When Saturday, May 5 rolls around in Louisville, Ky., there’ll be more to celebrate than the 144th running of the Kentucky Derby.
At the corner of Jefferson and Market Streets downtown, a new distillery called Rabbit Hole will hold its grand opening – with a Derby Day party.
“It’s a start-up – 60,000 square feet with fermenters and a couple of stills,” says architect Doug Pierson of Carrboro, N.C.-based pod architecture + design. “When opening day comes, they wanted to be ready to go – during construction, they started their process in a secret location.”
Pierson and his partner Youn Choi designed the distillery as a transparent affair, studying the path of bourbon-making from grain to barrel. “We developed the building around that, from the ground up, so people can see the whole process,” he says. “We said: ‘Form follows process.’” READ MORE
“One of the many things Youn and I have come to love about the Triangle region is the City of Durham, the heart of Durham County,” Pierson said. “Once a tobacco and textiles town and now a world-class hub for medicine and research. The city is such an urban revitalization success story that still values its architectural history while embracing design innovation. It’s an authentic Southern town. And it’s terrific that the city and county celebrate contributions to their combined appearance.”
Sponsored by the Durham City-County Appearance Committee, the annual Golden Leaf Awards recognize new developments, buildings, and landscaping throughout Durham County that provide positive attributes to the city’s built environment. Awards are presented in seven categories, including a People’s Choice Award determined by public voting.
Judging of the Golden Leaf Awards, except the People’s Choice Award, is done by an independent panel of local professionals representing architecture, landscape architecture, development, and the arts community.
Pierson also has been tapped to present the 2918 Golden Leaf Awards to the winners on April 19th.
About Doug Pierson
Douglas V. Pierson, AIA, LEED AP, BD+C, attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., then the Lettres program at the Université Paul Valéry in Montpelier, France, before earning his Masters in Architecture degree at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. Early in his career, he worked with several architecture firms in Europe and Australia and served as designer and curator for numerous art exhibits, including The Work of Charles and Ray Eames. He worked with Hodgetts & Fung Design Associates in Culver City, CA, then joined architect Frank Gehry’s Los Angeles office, Gehry Partners LLP. Before launching pod a+d, Pierson was a partner in the Inglewood, CA., firm form, environment, research (fer) studio L.L.P. in Inglewood, CA., for 10 years. He and Choi have two young children and will begin construction soon on their new modern home in Carrboro. Pod a+d’s offices are located in the old train depot, The Station, on Main Street in Carrboro. For more information: www.podand.com.
Harmon has been an active advocate for NCMH’s mission to document, preserve, and promote Modernist residential design across the state since Executive Director George Smart founded the award-winning non-profit in 2007.
Over recent years, NCMH’s reach has expanded well outside North Carolina. The Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation in New York City designated NCMH’s online archive as the official index for Rudolph’s residential work. Smart has addressed the National Trust for Historic Preservation and given presentations during Modernism Week in Palm Springs, California. The entire NCMH archive has also become the largest open digital archive of 20-century Modernist residential design in the nation, including an extensive Masters Gallery.
So when Harmon officially retired in November 2015 after 50 years in professional practice, Smart approached him about joining NCMH in an official capacity.
“Frank is very well known and respected throughout the architectural community, including on the national stage,” Smart said. “As a sought-after speaker, lecturer, and design awards jury chairman nation-wide, his contacts and influences are invaluable.”
He explained Harmon’s responsibilities as Director of National Affairs: “Frank will coordinate with national architecture organizations, publications, and other non-profits to focus attention on North Carolina Modernism and to further develop documentation, preservation, and promotion for NCMH. And with Frank’s participation, NCMH will create some of the best infrastructure for Modernist house documentation and preservation in the country.”
“NCMH is like an embassy for good design and I’m proud to be one of its ambassadors,” Harmon said.
North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH) is an award-winning, 501C3 nonprofit organizations established in 2007 and dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design. The website is now the largest open digital archive for Modernist residential design in America. NCMH also hosts popular architecture events every month and frequent home tours, giving the public access to the most exciting residential architecture, past and present. These tours and events raise awareness and help preserve these “livable works of art” for future generations. For more information: www.ncmodernist.org. Find NCMH on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Transforming a historic auto showroom space in downtown Asheville.
(Asheville, NC) — The Raleigh Architecture Company (RACo) recently completed the design of the Tasty Beverage bottle shop and tasting room in Asheville, NC, following on the success of the first Tasty Beverage that opened in Raleigh in 2011.
For his new shop in Western North Carolina, Johnny Belflower chose 4883 square feet on the first floor of the 1928 Conabeer Chrysler Building on Coxe Street, a three-story steel-frame building faced in orange brick and limestone. The first floor was the original auto showroom. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Structures in 1979.
Keenly aware of the building’s historic significance, RACo partners Craig Kerins, AIA, and Robby Johnston, AIA, were careful to preserve key elements of the building’s interior shell – including copper-clad windows, plaster moldings, tiled floors – as they shaped it into Tasty Beverage.
“Simple, minimal detailing lets the old character of the building stay primary,” Kerins said of the open, spacious interior that features a small bar with 10 taps in one corner, plenty of additional seating at tables and benches, and an abundance of retail shelving.
Ashville’s Tasty Beverage joins several breweries within walking distance in the city’s South Slope district, an area of the city that’s come to be known as the Beer District. For more information, visit http://avl.tastybeverageco.com.
The Raleigh Architecture Co. has been involved with the design of several beer-centric establishments, including Crank Arm Brewing, State of Beer, and Trophy Brewing, all in Raleigh. For more information on RACo, visit http://www.raleigh-architecture.com.
About The Raleigh Architecture Company:
The Raleigh Architecture Company is an award-winning design/build firm specializing in Modern sustainable architecture, and craftsman-quality construction. As licensed architects and general contractors, we consider designing and building to be one integrated process. This streamlined approach empowers us to meet our clients’ economic expectations and to seamlessly execute high quality details, both small and large. Our office and shop are located under one roof in downtown Raleigh’s Warehouse District at 502 S. West Street. For more information visit www.raleigh-architecture.com, call 919-831-2995, or email: info@raleigh-architecture.com.
US Modernist Radio brings celebrities and local luminaries to the studio
North Carolina Modernist Houses announces the launch of US Modernist Radio, a casual, amusing, and informative podcast series dedicated to lively discussions about Modernist architecture.
“Make no mistake, US Modernist Radio is not a stuffy, academic diatribe,” says host George Smart, NCMH founder, whose side-kick for the podcast is national comedian Frank King. “Listeners will hear interesting and expressive people who enjoy, own, create, dream about, preserve, love, and even hate Modernist architecture, which we believe has created the most exciting and, yes, controversial buildings in the world.”
To that end, Smart has assembled a series of discussions with guests that
Vanity Fair architecture critic, author Paul Goldberger
mix national luminaries by phone with local preservationists and advocates in the studio. National figures include actress and modernist homeowner Kelly Lynch, Vanity Fair’s celebrated architecture critic Paul Goldberger, the Avett Brother’s cellist and Modernist homeowner Joe Kwon, and architect Sarah Susanka, author of the popular Not-So-Big House book series.
A few local guests include architect Milton Small, whose father designed many exemplary mid-century Modernist structures in the Triangle region; Louis Cherry and Marsha Gordon, who recently withstood a storm of controversy over the Modernist house they built in a Raleigh historic district; Myrick Howard, executive director of Preservation North Carolina, Inc.; and architects Robby Johnston and Craig Kerins of The Raleigh Architecture Co. who designed and built Joe Kwon’s house on an urban infill lot in downtown Raleigh.
Via iTunes or Libsyn, US Modernist Radio subscribers will automatically receive new shows every two weeks. The first three podcasts are available now. For more information, go to www.usmodernist.org.
US Modernist Radio is an initiative of North Carolina Modernist Houses, the award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to archiving, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design across the state. For more information, visit www.ncmodernist.org or contact George Smart at George@ncmodernist.org.
NCMH becomes the official archive for Paul Rudolph’s residential projects.
(New York, NY) — The Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation (PRHF) in New York City has designated North Carolina Modernist Houses’ online archive as the official index for the residential work by the former dean of the Yale School of Architecture who inspired a generation of architects.
As the official archive, North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH) will maintain and update the Paul Rudolph section of its archive as houses are sold, changed, or threatened. NCMH has modified the page to add the PRHF logo, link, and connection. The Heritage Foundation is now directing visitors to the NCMH website exclusively for Rudolph-designed houses.
Rudolph’s 1953 “Umbrella House” on Lido Key.
“This is an innovative and groundbreaking partnership between an architecture foundation and our Masters Gallery archives,” said NCMH Executive Director George Smart. “We are honored to be the official site for Paul Rudolph’s residential work, which will allow the PRHF to devote more of its resources towards protecting and saving Rudolph’s non-residential buildings across America and the world.”
NCMH is an award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to archiving, preserving, and promoting modernist houses and those who design them. Along with North Carolina houses and designers, the NCMH website includes an extensive Masters Gallery, featuring the residential work of national and international Modernist masters, including Paul Rudolph. As a result, the NCMH archive is the largest open digital archive of its type in the nation.
Paul Rudolph (1918-1997) is best known in North Carolina for his 1972
Paul Rudolph
design of the former Burroughs Wellcome headquarters in Research Triangle Park. In Florida, however, he was one of the leaders of the Sarasota Style (1941-1966) that gave Florida’s central west coast its vast collection of Modernist houses designed specifically for that region’s climate and terrain. Large sunshades, innovative ventilation systems, oversized sliding glass doors, floating staircases, and walls of jalousie windows dominated many of these houses, including Rudolph’s 1953 “Umbrella House” on Lido Key (pictured above).By the 1970s that house succumbed to decay and storms.
PRHF Director Mark Medoff commented on the decision to make NCMH Rudolph’s official residential archive:
“The Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation’s mission is to actively promote the heritage and legacy of Paul Rudolph’s work. Especially as we approach the 100th anniversary of Paul Rudolph’s birth, we are striving to find the best ways to make our Foundation a primary reference on Paul Rudolph-designed iconic buildings. The collaboration with NCMH allows the PRHF and NCMH to share responsibility in maintaining the most up-to-date repository for information on Paul Rudolph’s worldwide projects.”
North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH) is an award-winning, 501C3 nonprofit organizations established in 2007 and dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design. The website is now the largest open digital archive for Modernist residential design in America. NCMH also hosts popular architecture events every month and frequent home tours, giving the public access to the most exciting residential architecture, past and present. These tours and events raise awareness and help preserve these “livable works of art” for future generations.
About the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation:
The Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation’s mission is to preserve and protect Paul Rudolph’s work, to educate the public about the legacy of his philosophy, and to provide a gathering space for discussion and camaraderie. The Foundation is located in the iconic Modulightor Building at 246 East 58th Street, New York, New York.
To support the non-profit’s ongoing programming and initiatives.
North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH), the award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design across the state, has announced the members of the 2015 NCMH Advisory Council.
Advisory Council members serve for one year as support for NCMH’s ongoing programming, including trips and homes tours, the architectural movie series, and the Thirst4Architecture networking events. The Council also advises on special initiatives, such as the NCMH Legal Defense Fund, which protects endangered Modernist houses; Project BauHow, which provides CAD systems ninth and tenth graders in architectural drafting classes across rural North Carolina; and the annual George Matsumoto Prize for excellence in recent North Carolina Modernist residential design.
“The Advisory Council is a multi-talented and diverse cross-section of the Modernist community: architecture, real estate, construction, law, financing, historic preservation, and other disciplines,” said NCMH founder and director George Smart. “The 2015 Council is a superb team, one of our best yet.”
The 2015 NCMH Advisory Council members are:
Chandra Hester, VMZINC
Emilie Huin, 501 Realty
Leon Meyers, LE Meyers Builders
Dr. Marsha Gordon, NCSU
Jeremy Farber, Maplewood Building Company
Kim Weiss, Blueplate PR
Laura Frushone, First Citizens Investor Services
Tim Simmons, NC State Historic Preservation Office
Craig Kerins, The Raleigh Architecture Company
Laurent de Comarmond, Little Diversified Architectural
William Dodge, Eco-Ficient, MBCI
Mack Paul, Morningstar Law Group
Mary Frances Wilson, Preservation North Carolina
Marty Martin, Martin Law Firm
Judy Colditz, HandLab
Frank Konhaus, KONTEK Systems
Adam Carrington, Carrington Electric
Ivy Simon, Palette and Parlor
Angela Roehl, Keller Williams Realty
Charlotte Brown Wainwright, Architectural Historian
Gwynn Thayer, NCSU Libraries Special Collections
Eric Davis, Surface 678 Landscape Architects
Service on the Advisory Council is for the calendar year 2015. For more information on NCMH, visit www.ncmodernist.org.
About North Carolina Modernist Houses:
North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH) is an award-winning, 501C3 nonprofit organizations established in 2007 and dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design. The website is now the largest open digital archive for Modernist residential design in America. NCMH also hosts popular architecture events every month and frequent home tours, giving the public access to the most exciting residential architecture, past and present. Founder and director George Smart presents his signature talk, “Mayberry Modernism: North Carolina Modernist Legacy,” to preservation and architectural groups, realtors, engineers, and other associations across the state. These talks, tours, and events raise awareness and help preserve these “livable works of art” for future generations. For more information: www.ncmodernist.org.
The 2015 jury includes MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, FAIA, Studio Gang Architects, Chicago; Harry Bates, Bates Masi Architects, Sag Harbor, New York; Eric Gartner, AIA, SG Architects, New York; Peter Gluck, Gluck+, New York; Bev Thorne, the last living architect to have participated in Arts & Architecture‘s famous Case Study Houses, Oakland; and Honorary Chair George Matsumoto, FAIA.
Now in its fourth year, the Matsumoto Prize honors George Matsumoto, a founding faculty member of North Carolina State University’s School of Design (now College of Design) and architect of some of the state’s best-known and historically significant Modernist houses.
The Matsumoto Prize is a unique awards program. It is the only juried architecture competition in North Carolina that focuses solely on Modernist houses, provides financial awards, involves a national jury of Modernist architects, offers the opportunity for public voting, and connects to a major architectural archive. Residential architects and designers entering the competition can be from anywhere but their houses must be in North Carolina.
“The Prize powerfully engages the greater community to be involved with the architecture they love,” said NCMH Executive Director George Smart. “The competition publicly showcases a new generation of outstanding Modernist architects and houses, promoting new talent and providing motivating honors and incentives in our state.”
North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH) is an award-winning 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 and dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design. The website is the largest open digital archive for Modernist residential design in America. NCMH also hosts popular architecture events every month, giving the public access to the most exciting residential architecture, past and present. Its many homes tours and events raise awareness and help preserve these “livable works of art” for future generations. For more information: www.ncmodernist.org.
Examining the life, career, and influence of the American architect/artist.
November 30, 2011 (Cary, NC) — Triangle Modernist Houses continues the 2011-2012 Nowell’s Architecture Movie Series this month with a special screening of “Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture” on Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 p.m, in Cary’s Galaxy Cinema.
Directed by Mark Richard Smith, the film focuses on the life and career of Louis Sullivan as an artist and what he tried to do for American architecture. Much of the footage is comprised of moving shots that trace building details and ornamentation not readily seen by the casual eye.
“Louis Sullivan: the Struggle for American Architecture marks the first time that the life and career of Louis Sullivan have been brought to the screen,” the film’s website states. “Aside from several films that presented certain parts of Sullivan’s career such as his skyscrapers and banks, there has never been an in-depth exploration of him as an artist and what he tried so hard to do for American architecture.
The film presents Sullivan as an artist who never felt completely comfortable in the romanticism of the nineteenth-century or the unsentimental, mechanized world of the 20th century. It also looks at how Louis Sullivan exerted a tremendous influence on the development of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Tickets to the film are $9 at the door. Galaxy Cinema is located in the Village Square Shopping Center at 770 Cary Towne Boulevard, Cary, NC 27511. Phone: 919-463-9959.
Hanbury Preservation Consulting in Raleigh is sponsoring this special screening of “Louis Sullivan: The Struggle For American Architecture.” Sponsors for the entire series are Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture, Kontek, Alphin Design Build, Cherry Modern, Modern Home Auction, Studio B Architecture, and Dail Dixon FAIA.
Hosted by Triangle Modernist Houses, the Nowell’s Architecture Movie Series features exciting and hard-to-find films about Modernist architects and architecture. Films are shown one Thursday of each month from October through March 2012. For a complete list of the upcoming films, to buy advance tickets, and to see a trailer of upcoming film, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/movies.
About Triangle Modernist Houses:
Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) is a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 to restoring and growing Modernist architecture in the Triangle. The award-winning website, now the largest educational and historical archive for Modernist residential design in America, continues to catalog, preserve, and advocate for North Carolina Modernism. TMH also hosts popular Modernist house tours several times a year, giving the public access to the Triangle’s most exciting residential architecture, past and present. Visit the website at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. TMH also has an active community on Facebook.
To assist the non-profit with its ongoing mission.
November 30, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) – Paul Hobgood, a design associate in the award-winning architectural firm Kenneth E Hobgood Architects in Raleigh, has been selected to serve on Triangle Modernist Houses’ 2012 Advisory Council.
TMH is a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 to preserve and promote Modernist architecture in the Triangle. The award-winning website is now the largest educational and historical archive for Modernist residential design in America.
Selected from a cross-section of the design community, Advisory Council members support and improve TMH’s programming, including popular house tours, architecture movies, trips, presentations, and many other events.
Paul Hobgood graduated from North Carolina State University’s College of Design in 2008 with a Masters in Architecture. He was a finalist for the Kamphoefner Honor Fellowship, an annual award that recognizes the College’s outstanding Master of Architecture student. He has worked at Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects since 2004, and has served as a design architect on a number of the firm’s modern, award-winning projects since then.
“I’m excited about serving on the Advisory Council for two reasons,” Hobgood said. “One, it’s an opportunity to further enhance a resource – TMH — that spotlights the Triangle’s rich history as it pertains to modernist homes and architects, since I’ve spent most of my life in and around modernist architecture. Two, I have a genuine sense of pride when it comes to the Triangle. I’m also intrigued by the broad spectrum of interests and specialties that comprise this year’s Advisory Council. It should make for a spirited debate/process.”
The 16-member Advisory Council meets twice a year at the modern Durham home of TMH founder and board chair George Smart.
“The Advisory Council is part focus group, part brain trust,” said Smart. “The members’ experience and insights into design and preservation have helped us create so many popular events over the years that our website is now up to 40,000-plus views a month. I’m looking forward to the innovations that will no doubt come from the 2010 Advisory Council.”
For more information on Paul Hobgood and Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects, visit www.kennethhobgood.com.
About Kenneth E. Hobgood, Architects:
Kenneth Hobgood, FAIA, founded Kenneth E Hobgood, Architects in Raleigh, NC, in 1992. Since then, the firm has received 39 design awards from the American Institute of Architects North Carolina chapter and its work has been published and exhibited in the United States, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, England and Germany. In 1997, Kenneth Hobgood as awarded the Kamphoefner Prize from North Carolina State University’s College of Design for “consistent integrity and devotion to the development of modern architecture” in North Carolina. He has served as a visiting critic at Auburn University, Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, and the University of Kentucky, and as an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University since 1988. For more information visit www.kennethhobgood.com.
Pod architecture + design’s Doug Pierson joins 2018 jury.
Client News and Media Recognition 