Julia Starr Sanford
- Art Department
- Art Director
Julia is the founding principal and currently operates Starr Sanford
Design Associates, a residential design and development firm based in
Amelia Island and Rosemary Beach, FL. Ms. Sanford has been a designer
for an extensive range of projects internationally including
large-scale hotel, high rise office building, resort and retail
centers, and has provided design and project management for historical
renovations, showrooms, libraries, museums and private galleries. She
has designed feature film sets for Twentieth Century Fox, Universal,
MGM and Walt Disney Pictures and was NBC's art director for the Today
Show and 1996 Centennial Olympic Broadcast. She is currently attached
as Production Designer for the in-development science fiction film,
Mars Rising, and recently completed set design duties for Devil's Knot,
starring Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon and due for release in 2013
Ms. Sanford is the Founding Director of the Sky Institute + Foundation for the Future, a non-profit organization dedicated to building sustainable communities with current projects in the US, Australia, Bahamas, and Central America. She has directed the town architecture with DPZ and the New Urban Guild of numerous projects nationally and internationally including Amelia Park, a DPZ development on Amelia Island, FL, Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach on the Gulf Coast, Schooner Bay and Albany in the Bahamas, and Hacienda Lagunas and Uma in Panama, Central America. She is currently working with Studio LFA on new Coastal Towns in Perth, Australia.
Starr Sanford Design Associates is focused on incorporating vernacular traditions with sustainable design and high performance building technologies. The practice was founded in 1996 with residential projects characterized by an interest in the regional traditions of the South as well as the Colonial architecture of the West Indies. Ms. Sanford was brought to Rosemary Beach and surrounding areas to help foster this interest and illustrate the intent of various development codes. Homes are distinctive in their attention to historical proportion and detail; the designs are distinguished by their old world techniques of wood joinery, heavy timber framing, and the grace of authentic materials. The architecture recognizes a traditional environmentally sensitive approach to residential design enhanced by natural climate control, verandas, balconies, large windows and louvered shutters. Recent projects represent actively sustainable construction through the incorporation of established regional practices. Focusing on the practical applications of energy conservation, residential models are being developed through the Sky Institute.
Ms. Sanford has a Master of Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she was the recipient of Georgia Tech's prestigious SGF award, Skidmore Owings and Merrill Portfolio Fellowship, and the Governor's Honor for the State of Georgia. She received a Bachelor of Art in Art History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Master's Thesis under Mack Scogin of Harvard University. She has lived and traveled extensively in Europe while studying Italian Renaissance and Classical architecture and traveled throughout the Caribbean and South America researching West Indian and Caribbean influences on the development of coastal vernacular in the United States. She is fluent in French and Italian and currently resides on Amelia Island, Florida.
Ms. Sanford is the Founding Director of the Sky Institute + Foundation for the Future, a non-profit organization dedicated to building sustainable communities with current projects in the US, Australia, Bahamas, and Central America. She has directed the town architecture with DPZ and the New Urban Guild of numerous projects nationally and internationally including Amelia Park, a DPZ development on Amelia Island, FL, Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach on the Gulf Coast, Schooner Bay and Albany in the Bahamas, and Hacienda Lagunas and Uma in Panama, Central America. She is currently working with Studio LFA on new Coastal Towns in Perth, Australia.
Starr Sanford Design Associates is focused on incorporating vernacular traditions with sustainable design and high performance building technologies. The practice was founded in 1996 with residential projects characterized by an interest in the regional traditions of the South as well as the Colonial architecture of the West Indies. Ms. Sanford was brought to Rosemary Beach and surrounding areas to help foster this interest and illustrate the intent of various development codes. Homes are distinctive in their attention to historical proportion and detail; the designs are distinguished by their old world techniques of wood joinery, heavy timber framing, and the grace of authentic materials. The architecture recognizes a traditional environmentally sensitive approach to residential design enhanced by natural climate control, verandas, balconies, large windows and louvered shutters. Recent projects represent actively sustainable construction through the incorporation of established regional practices. Focusing on the practical applications of energy conservation, residential models are being developed through the Sky Institute.
Ms. Sanford has a Master of Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she was the recipient of Georgia Tech's prestigious SGF award, Skidmore Owings and Merrill Portfolio Fellowship, and the Governor's Honor for the State of Georgia. She received a Bachelor of Art in Art History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Master's Thesis under Mack Scogin of Harvard University. She has lived and traveled extensively in Europe while studying Italian Renaissance and Classical architecture and traveled throughout the Caribbean and South America researching West Indian and Caribbean influences on the development of coastal vernacular in the United States. She is fluent in French and Italian and currently resides on Amelia Island, Florida.
