Honoring the gift and legacy of Michael Ross Kersting

Beginning in the 1990s, Michael Kersting, AIA, conceived architecture no one dreamed possible, wowing the most seasoned veterans and raking in some of the most prestigious awards in the country.

With each rock-star custom home, with each transcendent commercial project, the name Michael Kersting became more renowned and prominent.

Kersting decided to become an architect while in kindergarten, when he took up building blocks that later turned into building forts with friends growing up in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The first home Kersting designed was a traditional adobe style villa in the Rio Grande while he was still in grad school.

In a 2015 interview for NCModernist celebrating the 20^th anniversary of Michael Ross Kersting Architecture PA, Kersting talked about those who inspired him. He named his high school drafting teacher and college professors at the University of New Mexico and grad school at North Carolina State University as well as fellow architects and colleagues. His biggest influence, he said, was a book he read cover to cover nearly every day of his childhood entitled Andrew Henry’s Meadow.

It’s a story of this kid who … discovered this meadow not far from his house and built himself a really awesome tree house,” said Kersting. “One kid came and Andrew built a tree house for that kid that reflected his personality and another kid would show up and he built a fort for that kid. Before you knew it, Andrew Henry’s meadow had this whole collection of structures and a community was formed. In a way, this is what I do as an architect now. I have clients who come in and want a house that fits their personality. We like to sit down with our clients and understand who they are, what are the special things we can extract and present through architecture.”

Michael Kersting’s meadow turned out to be a little more sophisticated than Andrew Henry’s and continues today with several of Kersting’s custom home designs currently being constructed. Recently, his design “Clear Blue” located near the Blockade Runner at Wrightsville Beach won the 2022 (George) Matsumoto People’s Choice Award. This prestigious NCModernist prize is the state’s highest honor for residential modernist architecture. Kersting’s design “Surrender” at Figure Eight Island featuring curved rooflines and a hotel wing won the 2018 (George) Matsumoto People’s Choice Award.

Other awards include a North Carolina (AIA) Honor Award, several AIA Wilmington Merit and Honor Awards and five Matsumoto People’s Choice Awards.

Kersting met his wife, Pam, at the school of design at NC State. They have two sons, William and Jack.

After finishing his master’s degree in architecture, Kersting worked in the offices of renowned architect Ligon Flynn in the early ’90s designing homes predominately on Figure Eight Island.

In 1995 Kersting went to work for developer Nick Garrett while simultaneously launching Michael Ross Kersting Architecture PA. He later branched out on his own, designing 10 to 15 high-end custom homes per year as well as commercial buildings.

Kersting loved adventure and spending time with his wife and boys. The unexpected loss of Kersting on Aug. 25, 2022 to injuries sustained in a mountain biking accident while on a trip in the Snowmass Ski Area of Colorado with his family has devastated a community that embraced this humble, trend-setting architect.

His work challenged, inspired and transformed the area. Coming soon, a floating restaurant Kersting designed for Wrightsville Beach Marina. Kersting’s two principal partners, Mark Wilson and Toby Keeton, have been working alongside him and learning from him for more than 15 years. In 2019, Kersting also partnered with Leslie Stachowicz to form Kersting/Peridot Interiors.

Kersting believed in investing in the next generation and offered internships at his firm for architecture students.

The Michael Kersting Memorial Fund has been set up to establish the Michael Ross Kersting AIA Endowed Scholarship that will benefit School of Architecture students at NC State.