JC Raulston Arboretum Lath House Wins Object Design Award

Thursday, April 25, 2013

"An elegantly restrained device" designed by Frank Harmon Architect PA

April 24, 2013 (Raleigh, NC) -- Inform Magazine in Virginia has announced that the Lath House at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, designed by Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, has been awarded one of only three 2013 Inform Awards in the Object Design category.

The Lath House is an open-air structure and shade house that was conceived of as a laboratory for experimental horticultural techniques and methods. Because the Lath House also shelters infant plants, it was designed as an abstract of a tree spreading its branches to protect the plants. Through its screen of carefully placed wooden two-by-twos with steel support, the structure fulfills the specific light-to-shade ratio needed for the plants in the four seasons and shelters infant plants as they transition into larger gardens within the arboretum grounds.

Inform’s award jury, chaired by William Chapin, FAIA, commented: “This elegantly restrained device cleverly fulfills its specific practical mission while creating a fascinating and creative outdoor space.

Published by the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects, Inform covers Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. The design awards program recognizes the work of architects, interior designers, landscape architects, furniture designers, industrial designers, students, faculty, and clients in three categories: Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, and Object Design. The latter include furniture, fixtures, building components and other items not considered “full-building design.” All of this year's winners will be posted on readinform.com.

As part of NC State University’s Department of Horticultural Science, the JC Raulston Arboretum is primarily a working research and teaching garden that focuses on the evaluation, selection, and display of plant material gathered from around the world. For more information visit the JC Raulston Arboretum website.

For more information on the Lath House design, visit The Lath House Project Page.

Frank Harmon Architect PA Wins AIA NC Honor Award

Thursday, February 28, 2013

For the new, thoroughly “green” AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design

Frank Harmon Architect PA, a multi-award-winning firm in Raleigh, NC, has received an Honor Award from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIANC) for the design of the new AIANC Center for Architecture and Design in downtown Raleigh.

Already praised by the media as a “heroic gesture” (Metro Magazine), a building “that behaves like the skilled diplomat it was designed to be,” (News & Observer), and “an ode in zinc and cypress, and an inviting treatise on transparency,” (Huffington Post), the building is located on an oddly shaped, previously unused lot in downtown Raleigh near the State Capitol and Government Complex.

According to Frank Harmon, FAIA, the building and landscape were conceived as “one interlocking system” with the help of Charlottesville, VA, landscape architect Gregg Bleam, FASLA.  “The landscape is an extension of the building and the building is an extension of the landscape,” Harmon said. To underscore that concept, the native stone walls in the landscape extend inside the building.

The narrow building is sited snugly against an existing city sidewalk so that the majority of the triangular lot is a park-like green space in this urban context. Harmon and Bleam call the necessary parking space a “parking garden” because it is porously paved to dry quickly and to eliminate storm water runoff, and it can be used for a variety of outdoor functions by AIANC and other community groups.

The building’s open floor plan features the lobby and multi-purpose room on the first floor, AIANC’s offices on the second floor, and more offices on the third floor, including Frank Harmon’s own offices. A gallery space is located on a lower level, facing a city street. The open plan was designed to evoke a sense of community among occupants. It also makes temperature and lighting control more efficient.

Harmon designed the building to meet LEED Platinum standards, the highest LEED certification, as well as AIA Committee On The Environment (COTE) goals, which include regional appropriateness and the use of regionally available materials, land use and site ecology, sustainable materials and methods of construction, reduced water usage, and increased energy efficiency.

The siting, narrow footprint, and abundant glazing maximize natural ventilation and day light in every interior space. Other sustainability features include:

•       Geothermal heating and cooling
•       Rainwater collection for use on site
•       90 percent recycling of construction waste construction on site
•       Deep roof overhangs and porches to shade the building in the summer but allow warming light in the winter
•       A “green screen” where vines will shade the building in spring and summer
•       A zinc roof (zinc being one of the most sustainable metals available)
•       All locally available materials, including Cypress wood felled by a hurricane in the Great Dismal Swamp
•       Low-flow bathroom fixtures and zero VOC paints and carpets
•       Operable windows for cross-ventilation

“As we come out of the recession, we won't be building in the same wasteful ways,” Harmon said. “With new emphasis on alternative energy and sustainable design, the AIANC Center shows us a new way to build.”

The annual AIA NC Design Awards celebrate the achievements of architects across the state and recognize a select group of diverse projects that distinguish themselves both in response to their clients’ needs and design excellence. For more information, visit www.ncaia.org.

Design Development Begins on Kidzu Children’s Museum in Chapel Hill

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, will hold a series of workshops to gather community input.

Design workshops begin this week on the larger, permanent home for Kidzu Children’s Museum in Chapel Hill, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, to be designed by the multi-award-winning architectural firm Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh.  The design team includes two other nationally acclaimed design firms: The Portico Group from Seattle Washington and MIG from Berkeley California.

The new, larger museum will be built atop the Wallace Plaza rooftop parking deck between East Rosemary and East Franklin streets in downtown Chapel Hill.

Founded on the premise that early learning experiences are critical to later life success, and that children learn best through play, Kidzu is currently located in University Square at 123-B West Franklin Street. Since it opened in 2006, the museum has welcomed 175,000 vistors. In 2009, the Town of Chapel Hill gave Kidzu a 99-year lease for the parking deck roof site for $1 per year as a historic public–nonprofit partnership. On this site, Kidzu will be able to increase the size of its facility substantially, both inside and out, with ample room for future growth.

Frank Harmon’s firm is well known for its modern, sustainable, and regionally appropriate designs for educational purposes, such as the Walnut Creek Wetlands Park in Raleigh and the Children’s Nature Zoo at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. And as he did with those projects, Harmon will facilitate a series of design workshops, beginning this week, so that museum staff and community members from a wide range of backgrounds – including children -- have opportunities for input.

The Harmon/Portico/MIG team is now challenged with accommodating a variety of design imperatives. They are to create:
• An iconic facility that attracts visitors, reflects Kidzu’s identity as a playful, educational institution, and serves as a centerpiece for downtown Chapel Hill.
• A museum-as-educational-tool -- an environment that not only facilitates learning but also serves as a teaching tool, sharing lessons about design, engineering, art, environmental stewardship, history, culture and other relevant topics.
• Space with abundant creativity, incorporating works of art and a wide range of creative elements.
• A sustainable building that follows LEED standards and incorporates lessons about green design and sustainability.
• A healthy environment for visitors that inspires physical activity and other healthy habits.
• Connections to nature, both inside and out, through the use of natural light, natural materials, an abundance of plants, water elements, and related natural components.
• A flexible environment (building, exhibits and site) to allow the museum to serve as many functions as possible and to meet unanticipated future needs.
• A “living museum” that can evolve over time by combining flexibility, design for change, and the use of natural elements.
• An environment that complements and relates to the historic surroundings, while also responding to the future in its design and function.
• A playful and engaging environment designed with the needs of children in mind that also feels welcoming to adults, who comprise half of Kidzu’s visitors. The museum should be whimsical and playful and appealing to adults.

The Board of Directors anticipates completion of the new museum by 2015. For more information on Kidzu Children’s Museum, go to www.kidzuchildrensmuseum.org.

Walking the Talk: Frank Harmon Moves His Offices Into AIANC Center for Architecture and Design

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The award-winning firm relocates to the third floor of the “greenest” building in Raleigh.

“We loved the building so much that we're moving in!”

That’s the announcement architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, sent this week to clients, consultants, and other contacts as he announced that his firm, Frank Harmon Architect PA, has moved into the third floor of the AIANC Center for Architecture and Design in downtown Raleigh – the building he designed for the American Institute of Architects’ North Carolina chapter.

Harmon’s firm now occupies 1750 square feet of the top floor of this thoroughly modern, thoroughly sustainable building on the corner of Peace and Wilmington streets, near the Government Complex.

“And what a space it is,” Harmon said. “It consumes half the energy of an ordinary office building, it has windows on every side so we can work in natural daylight and with natural ventilation during nice weather, its roof collects rainwater for watering the gardens, and, best of all, it's beautiful.”

Harmon stresses that the building demonstrates AIANC’s commitment to energy efficient, environmentally sustainable buildings, both now and in the future. “Sustainability is arguably the most important issue of our time,” he noted.

By moving his firm into the building, he is also demonstrating his personal commitment to “green” architecture and construction, which, he believes, is not a luxury but an imperative.
“As we come out of the recession, we won't be building in the same wasteful ways,” Harmon told a group of national media who visited the new AIANC Center in May. “With new emphasis on alternative energy and sustainable design, the AIANC Center shows us a new way to build.”

Frank Harmon Architect PA is a multi-award-winning firm previously headquartered in an old, “recycled” electronics warehouse at 706 Mountford Avenue in Raleigh’s historic Boylan Heights neighborhood. That space functioned as an open studio in which each member of the design team worked closely and personally with each other and with their clients.

According to Harmon, the firm’s new offices function exactly the same, yet within the comfort of a new, environmentally sustainable structure with a panoramic view all the way to the State Capitol.

The AIA NC board of directors had to approve the lease to Harmon’s firm. According to David Crawford, AIA NC executive vice president, the vote to welcome Harmon to the building was unanimous.

The firm’s new address is 14 East Peace Street, Raleigh, NC 27604. The phone numbers will remain the same (919-829-9464; fax: 919.829.2202). For more information on Frank Harmon Architect PA, visit www.frankharmon.com.

For more information on the AIANC Center for Architect and Design, go to www.cfadnc.org.

Frank Harmon Architect PA Hosts Opening Night For “Modernism at Risk”

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Raleigh firm supports international photography exhibit at AIA NC headquarters

Frank Harmon Architect PA, a multi-award winning architectural firm in Raleigh, NC, will host opening night of “Modernism at Risk: Modern Solutions for Saving Modern Landmarks,” an international architectural photography exhibit that will be on display in the new AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design in Raleigh June 1-9.

Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), the non-profit organization that archives, preserves and promotes modernist residential design, is bringing the exhibit to Raleigh, and has invited modernist architects in the Triangle to participate by hosting individual nights that it is on display. Frank Harmon, FAIA, who designed the new AIA NC Center, chose opening night, June 1, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Harmon will have samples of his work on display and be on hand to talk with those to attend opening night.

“Modern architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Rudolph Schindler, George Matsumoto, and Harwell Hamilton Harris were the inspiration for my career as an architect,” said Harmon. “Now, sadly, many of their buildings are endangered, and my goal in sponsoring Modernism At Risk is to insure that buildings by these and other great modern architects survive to inspire future generations.”
A project of the World Monuments Fund, “Modernism at Risk” consists of 27 large-scale photographs, by noted photographer Andrew Moore, representing five case studies that explore the role designers play in preserving Modern landmarks. Two points central to the exhibit are: (1) engaging a larger public to care about modern buildings, and (2) demonstrating that these buildings can continue to be economically and functionally viable.

Exclusively for this exhibit, North Carolina State University is allowing TMH to display six architectural models rarely, if ever, seen by the public.
“Nothing teaches us about the history of architecture as much as walking through a building,” said Harmon, whose firm is known nationally for modern, sustainable, regionally appropriate design. “If we are to learn the lessons and promise of modernism, we need the buildings here to teach us.”

A Professor in Practice at NC State University’s College of Design, Harmon also lives in a modern house near the university in Raleigh that he designed, with gardens designed by his wife, Judy Harmon, ASLA.

Tickets to “Modernism at Risk’s” opening night are $6.95 in advance and $10 at the door. (Since the exhibit is being held in the new AIA NC headquarters, AIA members in good standing will receive free admission June 2-9, but not on opening night,) For more information and to reserve ticket, go to http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/atrisk.htm.