Post Office Box 1555
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568

20 Laughing Water Lane
West Tisbury, Massachusetts
508-693-7330

www.geoffreywhitearchitect.com
email: gw@geoffreywhitearchitect.com

During the reign of Caesar Augustus the architect Vitruvius promulgated a guiding principle of architecture that all structures must exhibit three qualities: firmitas, utilitas, and venustas; that is, fitness, utility and beauty. Fitness encompasses the qualities of durability of the structure and economy of materials. Utility describes the usefulness of a building for its intended purpose whether a house or a factory. And beauty is achieved through the proper proportions of the spaces, the proper intensity and character of natural light and the structure’s harmony with its natural environment.

Geoffrey White founded the architectural practice that bears his name in Philadelphia in 1974, after receiving
a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. The practice expanded in 1982 to
include Martha’s Vineyard where he moved with his family to West Tisbury in 2000. The firm has designed
exhibits, retail facilities and an educational center for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Edgartown Light-house Children’s Memorial for the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. A courtyard of restaurants based on the principles of sustainability was recently completed in Florida. Geoffrey White has taught architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and represented the United States at cultural and design conferences in Hungary and Slovenia. Both on and off the Vineyard he aspires to create houses of fitness, utility and beauty.