modern homes tour

Save the Date: “Hillside House” will be open for public touring Saturday, November 13

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The rear view shows “Hillside House” climbing up the natural hill on site.

On Saturday, November 13, NCModernist.org will present a public “Trickle Tour” of Hillside House at 130 Old Pittsboro Road, Carrboro. Specific time slots and ticket information will be announced later.

NCModernist (aka NC Modernist Houses) hosts several tours of modern house each year. Executive director George Smart created the “Trickle Tour” format in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The format allows the public to visit new or newly remodeled modernist houses at a “trickle” of the normal rate for the nonprofit organization’s home tours. Timed admission assures that very few people are inside a house during each time slot.

Doug Pierson, AIA, and Youn Choi, founding partners and principal designers at pod architecture + design in Chapel Hill, created Hillside House for their own family of four on a wooded lot within walking distance of downtown Carrboro.

In April 2020, the house caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal. A few months later, Chapel Hill Magazine featured it in an article entitled “Labor of Love.” It has also been published in Builder Magazine, Architizer, and in Dwell and Architect magazines’ galleries of residential projects.

This will be the first public tour of the angular house on Old Pittsboro Road that’s wrapped in corrugated black metal and appears to be twisting and turning its way up a steep hillside.

To see more exterior and interior photos, go to the “Hillside House”  page on Pierson’s and Choi’s website: podand.com/work#/carrboro-house.

Pictured Above: Doug and Sora on the first “living” level. Above them: Oscar at the cantilevered desk in the middle “work” level. Above right: Youn on the bedroom, or “sleep” level. (Photo by Cornel Watson for Chapel Hill Magazine.

“The Professor’s House” Will Be Open For Public Touring in September

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Designed by Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, this small, modern, age-in-place house is part of the Fall 2017 Modapalooza Tour.

 

July 19, 2017 (Chapel Hill, NC) — “The Professor’s House,” a small, sustainable, age-in-place house overlooking Morgan Creek in Chapel Hill, has been selected for the Fall 2017 Modapalooza Tour on Saturday, September 16, sponsored by North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH).

Chapel Hill architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, designed the house for a retired professor of Native American Studies. A widow now, she wanted to downsize from her 3200-square-foot house and live with her dog in a modern, age-in-place house in a quiet, wooded neighborhood in Chapel Hill, NC.

She contacted Schechter because she’d heard about the Micropolis Houses®, a collection of modern “tiny house” plans Schechter designed that range from 150 to 1500 square feet and can be customized to meet specific buyers’ needs and preferences. In this case, the professor wanted to add a third bedroom/office and an extra bath to the Micropolis® plan she chose.

modern, age-n-place house Chapel Hill
A bridge from the parking area to the front door means guests won’t have to maneuver any steps.

“A small house meant she could have things like a swimming pool, a Japanese soaking tub, and choose nicer elements for her money,” Schechter noted.

The final design is nearly half the size of the professor’s previous house. Yet at only a little more than 1600 heated square feet– almost 1000 square feet less than the average American house, which is now 2500 square feet — it packs in all of the professor’s spatial needs in an open, fluid floor plan with age-in-place functionality. Schechter calls it a “Custom-opolis.”

The Professor’s House is one of seven houses designed by award-winning architects on this year’s Modapalooza Tour, including projects by Frank Harmon, Phil Szostak, Tina Govan, Jason Hart, and in situ studio. (For all the details about the tour, visit http://www.ncmodernist.org/palooza17.htm.)

The Professor’s House is also in the running for a 2017 George Matsumoto Prize, which recognizes excellence in North Carolina modernist residential design sponsored by NCMH. Winners are selected by both a professional jury and public voting. (Public voting at https://ncmhcompetitions.squarespace.com ends July 20.)

For more information on The Professor’s House and architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, visit www.acsarchitect.com.

About Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA:

Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, is a licensed, registered architect based in Chapel Hill, NC, who specializes in Modernist, energy-efficient buildings with a focus on passive houses, NET ZERO houses, and her new tiny house plans, the Micropolis Houses™. She is a lifelong environmentalist and began practicing green design long before it became mainstream. She is also a lifelong animal advocate who lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, Arnie, and an assortment of foster animals in the Modern, sustainable house she

 

Modernist Homes Tour in Charlotte, Plus Shopping at IKEA

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NCMH’s ModShop Tour is May 9th

The 1964 Mitchum residence is one of the mid-century Modernist houses on the tour.
The 1964 Mitchum residence is one of the mid-century Modernist houses on the tour.

North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH), the award winning non-profit dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design, will be going on its semi-annual ModShop Tour on Saturday, May 9, from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. This popular bus tour includes shopping at IKEA as well as visiting several Modernist houses and a church as part of Historic Charlotte’s Mad About Modern Tour.
Aboard a spacious, wi-fi-equipped bus, tour participants will be taken to five houses and one Modernist church:

  1. The 1964 Hugh C. Mitchum Residence, designed by the late Charlotte engineer Aubrey Arant (pictured above)
  2. 4642 Sharon View(architect unknown)
  3. 2434 Ainsdale(architect unknown)
  4. The Levinson House, 2827 Rothwood Drive, designed by Charlotte architect Stan Russell
  5. The McFarland House, 714 Larkhall Lane (architect unknown)
  6. The1957 Sharon United Methodist Church, which will be demolished within the next 12 months (architect unknown).

Mid Center Salvage, a Charlotte company that restores Mid-Century and Danish Modern Furniture from the 1950s to the 1970s, is sponsoring the tour. The bus will stop there mid-day for a tour and a catered lunch.

After touring more houses, the group will go to IKEA for two hours of imgresshopping before departing for Raleigh.

Tickets are $119 per person and $99 for current members of NCMH’s Mod Squad. The price includes transportation, all admissions, breakfast, lunch, and snacks. For more details and to purchase tickets, go to http://www.ncmodernist.org/modshop.htm. Seating is limited so those interested should secure tickets very soon.

Charlotte residents may purchase tickets to the Mad About Modern Tour atwww.historiccharlotte.org.

redchair smAbout NC 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. These tours and events raise awareness and help preserve these “livable works of art” for future generations.

Triangle Modernist Houses Presents ModShop III

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A Homes Tour + Shopping Day Trip to Charlotte

The 1960 Mann Residence designed by Alan Ingram.

April 12, 2011 (Durham, NC) – Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), the award-winning nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting modernist residential design, has announced ModShop III, its third tour of modernist houses and shopping trip to Charlotte.

The popular day trip will take place Saturday, May 14, leaving from the Fast Park near the RDU Airport aboard a luxury, Internet-equipped tour bus at 7 a.m. and returning by 6:30 p.m.

For this particular trip, TMH’s ModShop III group will join Historic Charlotte, Inc.’s, Modernist Homes Tour that is being held on the same day. The TMH group will visit exceptional Charlotte Modernist houses from the 1950s and ‘60s as well as newer homes open exclusively for ModShop III participants.

The mid-century Levine Residence.

The tour will include the Lassiter Residence designed by A.G. Odell, the oldest modernist house in Charlotte, which will be torn down if a buyer doesn’t come forward by June. To see all six houses ModShop III will tour, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/ctour.

As with other ModShop trips, the day will conclude with a shopping excursion to Ikea, the international homes furnishings retailer featuring Scandinavian modern furniture and accessories. Purchases of any size can be accommodated in the luxury tour bus’s

The event will include shopping at Ikea.

stowage space.

“By joining the ModShop group, tour goers won’t have to worry about directions or parking to see the tour,” said TMH founder and director George Smart. “Our bus will take us to each house, and to Ikea. And we’ll be doing our part to reduce the tour’s carbon footprint by going together on the bus.”

Bagels and coffee will be served at the point of departure and a catered lunch will be provided on the bus during the tour.

Admission to ModShop III is by advanced ticket purchase only. No tickets will be sold on the day of the tour. Tickets are $79, including transportation, breakfast and lunch. For all the details of the trip and to reserve tickets, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/ctour.

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. These tours raise awareness and help preserve these “livable works of art” for future generations. Visit the website at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. TMH also has an active community on Facebook.