The Digest | New Jersey Magazine
Issue link: https://magazines.vuenj.com/i/1347392
accomplished by establishing discrete zones within larger spaces such as creating large openings with doors and tall glass windows, or by playing with ceiling styles and experimenting with lines of sight. One favorite tactic of D'Agostino's is to install large and visually commanding design elements like a fireplace, in the middle of a room and open up doors on either side of it. "I create a focal point," D'Agostino said, "so that the rooms are defined, yet they flow with one another." It is then hardly surprising that D'Agostino employed these same principles in the design of his own home. Located in Washington Township, in Bergen County, NJ, D'Agostino's residence is, like many of the projects undertaken by Plan Architecture, a fully custom home built to match D'Agostino's aesthetic tastes, as well as the practical and logistical needs of his family. With 4 bedrooms, 3 ½ baths, a home office, a fitness area, and a music room in the basement, D'Agostino's home is less like the sprawling, imposing but impersonal multi-million dollar mansions that pepper the North Jersey landscape around Bergen County and more the ideal luxury family residence. This, of course, is by design. While, by D'Agostino's own admission, there was much up in the air during the design phase of the construction, he nonetheless had a fairly clear idea of what his family's home was supposed to be and feel like. "I was trying to create a house that felt open but comfortable, high-end but not pretentious, and that served my needs, my wife's needs, and my family," D'Agostino said. Moreover, D'Agostino's home is, in many ways, an encapsulation of his entire stylistic oeuvre. One could call it an architectural thesis statement of sorts. Stroll casually through the house and take notice of D'Agostino's open, V U E N J .C O M 52