Wrapped in vertical stripes of Corten® steel street-side, with vast expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass and cantilevered windows overlooking the forest behind it, a modern house sits quietly in the corner of a cul-de-sac in Durham.
Katherine Hogan, AIA, and Vinny Petrarca of Tonic Design in Raleigh are responsible for this creative two-story, 3800-square-foot, single-family structure that will, as the steel continues to weather, blend into the natural setting and never need painting. Their clients loved the concept since they wanted a low-maintenance house with a modest public presence. READ MORE…
pod architecture+ design finishes eagerly anticipated Rabbit Hole Distillery.
From their modest studio inside the old train depot on Main Street in Carrboro, award-winning architect Doug Pierson, AIA, partner/wife, designer Youn Choi, and their team at pod architecture + design are focused on making sure their $15 million project in Louisville, Kentucky – the 55,000-square-foot Rabbit Hole Distilling facility and campus — is finished by Kentucky Derby Day, May 5th.
Rabbit Hole is a Kentucky-based bourbon and whiskey distiller founded by Kaveh Zamanian in 2012. The new distillery is nearing completion now in the East Market District of downtown Louisville, better known these days as the very hip NuLu (New Louisville) neighborhood. It will have the capacity to produce around 20,000 barrels of whiskey annually.
In addition to the distillery, the Rabbit Hole campus includes retail and tour spaces, a 65-foot-high glass-enclosed atrium and event space with spectacular views of the city: an old, adaptively re-used church building, two bars; and a high-end $1.5 million restaurant and bar. Pierson designed the entire campus, including the restaurant.
“We didn’t come to the table with any set notions about form, floorplan, stylistic quality, or building materials,” said Pierson, who flies to Louisville once a week now. “We embraced the design strategy ‘form follows process,’ allowing the building to take shape in response to the bourbon production process it will house. So the building shares its design and purpose equally with the copper and steel equipment. That utilitarian yet distinctly beautiful equipment, the flow of the bourbon along the path from grain to bottle – the process itself became our inspiration.”
The facility has been under construction since late 2016. The distillery is expected to have a grand opening on Derby Eve.
A relative newcomer to the Triangle region, Doug Pierson and his wife and partner, Youn Choi, moved their firm and family from Los Angeles to North Carolina In the midst of the Rabbit Hole project.
Along with Pierson and Choi, the design team at pod a+d includes project architect Justin Williams and project associates Barbora Ngaboyamahina and Dougald Fountain.
At pod a+d, we believe in the integration of architecture and all aspects of design to connect buildings + environment + identity. That’s why pod a+d is a hybrid firm, offering all architectural services, environmental design, experiential graphics, and wayfinding design. Exterior and interior architecture; furnishings and finishes; financial feasibility and scheduling; engineering and construction; and environmental graphics – considered simultaneously, these disciplines inform our hybrid/integrated approach to architecture.
Demonstrating the perception of space from day to night.
Exhibition board showing Connie & Ted’s restaurant by day (top) and night (bottom).
February 12, 2018 (Carrboro, NC) — How structure is perceived from day to night is the theme of the presentation that pod architecture + design (pod a+d) in Carrboro is contributing to the upcoming N.C. State University School of Architecture Alumni Exhibition. The exhibition will be on display in the Brooks Hall Gallery on the NCSU campus during the School’s accreditation review in mid-February.
Juxtaposing a photograph of each project taken in bright daylight with a photo captured against a darkened sky, pod a+d’s presentation includes an adaptive re-use project in Louisville, KY, an educational facility in Goshen, IN, an iconic restaurant in West Hollywood, CA, and a large-scale experiential graphics project in Qatar.
Pod a+d is a hybrid firm owned and operated by design principals Douglas V. Pierson, AIA, LEED AP, BD+C, and Youn Choi, an environmental graphics designer. The couple relocated their firm from Los Angeles to North Carolina in 2016.
Qatar experiential graphics project by day (top) and night( (bottom).
“Doug and I always consider the day and nightlife of a design because the perception of the space changes as the light changes – from day to night and from natural to electric lighting,” Choi explained. “We also consider when the use of the space will be the liveliest. Perhaps the users are more productive during the day when the sun is shining. Some rejuvenate in the evening as the sun goes down. This is an integrated, repeating process that we always consider.”
According to David Hill, head of the School of Architecture, NCSU College of Design, “This will be an important show of work that will be seen by visitors from the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), faculty, students, and other visitors. Perhaps this exhibition will allow the school to reconnect with a great number of alumni throughout the world.”
For more information on pod architecture + design, visit www.podand.com.
About pod architecture + design:
pod a+d offers all architectural design services that connect building, environment, and identity because we believe in the integration of architecture and design disciplines throughout our projects. Exteriors, interiors, engineering, furnishings and finishes, equipment, financial feasibility, scheduling, construction, and the environmental context – these are the contributing elements that inform our integrated approach to each architectural project’s design. More information: www.podand.com.
Corten steel helps residence blend into surroundings seamlessly
By Marcy Marro,Editor
Located in a wooded cul-de-sac neighborhood in Durham, N.C., this single-family residence, nicknamed Piedmont Retreat, is wrapped in vertical Corten steel panels facing the street, and vast expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass and cantilevered windows in the back that overlook the surrounding forest.
The owners reached out to Raleigh, N.C.-based Tonic Design and Tonic Construction to design and build the residence. “It’s a corner lot,” says Vincent Petrarca, co-owner, designer and contractor at Tonic Design, “so the house really had to respond to the two streets. And for us, trying to create a place that’s calm and a getaway, the idea of even a few streetlights at night on the corner, the house really had to turn its back on the street. So the house created this hard shell to that side of the property, and then it really opens up, like a geode, looking down the Piedmont ravine into the mature forest.” READ MORE…
Raleigh-based Tonic Design completed a creative new home that plays with the contrast between old and new through the use of reclaimed and contemporary materials. Tucked into the forests of Durham, the Piedmont Retreat is a 3,800-square-foot single-family home that embraces the outdoors in its use of weathered materials and large cantilevered windows. Reclaimed materials, like oak flooring and factory lights, help soften the modern steel and glass construction. READ MORE…
December 4, 2017 (Carrboro, NC) – Architect Doug Pierson, AIA, LEED AP, BD+C, and environmental graphics designer Youn Choi — partners in life and in pod architecture + design(pod a+d) — have joined the flurry of businesses relocating to the Triangle region. They’ve moved their architectural firm from Los Angeles to Carrboro, where they’re currently settling into new offices in The Station, the town’s 1882 train depot. READ MORE…
December 5, 2017 (Carrboro, NC) – Architect Doug Pierson, AIA, LEED AP, BD+ (left), and environmental graphics designer Youn Choi (below left) — partners in life and in pod architecture + design(pod a+d) — have joined the flurry of businesses relocating to North Carolina’s Triangle region. They’ve moved their architectural firm from Los Angeles to Carrboro, where they’re currently settling into new offices in The Station, the town’s 1882 train depot.
Pierson and Choi relocated to the Triangle because they were ready for a lifestyle change and looking for excellent schools for their two children, Pierson said. They’d also visited the region many times since Pierson’s parents live here.
So why Carrboro?
“Carrboro has a vibrant community, a diverse culture, great food, and music,” he said. “Carrboro shares all the best aspects of the Triangle and keeps us engaged not just in town, but with Durham, Raleigh and beyond.”
With experience in all building types, pod a+d is a hybrid firm, actually.
Pierson, an award-winning architect, worked in Frank Gehry’s Los Angeles office before co-founding his previous firm — form, environment, research (fer) studio L.L.P. — in Inglewood, CA. He leads pod a+d’s architectural studio.
A native of South Korea, Youn Choi studied environmental design and architecture at UCLA. She worked with Disney Imagineering and Selbert Perkins Design, an international graphics design firm, before co-founding pod a+d, where she directs signage and wayfinding, interior design, and experiential graphics (the orchestration of typography, color, imagery, form, technology and, content to create “environments that communicate”).
Licensed in five states and staffed with team members who bring LEED AP and BD+C credentials to the table, pod a+dprovides all architectural services from concept design through construction administration. Their work has been featured in numerous newspaper, journals, and magazines. The firm’s address at The Station is 201-A East Main Street, Carrboro, NC 27510. For more information, visit www.podand.com.
About pod architecture + design:
pod a+d offers all architectural design services that connect building, environment, and identity because we believe in the integration of architecture and design disciplines throughout our projects. Exteriors, interiors, engineering, furnishings and finishes, equipment, financial feasibility, scheduling, construction, and the environmental context – these are the contributing elements that inform our integrated approach to each architectural project’s design. More information: www.podand.com.
On Thursday, N.C. Modernist Houses announced the winners of its annual statewide modernist residential design contest.
The big winner of the 2016 George Matsumoto Prize contest is Will Alphin of Alphin Design Build. Alphin took home the first-place prize in the juried competition for a four-level house in Raleigh’s Cameron Park neighborhood. That house, 123 Hillcrest, a 6,200-square-foot house valued at about $1.6 million, also won second place in the people’s choice category. Alphin received $3,000 in prize money.
Following close behind were designers with the in situ studio in Raleigh, whose designs placed second and third in the juried competition.
N.C. Modernist Houses is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and celebrating the state’s modernist architecture. READ MORE…
The 2016 Matsumoto Prize, supported by the McAdams Foundation, includes public voting to determine three “People’s Choice” winners. Anyone may vote by email (one time per email address) for his or her favorite entry starting today and running through June 29.
The Matsumoto Prize is named for George Matsumoto, FAIA, an eminent Modernist architect well-known for exceptional residential designs.
Matsumoto also serves as Honorary Chair for the Prize’s blue-ribbon jury of professional architects who select the Jury Award winners of cash prizes from a pool of $6000.
“These entries inspire people dreaming of a Modernist house to know Modernist design is affordable, efficient, sustainable, and most importantly, a house their families will love for decades,” said NCMH executive director George Smart. “We’re looking forward to record-breaking participation in this year’s online voting.”
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. This year, the American Institute of Architects awarded NCMH founder and director George Smart its Collaborative Achievement Award for his work with NCMH. The website www.ncmodernist.org 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. Follow NCMH on Twitter and Instagram.
The residence will be a showcase of modern design, special engineering
Villa Al Bahar under construction (south wall)
and meticulous construction.
June 24, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) — Construction is nearing completion on Villa Al Bahar, a modern, 22,000-square-foot, four-level glass house in Kuwait City, Kuwait, designed by of Kenneth Hobgood Architects of Raleigh, NC.
Designing and building a glass and steel villa that can handle the heat and glare in Kuwait has been challenging, the firm admits.
The client, businessman Adnan Al Bahar, discovered Kenneth Hobgood Architects during one of his summer stays in Durham. Impressed by the many modernist houses Kenneth Hobgood has designed, he hired him after one meeting and challenged the firm to create an elegant, modern, state-of-the-art, glass villa for his family. Budget was not an issue. The villa needed to include very generous, and completely separate, spaces for formal entertaining, for the family’s private living space, and for the servants’ living quarters. He also wanted a large garage and workshop for his automobile collection. And the villa had to be fully accessible.
“That’s very unusual in Kuwait,” said senior associate architect Alan Tin, AIA, who has worked closely with Hobgood on this project and visited the site often. “Accessibility is not as important there as it is here.”
Architect's model of the future Villa Al Bahar
The site is flat, extremely sandy, and in an exclusive neighborhood of gridded plats where most villas are built in the center of property. Ignoring that precedent, Villa Al Bahar is comprised of a central glass, steel, and concrete mass with glass wings that wrap around and overlook a central courtyard. “Public” spaces are on the ground level. The family’s private living spaces are on the second level. Women servants will live on the third level and the men servants’ will occupy generous quarters below grade near a huge garage and workshop.
Some of the villa’s other special features are:
A series of glass planes and tubes custom designed by structural engineer Tim Macfarlane of London to function as veils to filter light.
A custom-designed stainless steel structural system.
Operable wooden louvers to allow an abundance of natural light yet accommodate the family’s need for privacy, modesty, and separation.
A grand staircase comprised of three-inch-thick, cantilevered glass risers.
An 800-pound glass front door with electro-magnetic lock.
Full automation via control panels, and all mechanical systems include back-up systems.
The primary interior materials are marble, fine wood, and raw concrete. All casework has been custom designed and crafted.
“Adnan Al Bahar is an incredible man,” Kenneth Hobgood said. “He has been so involved in this project in the best sense of the word, and his comments have been extremely insightful. We’ve admired his obvious respect for his servants and the entire construction crew. We’re determined to make sure this house is as perfect as humanly possible for him.”
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.
December 5, 2017 (Carrboro, NC) – Architect Doug Pierson, AIA, LEED AP, BD+ (left), and environmental graphics designer Youn Choi (below left) — partners in life and in 
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Client News and Media Recognition 