House Tour | written by: PAMELA DEY VOSSLER
Gorham’s Pond home designed by Neil Hauck Architects / courtesy Tim Lee Photography
What does it take to be good at something? Really good. Sure, you have to want it and you must put in the hours, weeks and years it requires. Plenty of people do that. So, what else?
Speak with Neil Hauck of Darien-based Neil Hauck Architects, recently named to the 2025 inaugural list of Forbes top 200 residential architects in the U.S. from a field of 18,000, and you’ll begin to understand.
Besides experience, which Neil definitely has, being good is about having a good team, of course. Neil has that too, in architects Brian O’Connor and Rob Metzgar, who he describes as a tight jazz trio, so closely do the three work as Brian and Rob make their way through projects after Neil has completed the initial designs.
Brian O’Connor, Neil, Rob Metzgar / Bambi Riegel | riegelpictureworks.com
And it’s about knowledge, the deep kind Neil has of his field and the shoulders he stands on. He’ll talk about Alvar Aalto, Louis Kahn, Le Corbusier and Santiago Calatrava – among the architectural greats who have inspired him, the way the rest of us might comment on our favorite books, shows or sports teams.
Achieving greatness is also about passion, plainly. Neil’s for building things began at home growing up in Wantagh, Long Island with a dad who was a Northrop Grumman aerospace engineer, a member of the lunar module design team and a reliable source of the countless model planes Neil constructed as a kid.
That passion grew during the seven weeks he spent in Europe with a friend the summer after high school. Through France, Spain and Italy then Switzerland, Austria, Germany and into Denmark and London, Neil soaked up a range of architectural styles. “That had a huge influence on me,” he recalled.
Warren’s Point home in Little Compton, RI / courtesy Tim Lee Photography
It drove him to major in civil engineering at Princeton. Architecture came along in a class taught by renowned professor David Billington, whose brilliant lectures compared structures such as the Eiffel Tower and the St. Louis Arch.
“That course turned my head around,” said Neil. Through an interdepartmental program introduced his sophomore year, Neil was able to take architectural classes while continuing with his major.
“In engineering classes, we were always trying to get the one right answer. Whereas, when I started to take studios in the architecture school, there was no one right answer,” explained Neil. “There are an infinite number of answers to a design problem. Some are better than others. It’s a different way of thinking.” He was hooked. So he took his engineering degree to the University of Virginia where he earned a masters in architecture.
He spent the year after graduation with a small firm preserving historical buildings in rural Virginia. Wanting to design rather than just restore, he came north to the big leagues, working as a designer at the Hamden-based Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo & Associates. Roche had been director of design for Eero Saarinen, designer of the St. Louis Arch Neil had studied, the winged gull TWA terminal at JFK Airport and Dulles Airport, among many others. Dinkeloo was Saarinen’s director of production. Roche, who would go on to win the Pritzker Prize – the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in architecture, took over the practice with Dinkeloo following Saarinen’s death.
Oenoke Lane home in New Canaan / courtesy Tim Lee Photography
“I was there for four years and wouldn’t trade that experience for anything,” said Neil who worked “crazy hours” on projects including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. “I learned so much,” he continued.
Yes, if you’re aiming for excellence, it helps if you’re well-trained.
But, to advance his career, he required experience that would include construction drawings as well as design and he needed a smaller firm for that. He found it in Darien at Bruce Falconer’s company, which he went on to lead after Bruce’s untimely death at the age of 53.
In 1988, the firm became Neil Hauck Architects and has been racking up awards, quietly, consistently, ever since—Neil’s humility, the kind that frequently accompanies big talent, on full display. In fact, when Forbes approached Neil to apply for the Top 200 designation, he forgot about it nearly as soon as he sent the information they requested. After learning he’d made it to a semi-final round of 750 last summer, he dismissed it again. It wasn’t until he was actually named to the list that he paid attention.
Brookside Road home renovation by Neil Hauck Architects / courtesy Tim Lee Photography
“The first thing I did was check who else made it. Did it mean anything?” recalled Neil. He looked, and found “some of the best architects in the country, firms I revere, much larger firms,” he continued, still a bit incredulous.
“My immediate thought was one of gratitude,” said Neil.
He knows: “There is no greatness in this business without great clients who put their trust in us,” he added.
Mostly though, excellence exists in that enigmatic place where inspiration and passion ignite.
For Neil, it’s in music. He sees things others don’t. He hears it, especially in the music of jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny.
“There’s something about listening to Metheny’s music, the way he links transitions and how he composes things that has given me an understanding that I can use in architectural design,” said Neil, recalling Goethe, the German philosopher, who referred to architecture as “frozen music.”
“The way a composer treats transitions between passages can either be messy or elegant. And it’s the same with buildings,” continued Neil, a lifelong musician who studied classical piano for 10 years as a kid. “Sometimes it’s easy to do, sometimes it’s not so easy.”
Neil at his desk in his office at 859 Post Road in Darien / Bambi Riegel | riegelpictureworks.com
Though he designs with certain preferences – for simple rooflines, clearly articulated forms, light, natural materials, keen attention to detail, balance, proportion and scale, you won’t necessarily know a Neil Hauck house when you see one.
“There are certain architects that come up with a formula, and then every house they design is from that same formula. I don’t approach it that way,” explained Neil who starts with getting to know his clients—their taste, how they live. He considers the site too then pulls it all together to create
a unique “sense of place,” as he says, that will last.
“I’ve never really followed trends. I’ve always tried to design houses that you wouldn’t be able to say in 10 years, ‘That was built in 2010,’” said Neil. It’s also a way to honor sustainability.
“One of the ways I think you can achieve sustainability is to design a house that is going to last for a long time,” he added.
… the notes within made manifest—and a top 200 honor so very well-deserved.
