Profile: William Edward Summers

“Profile” magazine, page 42, Vancouver, B.C., Spring 1993

In residential design circles, part-time Vancouver resident Summers is recognized for his large-scale custom houses and country retreats, which emphasize ultra-comfort, enhanced security and the use of nontoxic materials. His commercial design skills are best showcased in artistic high-concept projects. Summers counts among his clients a former member of the German parliament, figure skating champions, a concert pianist, a well-known movie star, old San Francisco families, and trend-focused commercial developers, all of whom are drawn to Summers’ unique ability to synthesize the aesthetic of the past with the artistic exploration and complex technical requirements of today’s buildings.

Summers’ design style is influenced by his childhood growing up in a picturesque Midwestern college town filled with New England-style heritage architecture, where his family has lived since the Civil War. He carried his appreciation of the architectural imperatives of previous generations with him to California, where his design business flourished.

Working and living in one of his “rehabbed” Victorian buildings in the South of Market neighbourhood, Summers’ design expertise w on him such challenging projects as designing the prototypes for a new log house company; creating a custom plan for a house on a 2,000-acre ranch in the Napa Valley; design consulting for houses throughout California in areas such as Palm Springs, Lake Tahoe and Mendocino County; and designing interiors for restaurants, retail stores and several South of Market clubs.

What Summers brings to each project is a sophisticated understanding of complex building codes, zoning issues, heat loss/gain requirements, seismic conditions and aesthetic orientations. This is expertise that can only be gained through years of experience designing projects in two countries and many municipalities, each with its own unique building restrictions.

When Summers first came to British Columbia in the early 1990s, he was captivated by the civility of the people, the low crime rate and the beautiful, uncrowded and relatively unspoiled environment. He was also impressed by the way the area was quickly transforming itself into a major world centre. It was clearly an exciting place to be for an innovative designer with a wealth of experience and new ideas.

Since venturing north two years ago, Summers has provided design consulting for such projects as an 18,000-sq.-ft. residence near Seattle; a high-end residential development overlooking Puget Sound in the Seattle area; two large ocean-front houses on Vancouver Island; and a 10,000-sq.-ft. house in the Lower Mainland which received notice in The Vancouver Sun and the Victoria Times Colonist. In a more eclectic vein, Summers has also created a video presentation for Benetton as part of “Design Week Vancouver,” participated in the City of Vancouver’s City Plan program, and was the space planner and exhibit design consultant for the Canadian Craft Museum’s 1992 exhibit “Festive Treasures.”

Currently, Summers is providing design consulting for two medical/residential buildings in the Lower Mainland as well as several projects in the U.S., and is assisting the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association with exhibit design for one of their projects.
In addition to these projects, Summers is putting together a collection of his own large-format Cibachrome photographs, architectural paintings, videos and hand-drawn films for exhibition in California this summer. Believing that his design abilities do not exclude other art disciplines, Summers is interested not only in looking to the past, but in generating new ideas through art as well as design. His is a constantly evolving style based on the juxtaposition and transformation of the classical and the experimental—a remarkably intriguing approach.