Technical Qualifications

Knickerbocker Group offers architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design services for custom homes and commercial spaces. Over the past 40 years, we have built relationships with a diverse network of architects, designers, engineers, and construction professionals.

Real Estate + Land Use Planning

We offer real estate services and land use planning for prospective buyers, landowners, homeowners, as well as institutions, businesses, and communities throughout Maine.

Our in-house real estate professional assists clients during the land and/or property acquisition stage. Maine is comprised of distinct regions, each with their own personality. Our team is deeply connected to Maine and in partnership with our clients, we assist in helping them discover their Maine.

To protect Maine’s beautiful yet fragile shoreline, a myriad of Federal, State, and local environmental regulations exists. We are experienced with navigating these laws as they relate to land use and development and are equipped to make recommendations on each project’s specific needs, from the very beginning stages—It is never too early.

An important aspect of buying property is understanding the vision—can a client do what they envision on this parcel? Will it accommodate their program over the many years of owning the land? Our architectural and site planning team listens to our client’s ideas, needs, and desires and demonstrates how their vision can be accommodated based on the site’s unique characteristics, opportunities, and boundaries. Working with our in-house construction managers, we also offer guidance on expenses so our clients fully understand the “all-in” (acquisition + improvements) costs before they commit to purchasing a parcel of land or a home in need of renovation.

Knickerbocker Group is deeply committed to Maine and its communities. We often get involved in larger-scale projects that offer significant economic or community development benefit. Our work on these projects includes high-level planning, branding, consensus building, and leadership to guide institutions, businesses, communities, and related stakeholders to a successful outcome.

Architecture

At Knickerbocker Group, we get excited about design. Our architectural ‘style’ is truly your vision; we create owner-driven designs based on your ideas, preferences, and the way you live your life. Our team of architects and designers is passionate about materials, spaces, light, warmth and the many tangibles and intangibles that all come together in making a structure work well and feel comfortable. Good design is recognizable: a room, space or building that has an effortless quality, feels proportioned and sized ‘just right’, and blends function with a unique expression of its occupants and how they use the space.

We design homes and buildings every day, practicing our craft to achieve a solid understanding of how components work together and relate to each other. As a design-build firm with a property management arm, we have the unique benefit of access to our homes for many years after the design and construction is complete. This allows us to observe and measure what works best, and we are constantly refining our approach to architecture based on time-tested materials, methods and practices.

Architecture though is more than building design. Our experience has taught us that the most successful projects are collaborative, involving an ongoing conversation between our clients, the design team, and the construction manager. Together we work through the many decisions your project will require, guiding you to well-considered choices along the way.

Choices, of course, have cost consequences and so we incorporate appropriate pricing updates throughout the design process so that our clients understand the overall budget implications of decisions made along the way. Knickerbocker Group brings the construction manager (in-house or external) to the owner-architect team as early as possible to guide the project through the many decisions to achieve a successful outcome: a well-designed, quality-built structure delivered within our client’s budget.

To that end, we have developed a detailed process for improving cost control during the life of a project. Each phase of design – from initial schematics, to design development, to construction documents – is an architectural milestone associated with specific pricing deliverables. Producing quality design is as important to us as managing your dream and vision, ensuring the finished product is better than ever you imagined and aligned with your expectations of cost and value.

Landscape Architecture

Knickerbocker Group’s landscape architecture practice supports a vast number of our projects as well as acting as the lead on sites that require landscape design only. One of our central tenets is collaboration, and this guiding principle is exemplified by our design team; working together to elevate every project from the initial site consult with potential clients, through design and construction, and continuing with our property management services.

Knickerbocker Groups landscape architecture practice offers site master planning services which seek to capitalize on the opportunities afforded by each property; often working with our clients to create a phased implementation plan as well as providing management techniques to ensure the integrity of the design concept remains intact for years to come. Landscape design presents unique challenges in that we must factor the fourth dimension of time into the design equation. How will the landscape grow and evolve over time to continue to complement the architecture of the home and the structure of the design? Working closely with our property management team ensures the long-term success of our projects.

Alongside our architects, the landscape architects team assesses how to meld site opportunities and challenges, client desires, zoning requirements and the native surroundings. We study a site’s topography, geology, light conditions through the seasons, microclimates, and existing ecology to find the ideal location for a new home or enhancements such as a swimming pool. Working with surveyors, civil and structural engineers, arborists, and ecologists, we create beautiful, sustainable, stable landscapes that elevate a site’s natural beauty with the creative addition of local materials. A Knickerbocker Group home is one that seamlessly integrates with the surrounding landscape, nestling into a hillside or sitting atop a bluff to capture distant views. Our team collaborates to create indoor/outdoor flow and connectivity—both physically and visually. The approach and arrival to a home are thoroughly studied to establish a gracious experience for homeowners and guests. Walkways, deck, terraces, retaining walls, entertaining spaces such as outdoor kitchens and grilling stations; swimming pools and spas, outdoor fireplaces/fire pits, edible landscapes, play areas and any other items from the clients’ wish list are calibrated to maximize the site’s potential.

The landscape architects team also works with our interior design practice to select outdoor furniture and accessories that complement the thoughtful selections inside a home. A seamless flow from the interior to the exterior of the home is one of the hallmarks of a Knickerbocker Group home and landscape.

TYPES OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PROJECTS

• Master Planning
• LA with Architecture
• LA without Architecture

Interior Design

Knickerbocker Group offers interior design to complement in-house or external architectural services, thus ensuring your home or building is not only beautiful and structurally sound but also meets the functional, aesthetic, and emotional needs of its occupants.

Beginning at the planning (or schematic design) phase, we pair one of our interior designers with the project’s lead architect. The interior designer assists the architect with space planning and room layouts based on how you will move through your home and how you would like each space to look and make you feel. From the start, our interiors team will focus on how you will live in the space, keeping in mind how furnishings and finishes will fit within each room. Our interior designers are able to assist with millwork and cabinetry design, furniture layouts, color consultations, wall treatments, product selections for all interior fixtures and finishes, and kitchen & bathroom design.

Our comprehensive interior design services offer flexibility and range in the level of project assistance. We can assist with the schematic design phase through to the finishing touches, including linens and tableware, or to any scope of the project in between.

Furnishings Design, Procurement + Installation

Knickerbocker Group offers services encompassing furnishings design, procurement, and installation. By working on furnishings and window treatments simultaneously through the design and construction process, we are able to make certain the selected furnishings will properly fit into the home and the uses desired for each space are adequately addressed. This collaborative step helps to eliminate surprises during move in day.

With our furnishings services, we work on broad-spectrum furnishing layouts during the schematics phase. From there, we put together preliminary furnishings allowances to estimate project costs. After the schematic phase, we will start the selection of specific furnishings and develop a design package for review and approval. Once the design package has been finalized, the pricing phase begins. Our designers will gather all the necessary costs associated with supplying and installing the furnishings and window treatments. Upon acceptance of the furnishings proposal, we will begin ordering, securing and storing the furnishings until the installation is scheduled, often in the weeks prior to client occupancy.

Graphic Design + Branding

Knickerbocker Group’s marketing and creative department develops and builds high-quality, everlasting brands through authentic design, engaging storytelling, and strategic approach. Our well-honed process provides the ideal framework for new ideas to emerge and resonate with your distinct vision and values. Our team brings your visual narratives and experiences to life.

We specialize in:

• Brand Identity Design
• Logo Design
• Website Design
• Signage / Wayfinding
• Presentation Materials
• Environmental Graphics
• Publication Design
• + more

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For more information or interest, please email marketing@knickerbockergroup.com