green architecture – Page 2 – Client News and Media Recognition

Leaving The Land Better Than We Find It: Frank Harmon Takes His Message To Idea Exchange

February 3, 2010Blueplate PRLeave a comment

Frank Harmon, FAIA

February 2, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) — For three decades, Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, has insisted that architecture can and should do more than produce buildings, especially since conservation of energy and natural resources has become imperative. It should also make a didactic contribution, he says, demonstrating the best use of the land by responding to, respecting, and conserving the site; integrating building and landscape; and promoting both passive and technological sustainable design principles.

Harmon, a multi-award winning architect and frequent speaker at seminars and symposia on design, will again make his case for sustainable building and development at the Center for Design Innovation in Winston-Salem, NC, when he participates in the CDI’s Idea Exchange on Tuesday, February 16, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

CDI is a multi-campus research center for the statewide University of North Carolina. According to its website, the Idea Exchange is “a public forum for considering creative processes, digital techniques, business strategies, and other interests related to developing the knowledge economy of North Carolina’s Piedmont region.”

Frank Harmon is well known nationally for his firm’s modern, innovative, “green” and regionally appropriate architecture. From September to November 2009, he saw the completion of three high-performance, or “green,” projects in North Carolina, including the NC Botanical Gardens Visitor Education Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill that is slated to be the state’s first LEED Platinum building – the highest level of certification given by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system.

“It seems natural to me to design green buildings,” he said, “to catch the sun, accept the breeze and grown naturally out of the earth.”

In lectures and seminars, and as a Professor in Practice at NC State University’s College of Design, Harmon frequently asserts the necessity for modern buildings to be regionally appropriate – to address the specific context, materials, textures, colors and forms of a special region, using both traditional and non-traditional methods.

“The most sustainable – and liberating – thing we can do is acknowledge the places we are in,” he told Dwell magazine in January of 2008 when he was featured in the magazine’s “Conversations” section.

The CDI’s Idea Exchange is held in the Winston Tower, Suite 2105 (21^st floor) at 301 North Main Street in downtown Winston-Salem.

Currently CDI’s constituent schools are the UNC School of the Arts and Winston-Salem State University, collaborating with Forsyth Technical Community College. Sessions are recorded and web-streamed for remote access. For more information, go to www.centerfordesigninnovation.org.

For more information on Frank Harmon, visit www.frankharmon.com.

About Frank Harmon Architect PA:

Frank Harmon Architect PA, a multi-award-winning firm headquartered in downtown Raleigh, has extensive experience with projects that blend architecture with enhancement of the environment, including the recently completed Walnut Creek Urban Wetlands Park Educational Center in Raleigh, Duke University’s Ocean Science Teaching Center in Beaufort, the NC Botanical Garden’s new Visitors Center in Chapel Hill, and Merchants Millpond Outdoor Educational building in Gatesville, N.C. His work has been featured in numerous books, journals and magazines on architecture, including Dwell, Architectural Record, and Residential Architect. For more information, go to www.frankharmon.com.

Future AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design Featured on “Architects + Artisans”

January 26, 2010Blueplate PRLeave a comment

Peace Street view, future AIA NC headquarters in downtown Raleigh.

January 26, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Under the headline “David vs. Goliath in Downtown Raleigh,” the new design-oriented blog Architects+Artisans: Thoughtful Design for a Sustainable World looks at the future AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design in downtown Raleigh and its location near the state Government Complex.

The post includes a video of the building model as it transforms into a real structure in space via computer-generated imaging.

Writer and editor for the blog, J. Michael Welton, spoke with architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA, the firm that won the project through a professional design competition in 2008. Harmon explained how he approached the “pork chop” shaped site (his description) and the context, which includes the monolithic Archdale building overshadowing Peace Street along which the Center will be built.

“Ours is a horizontal statement,” Harmon told Welton. “The real face of the building is to the south, looking toward the State Capitol.” He also notes: “It’s on less than an acre, and we placed it parallel to Peace Street. It’s a long, thin building with a porch on the south side. You’ll find that all over the South – at Mount Vernon, for example – so we knew that was a good pattern to follow.”

The new building, a thoroughly “green” structure that will embrace all the high-tech as well as low-tech principles of sustainable design, will serve as headquarters for the North Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects. According to the AIA NC website, it is also intended to serve as “an architectural example for the entire state.”

To read the entire post and to see the video of the future building, go to architectsandartisans.com and click on “David vs. Goliath in Downtown Raleigh.”

For more information on Frank Harmon and to view more images of the AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design, visit www.frankharmon.com and click on “current” projects.

About Frank Harmon Architect PA:

About Architects+Artisans:

Architects + Artisans is a sophisticated, well-informed provider of content, images, and knowledge concerning excellent architecture, artisanship and sustainability for the 21st century. It is not just about designers – but about the people and products that make a well-designed place ring true. It is written and edited by J. Michael Welton, whose work on architecture, design and travel has appeared in The New York Times, Interior Design, Dwell, Green Source and Travel + Leisure. Visit http://architectsandartisans.com.

Frank Harmon To Moderate Atlanta Discussion, Present Lecture

January 15, 2010Blueplate PRLeave a comment

Frank Harmon, FAIA

January 15, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Award-winning architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, NC, will serve as moderator for a panel discussion entitled “Architecturally Speaking: Discussions on Staying Current in Architecture Curricula” during the Winter Symposium presented by American Institute of Architects’ Atlanta, GA, chapter.

The symposium, including a question-and-answer session following the panel discussion, will be held at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture on Tuesday, January 19^th, from 6-8 p.m.

Bringing together three schools of architecture in Georgia, the panelists include George Johnston, director of the Georgia Tech Graduate Program in Architecture; Brian Wishne, dean of the School of Building Arts at Savannah College of Art and Design; and Tony Rizzuto, associate professor of architect at Southern Polytechnic State University.

The following evening, January 20^th, Harmon will present a lecture entitled “Grits, Glass and Steel: The Evolution of Modern Architecture in the South.”

Harmon, an award-winning architect recognized nationally as a leader in modern, innovative, sustainable design, has spent decades studying vernacular buildings – what he calls “buildings with a conscience” — and lecturing on the lessons he has learned from them across the nation.

“Buildings with a conscience have existed in Southern farmhouses and barns for as long as farmers have erected them,” Harmon says. “These are simple structures built of wholesome, vernacular materials, perched on stone piers so rainwater flows under them. They nestle lightly into the hillsides without disturbing the land. They are rooted in their region and embody the principles of livability. And they speak of the Southern culture as eloquently as bluegrass music or clay pots.”

His lecture will examine the elements and themes that inform contemporary Southern architecture — landscape; materials and construction (the “sticks and stones” of a place); weather and climate; roof forms that shelter or collect; and clients — and illustrate the importance of ‘place’ in the process of creating innovative, sustainable, and appropriate contemporary design.

Harmon, who also serves as Professor in Practice for North Carolina State University’s College of Design, notes frequently that these vernacular structures were always “green,” or sustainable, because they had to be.

“Farmers had an instinct for understanding their land,” he said during a radio interview on “The Story” with Dick Gordon. “They never built on the best part of their land; they saved that for their crops, because that was their sustenance. They typically built on a low-rise for good drainage. They knew exactly where the breezes came from to cool their houses and their barns… They knew how to plant trees to shade their houses in the summer… All of these things the farmers did quite naturally. But it was also for survival.”

The AIA Winter Symposium will be held in Georgia Tech’s Reinsch-Pierce Family Auditorium. For more information contact Brian Buckner at 404-688-4990, ext. 27.

For more information on Frank Harmon, visit www.frankharmon.com.

About Frank Harmon Architect PA:

Frank Harmon Architect PA is an award-winning architectural firm based in Raleigh, NC, that was ranked 26^th among the top 50 firms in the nation in Architect Magazine’s “Architect 50” ranking for 2009. Frank Harmon, FAIA, founder and principal, is a frequent design awards jurist and a sought-after speaker on the subject of sustainable and regionally appropriate architecture across the nation. His work has been featured in numerous professional and shelter magazines and in international books on architecture. In 2008, a vacation home he designed in the Bahamas was included in a Wall Street Journal list of “the most influential and inspiring houses built during the past decade.” His firm has received more North Carolina design awards than any other firm in the state and recently won three national accolades: two Custom Homes Magazine’s 2009 Design Awards for residences in Raleigh, NC, and Charleston, SC; and an American Institute of Architect’s 2009 Housing Award for the Charleston home.

Frank Harmon Sees Third Green, Regional Project Open in Six Weeks

November 13, 2009November 13, 2009Blueplate PRLeave a comment

November 13, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – The new Merchants Millpond Visitors Center and Open Air Classroom Building in Gatesville, NC, has opened to the public, marking the third thoroughly “green” project serving the public that award-winning Raleigh design firm Frank Harmon Architect PA has completed within the past six weeks.

The 7,500 square-foot Visitor Center and 600 square-foot Open Air Classroom, owned by the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation, is located in Merchants Millpond State Park. A Registered Natural Heritage Area that covers 1900 acres, the park includes the millpond and part of Lassiter Swamp. Parks & Recreation is charged with preserving the park’s diverse biological, scenic, archaeological, geological and recreational values and providing park experiences that promote pride in and understanding of North Carolina’s natural heritage.

The Visitor Center is situated uphill from the pond and parallel to the bank so that every space along the southeast side of the building has a view of the natural surroundings. A porch is also located along that elevation so visitors can easily step from the building into the outdoors. Clerestory windows on the northwest face of the building allow the exhibit space, auditorium, classroom, reception area and offices to enjoy natural lighting from two sides of the spaces.

The auditorium and classroom were designed to be as flexible as possible to accommodate a variety of functions. From the classroom, a trail leads to the detached, Open Air Classroom Building at the edge of the pond. This is also the point of arrival and departure for canoeing in the Millpond.

According to Erin Sterling, AIA, of Frank Harmon Architect PA, Parks and Recreation wanted the Visitor Center to be as sustainable as possible since it is Parks and Recreation’s first LEED rated building. As a result, the project features a sensitively designed parking lot that maintains trees for shade, geothermal heating and cooling, recycled materials, locally harvested materials, rainwater cisterns for landscape irrigation, low voc paints and adhesives, daylighting and natural ventilation. The project is currently pursuing LEED Gold Certification.

Construction materials and devices include recycled steel structural members, concrete block with high fly ash content, exterior cypress wood siding harvested from felled trees as a result of hurricane Isabel, standing seam metal roof which allows for high solar reflectivity, daylight sensors that contribute to energy savings by only allowing certain lights to come on when needed, low flow plumbing fixtures in restrooms.

“The design of the building was inspired by photographs of the old wooden mill building that once had a magnificent presence on the pond. The new Visitor Center’s most important space is the entry lobby located under a dramatically sloping roof supported by exposed wood beams and columns. A two story window at the end of the lobby captures a view of the millpond beyond. The floor material in this space is 100 year old reclaimed heart pine. Our client’s goal was to give visitors a welcoming feeling by using a similar language to the materials and construction of the old mill.” said Sterling, who served as Project Manager for the project.

The opening of the Merchants Millpond Visitor Center and Open Air Classroom Building comes on the heels of the openings of both the NC Botanical Garden new Visitor Education Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Walnut Creek Urban Wetlands Education Center in Southeast Raleigh – both public-serving and thoroughly sustainable projects. The Botanical Garden is slated for LEED Platinum certification, the “greenest” certification a building can receive.

For more information on Merchants Millpond, go to www.stateparks.com/merchants_millpond.html.

For more information on Frank Harmon Architect PA, visit www.frankharmon.com.

About Frank Harmon Architect PA:

Frank Harmon Architect PA, a multi-award-winning firm headquartered in downtown Raleigh, has extensive experience with projects that blend architecture with enhancement of and education about natural resources, including the recently completed Walnut Creek Urban Wetlands Park Educational Center in Raleigh, Duke University’s Ocean Science Teaching Center in Beaufort, NC, the Walter B. Jones Center for the Sounds, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Columbia, NC, and the NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ Prairie Ridge Eco-Station in Raleigh. The firm is currently anticipating the opening of the NC Botanical Garden’s new Visitors Center in Chapel Hill and Merchants Millpond Outdoor Educational building in Gatesville, N.C. For more information, go to www.frankharmon.com

“Green” Architects To Participate In Educational Event at Prairie Ridge Eco-Station

May 11, 2009Blueplate PRLeave a comment

May 11, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Will Lambeth and Tim Martin, architectural interns at Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, will be on hand at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science’s Prairie Ridge Eco-Station in Raleigh on Thursday, May 14, to help the middle- and high-school members of the Citizen Science Investigators Club discover what makes a building “green.”

Prairie Ridge is a hands-on teaching and extension project located on a diverse 38-acre site on the edge of Raleigh. Its mission is to educating North Carolinians of all ages about the natural sciences and the importance of environmental stewardship. and demonstrate how architecture can enhance the natural environment.

Lambeth and Martin will discuss the many sustainable features of Prairie Ridge’s award-winning “Outdoor Classroom,” which was designed by Frank Harmon’s firm not only to provide a learning space at the eco-station but also to demonstrate environmental sustainability through its design and construction.

The interns will help the club’s students understand how architecture can tread lightly on the natural environment and conserve energy in the process.

Among the many “green” features of the classroom, including construction materials, Lambeth and Martin will discuss Harmon’s decision about site orientation and how that impacted the classroom’s eco-friendly design. They will note that the wooden building’s heavy, south-facing overhang maximizes sun exposure in winter and creates shade in summer. Along with the screened walls, this orientation catches year-round southwesterly breezes. Together, these design elements conserve an enormous amount of energy normally used for lighting and HVAC systems.

Prairie Ridge sponsors the Citizen Science Investigators Club with middle and high school students. According to Brian F. Hahn, a natural resource specialist at Prairie Ridge, the students are very interested in green technology so that will be the total focus of the May 14 session. The architectural interns’ presence “will also expose the students to other career opportunities they may be interested in,” he added.

Entrance to the open-air Outdoor Classroom at Prairie Ridge

For more information on the Prairie Ridge Eco-Station, go to www.naturalsciences.org/prairie-ridge-ecostation.

The Outdoor Classroom has received two design awards and has been featured in two national architectural journals. For more information on the project and on Frank Harmon Architect PA, visit http://www.frankharmon.com.

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Award-winning House by Frank Harmon Featured on Triangle Modernist Homes Tour

March 13, 2009April 10, 2009Blueplate PRLeave a comment

March 13, 2009, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – An ultra-modern home that’s won three design awards and has been featured in Architectural Record, Dwell, the News & Observer, Triangle Business Journal and Raleigh Metro Magazine, as well as on numerous design and/or “green” websites, will be open for touring during the Triangle Modernist Homes (TMH) Tour to be held in Raleigh April 4.

The Strickland-Ferris Residence, designed by Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh will give TMH tourists a chance to see exactly what’s beneath the huge butterfly-shaped roof that seems to flutter above the treetops on a steep hillside overlooking Crabtree Creek in the Laurel Hills subdivision in West Raleigh.

The house is perched on nine, broad-shouldered wood trusses that allowed Harmon to save every single major tree on the site and that permit air and water to flow under the building. The butterfly-shaped roof opens the interior to views northwards to the creek and funnels rainwater into a collection system on the south side. The entire creek-side elevation is glass.

Entrance to the house is a progression from the top of the hill, across a bridge, and into a balcony foyer, at which point the drama of the scenery outside fills the interior through north-facing glass walls. From the balcony, a metal staircase descends past the glass (in essence, through the trees) to the main living/dining room, which, in turn, opens onto a partially secluded south-facing terrace below the entrance bridge. The kitchen and second bedroom are located on this level. The master bedroom is located on the upper level, off the balcony entrance.

Under the roof’s deep overhangs, the view of nature fills every room. Laminated wood columns and beams, plainly bracketed together and reminiscent of a tree house, also strengthen the presence of nature indoors. Partition walls between rooms stop short of reaching the exposed-wood ceiling. Pocket doors between spaces feature “frosted” central panels in the spirit of shoji screens.

Owned by Lynda Strickland and Marty Ferris, the house has received design awards from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (NC/AIA), NC/AIA Triangle section, and from the Triangle Architecture Awards program. The TMH Tour is the first time the house has been open for public touring.

The April 4th tour celebrates the 60th anniversary of North Carolina State University’s College of Design. All of the modernist houses on the tour represent the work of NC School of Design alumni and/or faculty, including Frank Harmon, James Fitzgibbon, Brian Shawcroft, George Matsumoto, Henry Kamphoefner, Robert Burns, Vinny Petrarca, John Reese, Milton Small and Carter Williams.

For more information on TMH and the tour, go to http://www.trianglemodernisthomes.com. For more information on Frank Harmon and the Strickland-Ferris House, visit www.frankharmon.com.

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Duke’s “Green” Ocean Conservation Center Wins Wood Design Award

March 2, 2009April 13, 2009Blueplate PRLeave a comment

Ocean Conservation Center, Duke Univ. Photo by Jeffrey Jacobs

March 2, 2009 (BEAUFORT, NC) — Duke University’s Ocean Conservation Center (OCC) at the Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C., designed by Frank Harmon Architect PA of Raleigh, NC, recently received a Wood Design Award: Green Building Category from WoodWorks-Southeast, a division of the Wood Products Council of North America for non-residential construction.

“Wood contributes to building high performance by reducing energy use, resource use, pollution and overall environmental impact,” according to WoodWorks’ website. “Entries in the green building category should demonstrate how some or all of these principles have been applied in the building’s design and construction.

The 5,600-square-foot OCC is Duke’s only LEED Gold certified building and one of only about 1700 LEED rated projects in the United States. Presented by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the national benchmark for high performance “green” buildings.

Harmon used local building materials — yellow Southern pine and Atlantic white cedar — and recycled wood throughout the Ocean Conservation Center. The wood-shingled exterior complements the coastal context.

Other “green” features include photovoltaic cells, geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels for hot water, photovoltaic rooftop panels for converting sunlight into electricity, an abundance of operable windows for natural lighting and ventilation, deep roof overhangs to keep the sun off the windows, permeable sidewalks, a zinc roof designed to last 100 years and to reflect heat, and native landscaping.

Frank Harmon has designed many LEED-certified buildings, including the Botanical Gardens Visitors Center nearing completion now at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. It was designed to receive LEED Platinum certification, the highest level in the certification program. For more information, visit www.frankharmon.com.

The annual WoodWorks-South competition is open to designers, firms and building projects in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The award ceremony was held February 24 at the Wood Solutions Fair in Raleigh.

WoodWorks is an initiative of the Wood Products Council, a cooperative venture of all the major wood associations in North America, as well as research organizations and government agencies. For more information visit http://www.woodworks.org

About Frank Harmon:
Frank Harmon, FAIA is an award-winning architect and an adjunct professor of architecture at the College of Design, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. A veteran speaker at regional and national design conferences, he has presented versions of his popular “Architects Discuss America’s New Regionalism” seminar at the 2005, 2006 and 2007 National AIA Conventions and Dwell Magazine’s 2007 “Dwell On Design” Conference. He has served on many design awards juries, including the national jury for the American Institute of Architects’ 2005 Institute Honor Awards. He is currently serving on the U.S. General Services Administration’s National Register of Peer Professionals to improve public buildings.

Educated at both the N.C. School of Design and the Architectural Association in London, where he studied under James Stirling, Mr. Harmon worked for Richard Meier in New York before founding his own practice, Frank Harmon Architect, in Raleigh. His work has been featured in numerous national and international journals, magazines and books on architecture, including The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press), and has been exhibited in the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

As a practitioner, he is considered a leader in the field of sustainable design. In 2005 Frank Harmon Architect was named “Top Firm of the Year” by Residential Architect magazine. More recently, his received First Place in a professional design competition to select an architect for the AIA/North Carolina component’s new headquarters in downtown Raleigh. He was also featured recently in the “Conversation” section of Dwell Magazine and on American Public Media’s “The Story” with Dick Gordon (NPR).

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Living Greener In The Lowcountry

February 12, 2009Blueplate PRLeave a comment

February 11, 2009 (CHARLESTON, SC) – Award-winning “green” architect Whitney Powers of Studio A, Inc. in Charleston, South Carolina, offers common sense tips for embracing eco-friendly living in an article in this month’s South Carolina Woman magazine.

In her article, entitled “Taking A Turn Towards A Sustainable Lifestyle in the Lowcountry.” Powers suggests actions anyone can take regardless of where you live, such as enhancing indoor air quality by cleaning and stowing out of season clothes and bedding and collecting rain water for landscaping use. She also has some Lowcountry-specific suggestions:

“For the gardeners among us, the Lowcountry is a paradise and the possibilities for enhancing the home landscape and habitat are almost unlimited,” she notes. “Plant shade trees where none exist. They’ll help you cool your home in the summer and can lower the ambient temperature in your entire neighborhood. Choose native plants with the help of our Lowcountry chapter of the South Carolina Native Plant Society. Their annual plant sales, usually held at Charlestowne Landing, include plenty of advice.”

Powers advocates family reading sessions as a replacement for “energy-hogging plasma or LCD” television, and riding a bicycle for short commutes especially when parking is an issue: “The advocacy group Charleston Moves has been hard at work to make this easier and Holy City Bike Co-op has a monthly workshop at Marion Square for tips on maintaining and safely making your trip.”

She also suggests learning to appreciate the hum of a floor fan rather than “air condition overkill” and donating demolition materials from home remodeling projects to Habitat for Humanity.

To read Powers’ entire article, go to http://www.scwomanmagazine.com and click on “feature articles.”

Whitney Powers’ work in sustainable design has received numerous design awards and has been featured in local, regional and national design magazines and journals. One of her “green” houses on South Carolina’s Dewees Island, was featured be showcased on HGTV’s new “Extreme Living” show in August 2008.

For more information on Whitney Powers and Studio A, Inc., visit http://www.studioa-architecture.com.
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Vacation Home by Frank Harmon Named One of Decade’s Ten Best

January 12, 2009Blueplate PR1 Comment

bahamhouse-pic
January 11, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) — The Taylor House, an award-winning, sustainable vacation home in the Bahamas designed by Raleigh, NC, architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, has been included on a list of “the most influential and inspiring houses built during the past decade.”

The Wall Street Journal recently asked celebrated “green” architect Michelle Kaufman of Oakland, California, to compile a list of what she felt were the best houses built during the housing boom, which WSJ considered officially over by the end of 2008. Kaufman decided to make her own list of 10, “almost all of which are terrific examples of sustainable design.” She posted her list, which includes the Taylor House, on her blog — http://blog.michellekaufmann.com/?p=1733 — on December 30th.

Kaufman describes Harmon’s design for the house at Abaco, Bahams, as “Eco Luxury: The entire roof of this Caribbean vacation home slopes inward like an upside down umbrella, directing rain through a central spout running through the center of the house. The roof design allows the house to harvest up to 16,000 gallons of water on the ground floor, and helps naturally cool the house via the venturi effect.”

Among the other architects and their work represented on Kaufman’s list are Pritzker Prize winner Glenn Murcutt of Sydney, Australia; Larry Scarpa of Pugh + Scarpa on Santa Monica, California; and Rick Joy of Rick Joy Architects in Tuscon, Arizona. Not only does Harmon greatly admire these architects work, but they have joined him on the podium for his popular “Architects Discuss America’s New Regionalism” seminar that he has presented at four of the American Institute of Architects’ National Conventions.

“This is really fantastic,” Harmon said after learning his design made Kaufman’s top 10. “We’re in the company of some great architects.”

He noted his regret that his client, the house’s owner, passed away this summer before Kaufman posted her list. “She would have been delighted to hear the news,” he said.

Completed in 2000, the Taylor House has received five design awards. It has been featured in the New York Times, in a number of national magazines and books on sustainable design, and it was used for the cover of James Truelove’s 2001 book “Tropical Modernism. The Taylor House was also included in a special exhibit of “green” architecture at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. and in the accompanying book The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture by Alanna Stang and Christopher Hawthorne.

“The purpose of this list is to celebrate the brilliant achievements of our talented and dedicated colleagues,” writes Kaufman, whose firm Michelle Kaufman Designs received a 2008 Leadership Award from Residential Architect magazine.

For more information on Frank Harmon and more details and photographs of the Taylor House, visit http://www.frankharmon.com.

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Duke’s Greenest Building Gets The Gold

November 26, 2008March 23, 2009Blueplate PRLeave a comment

Duke's Ocean Conservation Center in Beaufort, NC — Duke

November 25, 2008 (RALEIGH, NC) – Duke University’s Ocean Conservation Center at the Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C., designed by Frank Harmon Architect PA of Raleigh, has been awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification, Duke’s Office of News & Communications reported today.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the national benchmark for high performance “green” buildings.

The 5,600-square-foot Center in Beaufort is Duke’s only LEED Gold certified building, Harmon was able to design it to that standard of environmental responsibility and conservation thanks to a grant from the Wallace Genetic Foundation.

Completed in 2008, the Ocean Conservation Center uses geothermal pumps for heating and cooling, solar panels for hot water, and photovoltaic rooftop panels for converting sunlight into electricity. Harmon used local building materials (yellow southern pine and Atlantic white cedar) and recycled wood throughout the structure.

Other eco-friendly features include an abundance of operable windows for natural lighting and ventilation, deep roof overhangs to keep the sun off the windows, permeable sidewalks, a zinc roof designed to last 100 years and to reflect heat, and native landscaping.

The center houses a teaching laboratory, a 48-seat lecture hall with advanced teleconferencing and videoconferencing capabilities to connect to classrooms and research labs around the globe, and a glass-enclosed commons area.

Frank Harmon has designed many LEED-certified buildings, including the Botanical Gardens Visitors Center under construction now at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He designed that building to receive LEED Platinum certification, the highest level in the certification program.

For more information on Frank Harmon and his work, visit http://www.frankharmon.com.

For more information on Duke’s Ocean Conservation Center, visit http://www.nicholas.duke.edu.
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