Kersting Architecture

Per its own site, Kersting Architecture was 'founded by award-winning architect Michael Ross Kersting in 1995' (self-description). [www.kerstingarchitecture.com] The firm is based in Wilmington, North Carolina, at 4022 Market Street, Suite 201. [www.kerstingarchitecture.com] Per its own site, the firm 'seeks to enhance the lives of our clients and our community by offering thoughtful and progressive design solutions' and strives to create places that are 'authentic, provocative, meaningful, and responsive' (self-description). [www.kerstingarchitecture.com] The firm's own site quotes Louis Kahn. [www.kerstingarchitecture.com] The firm's full legal/formal name is given in the site footer as 'Michael Ross Kersting Architecture.' [www.kerstingarchitecture.com] In 2011, Michael Kersting of Kersting Architecture began designing a 4,000-square-foot home along Howe's Creek in Landfall (Wilmington, NC); the home was completed in April 2013. [wilmingtonncmagazine.com] The design incorporated existing trees on the sloping site, which Kersting nicknamed 'The Hugging Tree.' [wilmingtonncmagazine.com] The house used aerated autoclaved concrete (AAC) block — described as a lightweight structural block — to create a sculpted feature wall in the great room. [wilmingtonncmagazine.com] The house's construction combined post-and-beam and traditional stick-framed methods, per builder Dennis True of True Builders. [wilmingtonncmagazine.com] Kersting on his design approach and the role of each client's specific circumstances. [wilmingtonncmagazine.com] Kersting on the firm's use of natural light. [wilmingtonncmagazine.com] Michael Ross Kersting established Michael Ross Kersting Architecture PA in Wilmington, NC in 1995. [www.ncmodernist.org] Following Kersting's 2022 death, the firm continues under partners Mark Wilson and Toby Keeton. [www.ncmodernist.org] Kersting is 'best known in Wilmington for the MEDAC building and for the Commodore Club, uniquely built on a barge and towed into place.' [www.ncmodernist.org] The firm's documented project catalog runs from 1997 through 2025 and consists primarily of custom residential houses in the Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach, and Figure Eight Island area, with project architects over the years including Toby Keeton, Mark Wilson, Ryan Blackwell, Jim Graham, and Hunter Paul Coffey. [www.ncmodernist.org] The firm's 2022 Pilli-Sansing House project ('Tepid Consent') was nominated for the 2025 Matsumoto Prize. [www.ncmodernist.org] The firm's 2015 Knott House project ('Waterline') won 1st place in the People's Choice category of the 2015 Matsumoto Prize. [www.ncmodernist.org] The firm's Douglas Lebda Guest House project won 1st place in the 2014 Matsumoto Prize People's Choice category. [www.ncmodernist.org] The firm's 2008 John and Roberta Wilson Residence ('Dragonfly Villa') won the 1st place People's Choice Award in the 2013 George Matsumoto Prize. [www.ncmodernist.org] Kersting Architecture was founded by Michael Ross Kersting in 1995. The page heads its account of the firm with a three-word line. [www.kerstingarchitecture.com] The firm states that its designs arise from the specific needs of the client and the physical and cultural characteristics of each site, and that it aims to make places that are authentic, provocative, meaningful and responsive. It closes the statement with a line from Louis Kahn. [www.kerstingarchitecture.com] It trades as Michael Ross Kersting Architecture at 4022 Market Street, Suite 201, Wilmington, North Carolina. [www.kerstingarchitecture.com] Michael Ross Kersting AIA lived from 1964 to 2022. He grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, earned a BA from the University of New Mexico in 1986 and an MA in Architecture from NC State in 1990. [www.ncmodernist.org] After working in Washington DC he moved to Wilmington, worked for Ligon Flynn for about eighteen months, then for Woods Architecture in Santa Fe. He worked for the contractor Nick Garrett and in parallel established Michael Ross Kersting Architecture PA in Wilmington in 1995, breaking off from Garrett around 1997. [www.ncmodernist.org] Kersting died in a biking accident in 2022. The firm continues under partners Mark Wilson and Toby Keeton. [www.ncmodernist.org] NCModernist names two non-residential works as what the firm is best known for in Wilmington. [www.ncmodernist.org] The page catalogues the firm's houses from 1997 onward, the earliest listed being the John and Carol Edwards House at 2033 Balmoral Place, Wilmington, a contemporary design with a large indoor pool. [www.ncmodernist.org] The 2022 Pilli-Sansing house at 600 Arboretum Drive, Wilmington — project architect Mark Wilson — was nominated for the 2025 Matsumoto Prize. NCModernist records that the house's alternate name comes from a letter in which the Landfall homeowners' association tepidly consented to its construction. [www.ncmodernist.org] The page lists Toby Keeton, Mark Wilson, Ryan Blackwell, Jim Graham and Kara Konkur as project architects on individual houses, and gives its sources as Michael Ross Kersting, Wrightsville Beach Magazine, Pam Kersting, Toby Keeton and New Hanover County property records. [www.ncmodernist.org]

“Architecture is the thoughtful making of space.” [www.kerstingarchitecture.com]

“That and the attributes that a client brings to a project keep us from repeating a design. Each time, we have a new set of criteria.” [wilmingtonncmagazine.com]

“Daylighting is part of good design, along with high-quality insulated glass and concrete block with insulation.” [wilmingtonncmagazine.com]

“Ideas become Home” [www.kerstingarchitecture.com]

“Architecture is the thoughtful making of space.” [www.kerstingarchitecture.com]

“Beyond houses, Kersting is best known in Wilmington for the MEDAC building and for the Commodore Club, uniquely built on a barge and towed into place.” [www.ncmodernist.org]