Luxe living traditions - “Transcending Tradition: Homes for Modern Living” by Harrison Design
Dear readers, summer holidays may be over, yet many of us still carry a lingering sense of them in our memories — a favourite restaurant, a remarkable meal, a beautiful resort, or a friend’s tasteful vacation home. These fragments of experience often stay with us and quietly inspire our thoughts about the next escape. At the same time, the setting itself is always part of the memory, and a stylish interior can become just as memorable as the destination. Perhaps that is why so many beautiful coffee-table books about interior design are being released recently! Each one offering a different kind of visual indulgence, among them is “Transcending Tradition: Homes for Modern Living” by Harrison Design, a captivating volume that presents a selection of remarkable residential projects across the United States and invites readers to appreciate the richness of contemporary American interior design.
Published by Rizzoli in September 2026, and written by Harrison Design with text by Judith Nasatir, the book is the firm’s debut monograph and a celebration of more than thirty years of their design work. Harrison Design was founded in Atlanta in 1991 by William H. Harrison, it has grown into a respected architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture practice with six offices across the United States. Known for its high-end residential work, the firm creates homes that combine classical elegance with comfort, warmth, and a strong sense of place. This book serves as both a visual record of that legacy and an invitation into a world shaped by timeless architecture, Southern hospitality, and understated luxury.
Graceful in its understanding of contemporary living, the book takes readers through ten exceptional residences in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and along the California coast. The homes highlight the firm’s sensitivity to materials such as masonry, stucco, wood, and glass, each chosen to respond beautifully to sunlight and to support everyday living. Rather than presenting a single signature style, the book reveals the breadth of the firm’s approach, adapting to each client’s taste and each home’s context. Its design language ranges from English and Spanish Colonial influences to Beaux-Arts, French château, Southern classicism, resort-inspired interiors, and contemporary simplicity, resulting in spaces that feel elegant, livable, and deeply personal. What makes the book so appealing is not only its visual sophistication, but also its ability to show how design can express personality with restraint and grace.
Several projects stand out in particular, the Caribbean-inspired villa on Florida’s Gulf Coast, for example, drew my attention with its relaxed, resort-like atmosphere and its elegant references to Leamington Pavilion, the celebrated Barbados project associated with the late architect and set designer Oliver Messel. The use of limestone, soft wood, and an oceanic palette gives the interiors a calm and sun-washed presence that feels both refined and restorative. Meanwhile, the luxury residence “Palladian Reimagined” in Macon, Georgia, is equally compelling, with an exterior that evokes Italian Baroque elegance and an interior that blends Southern classicism with Mediterranean coastal ease. Its crisp whites, celestial blues, and neutral upholstery create a serene, polished atmosphere that feels especially suited to a life lived harmoniously with refined taste. These homes do more than impress visually, they suggest a way of living that is graceful, thoughtful, and deeply attuned to comfort.
For readers drawn to contemporary American interior design, but who prefer something more nuanced than a one-note aesthetic, this book offers a particularly satisfying experience. It is also a beautiful visual companion for anyone who wants to hold onto the mood of summer a little bit longer, while gathering inspiration for the season ahead. In that sense, this book is not only about houses, but also about the enduring appeal of spaces that feel personal, elegant, and luxuriously timeless.
Image courtesy of Rizzoli USA.