‘inRegister’: B.R. architect wins international acclaim

Kevin Harris can see into the future. And from where he’s sitting, it looks quite a bit like the beautiful past. When he launched his local architecture firm 30 years ago, he told his father, pediatric allergist Francis Harris, that he was going to be a radical. “Oh, no,” his dad said. “What are you going to do?” His answer: “I’m going to build traditional homes.” Now, Harris is renowned for his ability to bolster historically accurate designs with modern materials that can withstand the harsh demands of the South’s hot, wet and windy climate. Harris was featured last year in the luxury magazine Robb Report for designing a breathtaking, Tuscan-inspired custom home in Jackson, Miss. He has won more than a dozen national awards for his work and has been featured in The New York Times, Business Week and Southern Living. Harris grew up in the Broadmoor subdivision in Baton Rouge. When he was still a young boy, his parents decided to renovate their home, and Dr. Harris’s cousin, Roy Guderian, an architect who had worked with Frank Lloyd Wright, got the job. “He lived with us and added onto our house,” Harris says. “I was his shadow during that whole process.” Check out the complete cover story of inRegister by Amy Alexander here.