14 Year Old Becomes an Architect’s Client

The Schroeder-Wong home in Princeton, NJ, designed by Leven Betts and featuring Rakks shelving, came to life in an unusual manner. 

After a lengthy, fruitless search for a modernist home, Glenn Schroeder and Janet Wong were ready to give up, but their 14-year-old son, Andrew, didn’t want them to settle. 

He suggested that they commission an architect to build the house of their dreams. His parents, though skeptical, were willing to consider it—if Andrew set up the meetings. They assumed he would lose interest, but they were wrong. Andrew proposed Leven Betts after admiring a house the New York architecture firm had published in Dwell magazine. He thus became their youngest client ever. 

The home features Rakks floor-to-ceiling shelving that allows the hallway to double as a very stylish and inviting library.

Leven Betts created a modern, comfortable residential space for the Schroeder-Wongs with an internal courtyard, windows with stunning natural views, white metal cladding and polished concrete floors. Rakks supports the crisp, minimalist aesthetic of the home, and the family’s modernist dream.