Rudy Polwin Architects

Fayston, Vermont
New Residence

A ground-up home in Fayston, Vermont, conceived as a dark, angular form in a quiet wooded setting. More akin to a ledge outcropping than a conventional house, the project pairs a highly efficient building shell with a concealed mass timber glulam frame. A refined interior provides a quiet counterpoint to the dark exterior.

Stowe, Vermont
New Residence

A proposed new residence in Stowe, Vermont, set on a mountain site with views toward Mount Mansfield and Stowe Mountain Resort. The design lifts the primary living spaces to the upper level, placing the most valued rooms in direct relationship with light, view, and landscape. The lower level supports entry, storage, and secondary spaces, allowing the house to concentrate its energy around the rooms where daily life gathers.

Waterbury, Vermont
Residential Transformation

A complete transformation of an existing New England cape in Waterbury, Vermont, reoriented toward views of Mount Mansfield and Stowe Mountain Resort. Through a gut renovation, two additions, and expanded outdoor living spaces, the house was remade as a clean, modern home while preserving the scale and familiarity of its original form. RPA led the architecture, construction, interior architecture, built-ins, millwork, and material selections.

Warren, Vermont
Bath Interior

A compact bath renovation for a ski condo near Sugarbush Resort. Wall-mounted cabinetry, careful millwork, and refined details make the small room feel more open by keeping the floor plane visible. Renderings and completed photographs are shown together to illustrate the project’s development from design intent to built work.

Stowe, Vermont
Accessory Dwelling

A ground-up accessory dwelling in Stowe, Vermont, set near the Cady Hill trail network. The project brings together a straw bale enclosure and timber frame structure within a clean, contemporary architectural language. The expressed frame brings structure to the foreground, giving the building a clear order.

RPA led the architecture and participated in the build in collaboration with Yestermorrow Design/Build School and Boreal Construction.

Waterbury, Vermont
Kitchen and Millwork

A small kitchen reworked through a furniture-like approach to cabinetry and millwork. Locally sourced Vermont cherry was used to create a warmer and more cohesive interior, bringing storage, function, and material character into closer alignment.

RPA led both the design and construction of the project, carrying the design intent through layout, material selection, detailing, and execution.

Stowe, Vermont
Primary Suite Millwork

A focused millwork project for a primary bedroom suite in Stowe, Vermont. The work creates a calm sequence of built-in elements across the bedroom, changing vestibule, and primary bath, bringing storage, use, and material character into closer alignment.

A live-edge birch headboard anchors the bed wall, with integrated nightstands and a floating platform extending the composition. In the changing vestibule, simple white cabinetry provides generous storage while remaining quiet against the surrounding wood floors, ceiling, doors, and sills. In the primary bath, a simple wood vanity adds storage and material warmth while remaining visually restrained.

Waterbury, Vermont
Kitchen and Millwork

A restrained kitchen update for an existing home in Waterbury, Vermont. RPA redesigned the kitchen and cabinetry, improving the layout while keeping the room quiet, functional, and connected to the character of the house.

Birch cabinetry and dark granite counters create a durable, understated material palette. The refrigerator is integrated into a large pantry wall, resolving an awkward condition in the previous kitchen, while a downdraft range eliminates the need for a low vent hood and preserves an open connection to the adjacent living space.

Montpelier, Vermont
New Residence

A ground-up residence in Montpelier, Vermont, developed while at Sellers and Company Architects, where Rudy served as Project Architect and led the project within the office.

The house is grounded by a rusted steel base and wrapped in wide horizontal cedar siding, with punched window apertures carefully integrated into the exterior composition. Curved roof elements mark the carport and clerestory, adding lightness and contrast to the horizontal form.

Inside, layered wood framing members form columns and beams with an assembled, crafted quality. Stained polished concrete floors bring weight and continuity to the interior, reinforcing the project’s direct material character.

Fort Bragg, California
Inn and Retreat

A remote hospitality project on the Northern California coast, set within a 2,000-acre ranch overlooking the Pacific. The inn draws from the land’s history, materials, and scale, creating a retreat shaped by ocean, forest, pasture, and the working character of the ranch.

Reclaimed redwood, site-gathered stone, structural tree trunks, and custom millwork shape a series of intimate and communal spaces. The project balances rugged material presence with refinement, warmth, and deeply considered craft.

Designed by architects Dave Sellers and Jim Sanford. Rudy contributed to the design while working under their direction, an experience that remains an important influence on RPA’s approach to materiality, craft, and place.

Waterbury, Vermont
Porch and Outdoor Living

A porch and outdoor living project for an existing residence in Waterbury, Vermont. The work combines a screened porch, pergola, trellis, and balcony into a single composed structure that extends daily life outward, with wide steps providing a simple connection to the landscape.

Built from simple pressure-treated framing with stainless steel cable railings, the project elevates familiar materials through proportion, repetition, and careful detailing. The result is a light, elegant addition that gathers several outdoor uses into one restrained architectural element.

RPA led both the design and construction of the project.

Furniture and Objects

A collection of furniture, objects, prototypes, and built work exploring material, proportion, joinery, and use at a smaller scale. The work reflects RPA’s interest in carrying design intent across scales, from architecture and interiors to smaller objects, furnishings, and carefully considered details.

Killington, Vermont
Ski House Transformation

A substantial transformation of an existing ski house in Killington, Vermont, set among ledge with views toward Killington Resort. With little remaining beyond the original foundation and a couple of exterior walls, the project reworked the house around a new elevated addition that places the primary living spaces in direct relationship to the view.

Lifted on piers above the existing driveway, the addition acts as both architecture and carport, creating covered parking and a more protected entry sequence below. The strategy makes winter arrival easier and more functional, while giving the house a clearer relationship between parking, entry, storage, outdoor living, and the elevated rooms above.

Existing conditions, concept sketches, and completed photographs are shown together to illustrate the project’s transformation from early architectural idea to built work.

Boston, Massachusetts
Backyard Writing Studio

A proposed backyard writing studio for a single-family residence in Boston, Massachusetts. Conceived as a compact accessory structure, the project explored a small interior that could support writing, lounging, sleeping, and storage while maintaining a strong connection to the garden.

Because the structure was set away from public view, the design could take on a more open and unconventional character. A large operable door creates a direct connection between the studio and yard, allowing the small building to feel more expansive than its footprint.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Museum Concept

A museum concept for a center for multisensory arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The project explores how architecture can engage the senses beyond sight, using space, material, sound, touch, movement, and light as part of the visitor experience.

Galleries, performance spaces, education areas, workshops, public circulation, and outdoor spaces are organized as a sequence of sensory encounters rather than visual display alone. Shown through a sketch and physical model, the project reflects an interest in architecture as an immersive, material, and spatial experience.

Waterbury, Vermont
Bakery and Cafe

An adaptive reuse project in Waterbury, Vermont, transforming an existing house into a neighborhood bakery and cafe with an apartment above. The design balanced the character of the older building with the practical needs of a small commercial kitchen, public counter, seating area, and upper-level residence.

Historic elements were retained where possible, while new interventions were kept focused and economical. The result is a modest commercial transformation that supports daily public use while preserving the familiarity and scale of the original building.

Waitsfield, Vermont
Kitchen Layout and Millwork Design

A kitchen design for a new home in Waitsfield, Vermont, near Sugarbush Resort’s Mount Ellen area. RPA refined the kitchen layout and millwork design, bringing greater clarity to storage, work surfaces, and daily use.

Simple white cabinetry is paired with live-edge walnut countertops, giving the kitchen a direct material presence within the mountain setting. The layout orients the kitchen toward both the view and adjacent living area, allowing cooking, gathering, and conversation to happen without turning away from the room or landscape.

Stowe, Vermont
Restaurant and Beer Garden

A proposed seating expansion for The Bench Restaurant in Stowe, Vermont. The design creates an indoor/outdoor beer garden that could adapt to changing weather through a sliding wall system, extending the restaurant’s dining area while strengthening its connection to the street.

The proposal adds seating capacity while creating a more visible public edge, allowing the activity of the restaurant to register from outside.

Waterbury, Vermont
Design-Build Playground Structure

A small playground structure developed through a Yestermorrow design-build course. The project began as storage for loose parts, open-ended objects used for play and learning, but expanded after an existing maintenance shed was identified beside the playground.

Rather than treat storage, shed repair, and covered play as separate needs, the design combines them into one simple structure. A broad roof extends from the existing shed, supported by new playful columns, creating dry storage and a covered area for play with greater functional and visual value for the playground.

Waitsfield, Vermont
New Residence

A new residence in Waitsfield, Vermont, currently under construction. The aerial image shows the project taking shape as a simple, restrained form within its immediate landscape.

RPA is leading both the design and construction of the project.

Waterbury, Vermont
Restaurant Concept

A conceptual design for a bar, restaurant, and beer garden in Waterbury, Vermont. The proposal explored how indoor dining, bar seating, and outdoor gathering could be organized into a flexible hospitality environment with a strong connection between interior and exterior space.

The beer garden was conceived as both an extension of the restaurant and a more active public edge to the site.