebrating—especially given a small, irregular lot with a cluster of specimen trees smack in the middle and another blocking the view?

“One of the most satisfying realizations was that the site wasn’t working against us—it was telling us exactly what to do,” says founder Scott Anderson. Honoring that directive, he angled the house to orient it toward the scenery (and away from neighbors), wrapping it around the trees so they became focal points instead of obstacles.

To downplay the home’s mass, Anderson took a counterintuitive approach. “We moved the ground plane up and the architecture down,” he says. Front steps wind around the oak cluster, depositing visitors in a raised entry hall set at base flood level. There, more stairs lead to an elevated first floor that’s crowned with a splayed gambrel roof. Although it conceals a full second floor, the roof creates the illusion that the house is much smaller than it actually is. “The home presents itself as low and grounded from the key vantage points that matter most,” Anderson says.

Such sleight-of-hand is commonplace for Anderson Studio, which specializes in designing houses that nod to historic styles but are more responsive to their settings and inhabitants than an actual period house might be. In the case of the Kiawah Island home, that meant breaking with period convention and lining the view side with window walls, and incorporating a variety of ceiling treatments to help define living spaces (and introduce a sense of scale) within the open plan.

“Each house is shaped by its own set of circumstances,” Anderson says. “Rather than developing a recognizable ‘style,’ we are more interested in creating homes that feel deeply rooted in place and deeply connected to the people who inhabit them.”

ABOVE: “The approach unfolds as a carefully choreographed procession,” notes Anderson, who raised the first floor to clear flood levels and enhance the view, then disguised the level change with a gracious stairway that wraps around an existing grove of live oaks, turning an obstacle into a focal point.

Brennan Wesley

ABOVE: The ascent to the first floor continues in the front entry hall, whose window wall highlights the live oaks and landscape beyond. “Operating simultaneously as passage and pause, the entry sequence balances compression and openness, using light, proportion and framed views to heighten the experience of arrival,” Anderson says.

Kelly Ferguson

ABOVE: The architects varied the ceiling treatment throughout the main floor, using reclaimed Douglas fir and a mix of ceiling heights to define living spaces within the open floor plan.

Brennan Wesley

ABOVE: In the living room, comfort takes precedence over grandeur. “A recurring language of framed openings and softened transitions establishes rhythm and human scale throughout the living spaces,” observes Anderson, “reinforcing the home’s balance between retreat and gathering.”

Kelly Ferguson

ABOVE: The kitchen is open to the living/dining area, and features an ample island where family and friends can gather; the sliding doors lead to a porch.

BRENNAN WESLEY

ABOVE: “Designed as a secluded counterpoint to the home’s more public gathering spaces, the primary suite opens directly toward water and marsh views, blurring the boundary between architecture, landscape and daily ritual,” Anderson says.

BRENNAN WESLEY

ABOVE: Limestone pavers seem to float atop the pool poised between the primary bedroom and the patio, making the short stroll between the two an immersive, sensory experience.

Brennan Wesley

ABOVE: “The stair was conceived as a sculptural centerpiece within the home,” says Anderson, who embellished it with serpentine plaster lines and illuminated it with sunlight from a rooftop cupola.

BRENNAN WESLEY

ABOVE: Embedded within the surrounding canopy, River Watch enjoys sweeping views across the marshlands and tidal waterways that surround Kiawah Island.

Brennan Wesley

Anderson Studio