architect abstract: laurence "renzo" verbeck

Name: Laurence “Renzo” Verbeck

Age: 40

Company: Verbeck Design Studios Inc.

Specialty: Contemporary architecture, sculpture and furniture design

Contact information: 303-926-6909, renzo@verbeckdesign.com

Home state: New York (Hudson River Valley)

Favorite architect: Santiago Calatrava, who designed the 2004 Olympic Village in Greece

Favorite public building in Boulder County: National Center for Atmospheric Research, designed by I. M. Pei

Dream project: To build his own residence on a lot in north Boulder and to continue to work on projects like the home he designed for Cindy Lindsay and Steve Sheafor

Laurence “Renzo” Verbeck always wanted to be an architect. “I remember selling lemonade when I was 10 and telling people I was going to be an architect,” says the owner of Boulder’s Verbeck Design Studios Inc. “All I ever did was build things and design things and make models out of Legos and Lincoln Logs.”

Renzo’s lifelong dream came true when he graduated in 1990 with an environmental design degree from the University of Colorado. But along his path, he’d also become a contemporary sculptor and that profoundly influences his work. “A sculpture is an object in space; it doesn’t do anything, it just sits there, which is the great thing about sculpture,” Renzo says. “But a house is different. You have to interact with it all the time and you have to have elements that are not token, that are contiguous.”

Renzo applied that philosophy to Cindy Lindsay and Steve Sheafor’s Pinebrook Hills home, which he began designing in 2001 (the couple moved into their home in March 2005). “The homeowners were very involved in the process from start to finish,” he says. “Unless you have a great reputation for some international style and you can dictate what’s going to happen—which doesn’t sound like that much fun, honestly—the clients direct a lot and their input is significant. But the architect has to bring that together somehow, sort it out and produce something cohesive.”

What Renzo produced for Steve and Cindy is a stunning example of what he calls intimate contemporary. “The home is contemporary, in the sense that it’s not a reproduction or a knockoff,” he says. “It’s open, airy and light, and it uses lots of modern materials. It’s also very warm because of the amount of wood involved in it. The lines are very clean, it’s very sleek, and [frilly fashion designer] Laura Ashley would definitely not like it.”

Since he’s also a sculptor, “I mix materials and I know materials,” says Renzo. “I can come up with reasonable expectations for X, Y and Z materials, and I’m always looking for new things. So I’d come up with ideas and the clients were interested in following through.”

Renzo also defined the home’s open spaces through elaborate ceiling panels and canopies. “Unless you’re careful about defining space, you can just get lost,” he says.“A lot of interior decorators try to do that with furniture. Sure, it can be done, but it’s an afterthought. I prefer to do it architecturally. That’s why the different panels and ceiling treatments are so involved—to try and make people comfortable in a defined space. Then you don’t have to have a lot of furniture, because I don’t like stuff.”

—Carol Brock

Copyright 2005 Brock Publishing Company
homes@brockpub.com