New Raleigh recently posted about the AIA North Carolina design awards. The videos from the presentation in New Bern have been released and can be viewed below. The Intro video is about as kitschy as a video can be but the projects which won awards were not.
Snohetta, the Norwegian architectural firm that designed the WTC Cultural Center (middle), has been chosen to design the new $114 Million Library to be built on North Carolina State University’s cutting edge technopolis, Centennial Campus.
Local architect Frank Harmon, FAIA appears in the new [December/January] issue of Dwell Magazine in the Conversation column. Frank speaks his mind on Regionalism, sustainability in relation to vernacular, and some of his recent work. He lives and works in Raleigh has recently received much attention for his contemporary and sustainable work.
I am not interested in vernacular to be sentimental. I am interested in what it can teach us. All vernacular architecture is sustainable. It is always inherently related to its region. But let me emphasize that regionalism should not be confused with parochialism any more than you would call Faulkner a local Southern writer. - Frank Harmon
DOCOMOMO, The International working party for documentation and conservation of building sites and neighborhoods of the modern movement, is a nationwide organization devoted to the preservation of mid-century architecture and it’s surroundings.
A North Carolina chapter of DOCOMOMO has recently opened and a Raleigh kick-off meeting has already been held at the Urban Design Center.
DOCOMOMO-NC is in the early stages of building a community of knowledgeable and enthusiastic people interested in modernism. The group plans to promote public interest through events, lectures and tours and will organize advocacy efforts to protect endangered sites and buildings.
“My vision is to make a positive impact on the skyline of Downtown Raleigh… Our approach is different. We are focused on quality design, ambience, quality building and craftsmanship, in an excellent location with the greatest view of the Raleigh skyline. One hundred years from now I would love people to look up the hill from downtown Raleigh and observe that this building started the second wave of beautiful historical structures in Raleigh.“
-John Bruckel, Bloomsbury Estates Developer
Despite spelling and grammatical errors, there are so many things wrong with this statement. This developer’s thinking is flawed at the very core of the “approach.“
