About Tim

Tim Moorhouse, BA, Dipl Arch, was born and raised in England, graduated from the Leeds School of Architecture, and became a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

While working one summer in Sweden he met his future wife, Gail. They married the following year and bought a property in the coastal Maine town of Harrington where they raised two sons and run an organic saltwater farm.

After working for two local architectural firms, WBRC in Bangor and Ralph Buckminster in Ellsworth, Tim set up on his own and has since designed countless houses, primarily along the Maine coast.

He was also privileged to be asked to design a Buddhist temple for the Dalai Lama in a Tibetan monastery in southern India. After completing the preliminary design, and receiving approval from the Dalai Lama, he lived at the monastery for a winter to build a scale model of the design and to hand the project over to a Tibetan architect who oversaw the temples’  construction. After completion Tim and Gail were invited to India for the temples' grand opening festivities and he was able to meet the Dalai Lama.

Word of his work in India led to his being asked to design a boarding school for Burmese refugee children in Thailand, in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where he lived for several months while preparing the preliminary design.

In 2000 he was asked to design a new office building for the Hospice Education Institute, who asked him, after they had settled in to their new accommodation, to write a design manual for architects on hospice design. After the book was published he went on to write a follow up manual on the design of Children's hospices. The research for these two books took Tim all over the world, and during his research travels he worked as a design consultant on a large children's hospice in Jakarta, living for a while in Singapore.

Now, firmly planted back in Maine he continues to design houses all over the state.

A lifelong carpenter himself, he partnered with a talented young professional carpenter, and together they have built the houses featured in the recent projects section of this site. On the these projects Tim also designed much of the furniture and light fixtures, which the two made in their wood shop in Harrington. Thus providing a complete design/build service. Tim also continues to design houses, and prepare plans for other builders to build.

Aside from being a designer, Tim is a private pilot, ocean sailor, and an avid guitar player.

I believe a designer has two main responsibilities to their client(s), firstly they must listen carefully to their clients wishes, needs, and dreams, in order to provide the client with exactly what they require. Secondly, they must be able to fully communicate with all involved, throughout the entire project. The importance of listening and communication, in order to achieve a successful project, cannot be overstated. 

These wishes, needs, dreams and any limitations from the client are one of the two main factors in producing the actual design, along with the site on which to design and construct their home. The two closely interrelate. Site considerations drive a large part of any design, the path of the sun, direction of any views, the approach to the house, the surrounding nature, topography etc, etc.

I also believe in the importance of biophilic design, and to place a house gently upon it's site with sensitivity, and make it feel to belong in its new location, with a strong connection from the interior to the nature that surrounds it.

Every house too, needs to function well, Maine’s dark winter nights call for special attention to lighting and heating. Any house should function as well in winter as in summer. The need for any maintenance on the exterior should be avoided, and since square footage drives the bottom line cost of a project, there should be no ‘wasted space’ with the utilization of efficient floor plans.