pod architecture + design’s “Hillside House” gets national press.
Abundant glazing provides views of the wooded site from every room. (Photo by Allen Weiss)
by Christopher Brinkerhoff, Associate Editor
Zig zagging down a hillside in Carrboro, N.C., a black-clad house blends into a wooded site. The home is the vision of partners and design duo Douglas Pierson and Youn Choi, pod architecture + design PLLC, Chapel Hill, N.C.
The house comprises three forms that are connected. At their simplest, they are rectangles that connect to form a Z pattern, descending the slope of the hill toward a creek.
Corrugated metal panels give texture to the lengthy façades that are punctured by horizontal windows, which emphasize their length. To keep the lines clean, the architects specified limited trim.
Two Appearances
The home blends in with other houses in the neighborhood in terms of size and scale, but because of the slope, the two lower forms disappear from the street view. The buildable area on the hillside site was limited to a triangular, northeast corner of the site. Instead of facing the streetside to the east, the house faces the creek bed to the southwest. READ MORE
Blueplate PR client’s net zero project is featured on an international platform that recognizes and acknowledges design talents from all over the world.
PHOTOS BY TZU CHEN
The Baboolal residence is a net zero house is for a multicultural family of four. The husband is Indian originally from South Africa and the wife is American. They are both in high stress professions: he is a pediatric anesthesiologist and she is a pediatric nurse. They have two small children and pets.
The impetus for building this house was their previous frustration with living in a cookie cutter developer house with a lot of wasted space and illogical planning. READ MORE
Kaiser Associates Realtors, South Florida’s only real estate brokerage specializing exclusively in modern homes, has selected Blueplate PR in Raleigh, NC, as its public relations agency, citing owner Kim Weiss’s extensive knowledge of architecture – especially modern architecture – as a key factor.
Tobias Kaiser, owner/broker, Kaiser Associates Realtors
“Our clients have a refined, special taste in homes, and our buyers are located all over the Americas,” said Tobias Kaiser, founder/owner, and a licensed broker. “Being trained in, and having worked in, public communication, I know print advertising won’t reach them. Looking for someone to help us grow our business and who understands modern architecture, Kim is just uniquely qualified.”
A native of Germany, Kaiser and his wife, Lisa, live in Boca Raton. They also maintain a home outside Munich and another in Raleigh where they met Weiss.
“When I launched Blueplate PR in 2004, after nearly 20 years as a journalist covering architecture and historic preservation, I promised myself that I would only accept clients whose work fueled my passions,” she said. “When I’m excited about a client’s work, good things happen. Well, I’m very excited about the work that Tobias and his team do at Kaiser Associates. They don’t just move real estate. They’re actually ‘match-makers’ who help very special homes find very special homeowners and renters who truly love and appreciate the houses’ architectural integrity. I’m thrilled that they’re letting me be a part of all that love!”
Throughout South-East Florida, Tobias Kaiser has documented over 4700 modernist homes and evaluated and brokered many of them, including:
For the latter, Kaiser found the lot and the architect and served as the owner’s representative throughout construction, which took three years to complete.
Among the homes Kaiser currently represents exclusively or in cooperation with colleagues is an exemplary mid-century modern beach house designed by renowned American architect Paul Rudolph. That house and all of Kaiser’s listings can be viewed at www.modernsouthflorida.com/modern-homes-for-sale.
For more information on Kaiser Associates Realtors, visit www.kaiserassoc.com.
Through its experienced real estate agents, Kaiser Associates offers clients expertise, knowledge, and experience in four core specialties: (1) brokering, preserving, and promoting modern homes in South Florida, from mid-century to new construction; (2) owner representation and consulting for modernist ground-up construction, rehabs and renovations; (3) a full range of residential services including buying, selling, and renting; and (4) buyer representation for Net-leased/NNN investment properties in Florida and throughout the U.S.
Architects and designers create cool, modern cat houses for an auction to benefit SAFE Haven For Cats.
Trig Modern design center and showroom in Raleigh announces “The Cat’s Meow,” an auction of modern, professionally designed houses for cats to benefit SAFE Haven for Cats, a non-profit, no-kill shelter in Raleigh dedicated to finding homes for homeless cats and kittens.
The auction will be held Wednesday, May 10th, from 6-8 p.m., during a Cocktail Party in Trig Modern’s showroom in Dock 1053, 1053 East Whitaker Mill Road. Raleigh. The Auction and Party are free and open to the public. Professional auctioneer Ben Ferrell is donating his services.
Ann Marie Baum, Trig Modern’s lead interior designer and a SAFE Haven volunteer, has issued Invitations to architects and designers throughout the Triangle area to create “cool, modern cat houses that people who love cats will be delighted to have in their homes. So we’re encouraging participating designers to think of their contributions as furniture or accessories that will contribute to, rather than detract from, someone’s décor.”
Modern design and quality construction are also imperative, she stressed, “so that the houses will fetch substantial prices. This is a fundraiser after all!”
Baum and Trig Modern’s owner, Bob Drake, were inspired to organize and present “The Cat’s Meow” after seeing the results of a similar event that architects in Los Angeles. “How cool can a cat house be? Just take a look at these,” she said, referencing Los Angeles Architects For Animals fundraiser for a local nonprofit.
“We are so excited about ‘The Cat’s Meow’ auction to help formerly stray cats find their home-sweet-home’ literally,” said Pam Miller, founder and president of SAFE Haven for Cats. “This is a creative, fun, and practical way to help abandoned cats and kittens find the first real home they have ever known. We’re so grateful to Trig Modern for hosting this event.”
Completed cat houses will be delivered to Trig Modern May 4-6 and remain on display in the showroom until the night of the Cocktail Party and Auction. Those interested in bidding may stop in the showroom anytime during business hours (Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) to take a close look at the little houses prior to the auction.
Anyone interested in participating in “The Cat’s Meow” – by designing a cathouse, providing in-kind donations, etc. – should contact Ann Marie Baum as soon as possible either by phone at Trig Modern, 919.516.8744 or by emailing her: annmariebaum7@gmail.com.
Founded in December 2012, Trig Modern is owned and operated by furniture and lighting designer Bob Drake. Through its combination of modern and mid-century-inspired furniture, lighting, wall and floor coverings, and accessories, as well as Modern kitchen and bath remodeling services, Trig Modern’s mission is to present a realistic portrait of sensible living and offer an antidote to excess, formality, and convention. For more information visit www.trigmodern.com, call 919.516.8744 and find Trig Modern on Facebook. The showroom is located at 1053 East Whitaker Mill Road, Suite 109, Raleigh, NC 27604.
About SAFE Haven for Cats:
SAFE Haven’s mission is to ensure the well-being of every cat through adoption, affordable spay/neuter services, community outreach and adherence to no-kill principles. The shelter receives no government funds and relies solely on private donations for 84p percent of its budget. Visit safehavenforcats.org for more information.
Medlin Residence by in situ studio. (Photo by Richard Leo Johnson)
The annual program hosted by Durham, N.C.-based nonprofit organization, North Carolina Modernist Houses, selected 16 sites for its shortlist honoring modernist residential architect George Matsumoto.
North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH) has selected a shortlist of 16 submissions for this year’s Matsumoto Prize Awards. Recognizing modernist residences across the U.S. South, the Matsumoto Prize projects must be located within the region to be eligible. However, designers and architects can be located outside of it. This program is one of many conducted by NCMH, the Durham, N.C.-based nonprofit organization founded by 2016 AIA Collaborative Achievement Award winnerGeorge Smart (now NCMH’s executive director) that documents, preserves, and promotes modernist architecture across the country. READ MORE…
The 2015 Jurors’ Award, First Prize, winner: The Aiyyer Residence by CUBE Design
A unique architecture competition celebrating Modernist residential design across North Carolina.
Submissions will be accepted in the 2016 George Matsumoto Prize, Recognizing Excellence in North Carolina Modernist Residential Design starting at 8 a.m., May 1, sponsored by the award-winning non-profit organization North Carolina Modernist Houses. The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m., May 23rd.
Now in its fifth year, the Matsumoto Prize is named for George Matsumoto, FAIA, a founding member of the North Carolina State University School (now College) of Design, who is well known for the many mid-century Modernist houses he designed in North Carolina.
The Matsumoto Prize is a unique design awards program. It is the only juried architecture competition in North Carolina that focuses on Modernist houses, provides financial awards ($6000 total), involves a national jury as well as online public voting, and connects to a major architectural archive.
The competition is open to anyone with primary design responsibility for a completely built, from-the-ground-up, single-family Modernist house of at least 800 heated square feet that was completed on or after January 1, 2011. The designer does not have to be a licensed architect. The houses submitted must be in North Carolina but the designers may be from anywhere.
“The Matsumoto Prize promotes new talent and provides motivating honors and incentives for a new generation of architects,” said NCMH founder and director George Smart. “It also contributes to wider public recognition of Modernism in all its forms — architecture, art, furniture, and fashion — and recognizes the significant economic and aesthetic impact of Modernism across North Carolina.”
In addition to the jury, the public will vote on the submissions with the top winners getting “People’s Choice” recognition. Public voting will take place at www.ncmodernist.org/prize2016 from June 1-29.
Again this year, George Matsumoto will serve as the jury’s Honorary Chair. He will joined by: Ray Kappe, Kappe Architects, Los Angeles; Alison Brooks, Alison Brooks Architects, London; Joshua Prince-Ramus, REX, New York; Harry Wolf, Wolf Architecture, Los Angeles; Charles McMurray, Charles McMurray Designs, Miami; and Oscar-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley, Los Angeles.
The 2016 Matsumoto Prize awards ceremony will be held Thursday, July 1, from 6-8 p.m., at McConnell Studios, 324 Dupont Circle, Raleigh.
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 now 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. These tours and events raise awareness and help preserve these “livable works of art” for future generations. For more information: www.ncmodernist.org.
Three new, modern, for-sale houses in east-central Raleigh.
Three new, modern, for-sale houses on Wynne Street in downtown Raleigh, designed by The Raleigh Architecture Co. (RACo), will be part of the “Modapalooza Tour” on Saturday, October 10, sponsored by North Carolina Modernist Houses, an award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting modernist residential design from the 1950s to today.
The annual “Modapalooza Tour” takes participants by bus to a selection of new and mid-century modernist houses around the Triangle area. The 10 houses on this year’s tour, however, are all “new,” dating from 2012 to 2015.
RACo partners Robby Johnston, AIA, and Craig Kerins, AIA, are working in collaboration with Monarch Properties to design and develop the Wynne Street houses, which are nearing completion, in an established inner-city neighborhood in east-central Raleigh.
Rising side-by-side on previously empty lots, the houses are two-story, 1805-square-foot structures with open living/dining/kitchen spaces, three bedrooms, and two-and-a-half baths. They feature open, double-height space on the first floors filled with natural light from an abundance of energy-efficient windows and skylights. The kitchens will have simple, modern European-style cabinetry systems.
Covered front porches on each house face out towards the neighborhood, while sliding glass doors and covered second-floor balconies provide private access to the backyard.
Each of the houses also features a host of structurally sound, energy-efficient elements to ensure their durability against decades of use and North Carolina-specific weather conditions.
One of the RACo partners will be on site for the sold-out tour to discuss the design concept and to answer questions. For more information on the houses, visit the development’s website www.liveonwynne.com.
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.
The Raleigh Architecture Company and Monarch Property Company have teamed up to design and build three new, modern, for-sale homes side by side on formerly empty lots within a re-emerging central neighborhood in downtown Raleigh.
The team calls the project Live On Wynne. The houses are located at 608, 612, and 614 Wynne Street near Chavis Memorial Park in what’s known as Olde East Raleigh.
The Raleigh Architecture Company (RACo), which works with its partner business The Raleigh Construction Company, is the same firm that introduced five modern, single-family, urban-infill houses on the 500 block of Edenton Street and New Bern Avenue in the Hungry Neck neighborhood, also just east of downtown. Each of those houses was designed on commission, however. The firm’s office and shop are located in the old Capital Tire building in the Warehouse District and both founding partners – Robby Johnston, AIA, and Craig Kerins, AIA – live in downtown Raleigh. (Johnston and his family live in one of the Edenton Street houses.)
Jason Queen of Monarch Property is a local developer who has dedicated his efforts to preserving the history and character of downtown Raleigh. He has extensive experience in renovating and preserving old existing homes in Raleigh’s central neighborhoods, from 1940s shotgun houses and early 1900s bungalows, to large, two-story homes built in the 1890s. His home and office are also in the downtown district.
As a partnership, Monarch and RACo say they are committed to creating “sustainable, preservation-conscious homes” that will endure for generations, enhance their owners’ quality of life, and help to reinvigorate the city’s old, urban communities.
“The Wynne Street homes are a manifestation of our shared vision to combine smart design with quality craftsmanship,” said Craig Kerins. “Modernist design is of our time, just as the 1940s shotgun houses also on adjacent streets were of their time. We’ve employed best current practices and technologies for construction because we intend for these houses to last for decades, just as those shotgun houses have.”
Like Johnston and Kerins, Monarch’s Jason Queen is passionate about downtown Raleigh to the point of becoming the inner city’s unofficial historian. “He knows the history, the property, and the people,” Kerins noted.
“I’m passionate about historic preservation,” Queen said, “but I want to preserve Raleigh’s history in a way that is relevant to its future.”
Now well under construction, the 1800-square-foot Wynne Street houses are two-story structures that will have open living/dining/kitchen spaces and a half bath on the first floor and three bedrooms plus two baths and a laundry room on the upper level. Large energy-efficient windows and skylights will flood the interiors with natural light. The kitchens will feature simple, modern, European-style cabinetry systems.
The RACo partners studied the neighborhood extensively to bring elements from it to the new houses. As a result, the houses are set back from the street the same distance as the existing houses nearby, and they include covered front porches that present a friendly “face” towards the neighborhood. Glass doors and covered second-floor balconies provide more private access to the backyard.
The Wynne Street houses will also feature a host of structurally sound, energy-efficient elements that will ensure their durability against decades of wear and tear and North Carolina-specific weather conditions.
For details on exterior and interior materials and energy-efficient elements and to see the floor plans of each house, go to www.liveonwynne.com.
The Raleigh Architecture Company is an award-winning design 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.
About Monarch Property Co.
Jason Queen founded Monarch Property Co. and Raleigh Restoration Group, LLC to close the gap between real estate development and city inhabitants seeking sustainable, walkable communities. The company is comprised of passionate citizens, architects, preservationists, contractors, business owners, and other like-minded individuals who advocate for urban environments that seamlessly integrate the experiences and needs of pedestrians and cyclists. For more information visit www.monarchproperty.co, call Doug Jackson at 252.432.9716, or email: info@monarchproperty.c
Co. will join a panel discussion on “Redefining The American Dream: Housing Preferences of Millenials and Boomers,” presented by the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Young Leaders Group of the Triangle. The event will take place in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday, April 28, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the Raleigh Grand Ballroom at the Capital Club Building, 16 West Martin Street.
The panel will examine how the shifting tastes and preferences of Millennials (people born from 1981 to 1997) and Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964) are influencing new speculative – or “for-sale” — housing development in the Triangle area.
Along with the latest insights from local real estate economists, marketers, developers, and builders, Kerins and Johnston will discuss urban infill housing.
For the past two years, The Raleigh Architecture Co.‘s partners have been developing, designing, and building urban infill houses – a series of modestly sized Modern, sustainable homes — on vacant lots in an old, established neighborhood just east of downtown Raleigh. The neighborhood includes all generations, from Millenials to senior citizens. Johnston, a “Generation Xer,” lives with his family in one of the houses on East Edenton Street.
Other members of the panel will be: Jay Colvin, director of the Triangle/Triad Metrostudy; Rick Bagel, developer of Wetrock Farm; Will Yadusky, director of Acquisitions and Development for Baker Residential; and Jonathan Barefoot, vice president of Business Development for Fonville Morisey Barefoot. Joseph Martinez, development manager for Northwood Ravin, will moderate the discussion.
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.
About the Urban Land Institute and Young Leaders Group:
Founded in 2005, ULI Triangle has grown quickly to become the premier real estate organization in eastern North Carolina providing leadership in the responsible use of land, educational programs, and community outreach to address land use challenges. The Young Leaders Group is comprised of ULI members under the age of 35 who want to be actively involved in shaping the future of the real estate industry in the area. For more information: http://triangle.uli.org/.
AIA Triangle and NC Modernist Houses tour-goers discovered Raleigh Architecture Co.’s innovative urban infill houses in an old neighborhood.
“Hungry Neck,” an old, established neighborhood just east of Downtown Raleigh, is not an expected destination for homes tours. A mixed-use neighborhood, most of the houses there were built between 1900 and 1940 and many of those are in disrepair.
However, two recent homes tours – the Triangle section of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA Triangle) Residential Tour on October 11th and North Carolina Modernist Houses’ (NCMH) annual “ModaPalooza Tour” of strictly Modernist houses on October 17 – brought hundreds of surprised participants to the 500 block of East Edenton Street. There they discovered two Modernist urban-infill houses designed and built by Craig Kerins, AIA, and Robby Johnston, AIA, of the Raleigh Architecture Company (RACo).
At 554 and 556 East Edenton Street, these houses are actually two of five RACo-designed Modernist houses that will soon grace the Hungry Neck neighborhood within a block of each other. One across the street, the Hungry Neck house at 562 New Bern Avenue, is under construction. (The NCMH group got a sneak-peak inside.) Next door to the Hungry Neck house, the Floyd house at 558 New Bern is just a foundation at the moment, as is the fifth project, the Powers house at 567 New Bern.
“We’re very committed to downtown Raleigh,” said architect Robby Johnston, AIA, who owns the two-year-old design/build firm with his partner, architect Craig Kerins, AIA. “The name of our firm reflects that and we maintain both our office and shop under one roof in the Warehouse District. We’re very interested in building community in this neighborhood, which is really a delightful place where people on porches and walking down the sidewalk interact all the time.”
Johnston and Kerins also live in or near the downtown district. In fact, 554 Edenton is Johnston’s private residence, which he shares with his wife and two young daughters. Nabarun Dasgupta and Roxanne Saucier own the house next door with son Ishan.
How did RACo manage to get all five commissions? “We created the first two, the Edenton homes, by purchasing both properties and preparing a development proforma to court prospective clients,” Johnston explained. “Once these took shape the phone began ringing with interest not only in the area but also in the kind of architecture we were offering. Then we began to create relationships between our clients and prospective landowners and served as purchase advisors/consultants based on our institutional knowledge of the actual value of building in this area.”
Johnston calls the two completed houses on the recent tours “paternal twins.” Architecturally, they share certain similarities, he explained, including North Carolina cypress siding, window style, thin shed roofs, and a narrow footprint – yet maintain individual identities through variations in form and materials. They also share a green space/courtyard since the compact lots didn’t allow for individual side yards, as well as upper-level outdoor spaces: Johnston’s 1800-square-foot house features a second-floor terrace while the 2100-square-foot Dasgupta-Saucier house features a third-story terrace.
The houses differ in additional exterior materials. Gray slate from a demolished house in nearby Historic Brooklyn neighborhood became siding for 554 Edenton. The Corten steel which wraps around 556’s upper level is transforming from a raw steel finish to a uniform, intentional patina as it acclimates to is downtown Raleigh surroundings.
Since Kerins and Johnston knew they were introducing Modernist, sustainable residential design to this old urban neighborhood, they made a concerted effort to recall architectural elements from the existing structures. Front porches, created and shaded by cantilevered upper forms, “pay tribute to the importance of ‘public’ outdoor space in these and all historic Southern homes,” Kerins noted. The houses address the sidewalk at the same distance as neighboring houses and floor-to-ceiling windows on the lower levels engage the neighborhood while high windows on the upper levels provide privacy for the personal spaces there.
To ensure an abundance of natural light in these slim houses, RACo designed open floor plans for both with double-height cores capped by large skylights. RACo fabricated open steel staircases in each to accommodate vertical circulation. At 556 Edenton, the staircase is a bold element within the space.
The NCMH “ModaPalooze” group also visited RACo’s renovation of the Larry Wheeler-Don Doskey house in Chapel Hill.
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.
Client News and Media Recognition 