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History & Philosophy

Hands On. It’s an apt description. Hands on a pencil, sketching out the image of something that exists only in my imagination. Hands on a chisel,  a clamp. A welder.  Human intelligence, human creativity. The opposite of artificial.

What motivated me to become an architect was watching my cabinetmaker father , drawing up the next project he was going to build, then working with him in this shop, turning that image turn into  reality.   In my practice I've expanded that experience to the creation of whole structures.

 

Architecture
Paul Duncker, AIA
Principal

I received my architecture degree in New York City in 1985, my license in 1988.  Jackson Hole became home in 1995, and I established HandsOn Design in 1999. The size of the firm has ranged between one and five staff members, and right now it's just me. That means the  principle of the firm does all of the design, management, and document preparation.  There's 30 years of experience in every pencil line and each keystroke.

 

I also served as a Teton County Planning Commissioner for 10 years while the county rewrote its Comprehensive Plan, along with participating in numerous other community design efforts. I approach code compliance issues with the same creative problem solving skills I use in every other aspect of my design work. One recent project included removing a section of existing structure, turning it into two smaller structures in order to meet code compliance exceptions. Creative demolition.

Awards and Publications

Awards

 

Wyoming AIA Award of Honor                      Red House                                         1999

 

AIA Center for Communities by Design    

Certificate of Recognition for Design Excellence In Affordable Green Housing                2005

- East Kelly Avenue Housing

Environmental Design and Construction Magazine- Excellence in Design            2007

- Alta House, Alta, WY

                                                            

Periodicals

 

Architectural Record, "All in the Family"                                                       Sept.  1994

- custom cabinetry, Flatiron Residence, New York, NY 

 

Fine Homebuilding, "Red House,"                                                           Summer  2002

- annual "Houses" issue                                        

 

Fine Homebuilding, "Factory Built Houses"                                                    July  2004

- construction technologies                                

 

Builder, "Beyond the Box"                                                                              Fall   2004     

- SIPs panel construction                    

 

Building Products, "Panel Power"                                                          Jan/ Feb   2005          

- SIPs panel construction                                  

 

Residential Architect, "Mindful Choices"                                                  March   2005            - sustainable design   

 

Homestead, "In With the Old, Out With the New"                                    Spring   2004           - renovation and remodeling                                                                  

 

Homestead, "Elegant and Industrious"                                                    Spring  2005            - kitchen renovation                                                 

 

Homestead, "It's Easy Being Green"                                                     Spring    2006

- sustainable design          

 

JH Style, "Mountain Dreaming"                                                                    Fall 2015             - personal profile                 

 

Publications

 

Taunton Press, Built-In Furniture by Jim Tolpin                                                  1997            - stair cabinet/loft bed                                 

 

Taunton Press, Small Homes                                                                             2003

"Design Ideas for Great American Homes" series 

 

The Farmhouse, New Inspiration for the Classic American Home                     2004

- Jean Rehcamp Larson, Taunton Press,              

 

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