Carlton Edwards: Asheville’s Premiere Architect - Led Design & Build Firm
By Natasha Kubis
Photography by David Dietrich
Building a custom home is an exciting journey, but it’s also a significant investment that can be an overwhelming and daunting experience for most people.
When a client prepares to create the home of their dreams, they typically hire a separate contractor and architect, and the two must cooperate to get their jobs done. This can often lead to chaotic communications and misdirection.
Finding a good team to make a dream home manifest into reality is best achieved by hiring a design and build firm to streamline all the different disciplines involved in creating your ideal utopia. Carlton Edwards is a unique architect led design and build firm that offers architectural planning, construction, interior design, and landscape services under a single umbrella.
Their expertise in all areas allows them to customize plans for any client considering a home renovation or residential and commercial construction projects. Their project delivery method merges the designer and builder so that the two are part of the same organization, thus making buildability and aesthetics a cohesive process.
As the design-builder, they are accountable for the entire project, from planning the architecture and interior design to facilitating the landscaping and construction. Their infrastructure eliminates potential adverse situations between the residential architecture team and construction crews.
Design and residential construction solutions overlap to keep the project cohesive, creative, and innovative for the most beneficial cost value and highly customized product. This approach eliminates potential headaches and hiccups, making the experience much more enjoyable for their customers.
Founded in Asheville, NC, in 2005, Carlton Edwards has since established studios in both Nashville and Memphis, TN. Their team of talented professionals focuses on creating unique experiences that
enrich the lives of their clients and community, from renovating historic downtown dwellings to secluded
mountain retreats.
Founder Rob Carlton focuses on redefining the conventional notion of Appalachian Mountain architecture by keeping the company’s aesthetics artful, modern, timeless, and relevant. His progressive firm includes a diverse team of architects, designers, and builders that offer rich perspectives as they combine their knowledge of integrative and sustainable design solutions that employ regional materials while combining the land’s topography with fresh and innovative ideas.
In working with the Carlton Edwards team, you can expect open, honest, and frequent communication through onsite meetings and video conferences. They offer virtual reality technology that provides artistic renderings, 3D views, and panoramas that are invaluable to their clients.
Real-time visualization creates an accurate and realistic 3D visualization, as it’s designed in real-time. This interaction makes it convenient to see how different ideas impact the project, and the plans can be easily exported and shared with others. It helps the architect and the client understand better how a building will look and function in real life. The process invites the client into each step of the process for more informed decision-making.
“This technology allows us to understand the design more fully and to communicate about the design more completely both with the client and also with our trade partners. It’s very helpful to explain things that are quite complicated, three dimensionally”, says Rob Carlton.
Carlton Edwards knows how to strike the right balance between environmental concerns and aesthetic integrity [CE1] and they educate their clients about the most efficient and cost-effective green home options, such as geothermal technologies and solar panels.
They dedicate themselves to the continued stewardship of natural resources, which is particularly important because architects play an essential role in seeking new, impactful solutions in response to the realities of the climate crisis.
With this comes a responsibility to design buildings and spaces that improve people’s lives while positively impacting the natural environment. Sustainability is an integral part of Carlton
Edwards’s design process and they believe good design is about harmonizing a building’s ecosystem with the environmental ecosystem.
In addition to helping you discover your ideal vision for your space and creating a perfect plan, they also handle the site construction, landscaping, and interior design aspects. As an inclusive interior design firm, they assist you by getting to know your likes, dislikes, and how you envision the space.
To save you time, money, and confusion, they help to coordinate color palettes and thematic styles, and their connections with local artisans can be a resource to customize textures, fixtures, furnishings,
and lighting for every aspect of custom design.
They focus on creating unique solutions that are tailored to the individuality of each client’s needs and simultaneously create instinctive and artful spaces that tell an original story with the inventive use of materials, textures, and light.
They also work closely with realtors and their clients to help with due diligence in selecting land and ensuring that their clients purchase property that will help them realize their dream of having a home in the mountains.
Whether buying a new house or renovating your own, transforming a house into your ideal space is very personal. When the design is based on your needs, wishes, and lifestyle, your home can improve your daily interactions and help you create the future you want for your life.
Carlton Edwards observes the needs of their clients and delivers a thoughtfully built dwelling that is cohesive and reflects their client’s tastes, habits, daily interactions, and budgets. Cultivating quality craftsmanship, attention to detail, and sound environmental principles ensures a legacy of superior work to be enjoyed for generations.
Carlton Edwards
103 Broadway Street, Asheville, NC 28801
828.274.7554
[CE1]Environmental concerns and aesthetic integrity are not at odds with each other.
This is not an either-or proposition