TMH Announces The 2013 George Matsumoto Prize For Modernist Houses

George Matsumoto, FAIA

 This unique architecture competition celebrates Modernist residential design throughout North Carolina.

May 20, 2013 (Durham, NC) – George Smart, Executive Director of Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), has announced the 2013 George Matsumoto Prize to recognize excellence in recent single-family Modernist residential design in North Carolina. Submissions are being accepted starting today.

Now in its second year, the Prize is named for George Matsumoto, FAIA, a founding member of the NC State University School of Design faculty who is well known for the mid-century Modernist houses he designed in North Carolina.

The Matsumoto Prize is a unique design awards program. Unlike other programs, the Prize offers monetary rewards ($6000 total), online public voting along with a blue-ribbon professional jury, and this program focuses on the houses submitted rather than those who designed them: The houses, built since January 1, 2007, must be in North Carolina but the designers can be from anywhere and they do not have to be licensed architects or members of the American Institute of Architects.  (In North Carolina, you do not have to be a licensed architect to design a private residence.)

The Matsumoto Prize is also transparent. All information submitted, including the designer’s name, will be published online and available to the jurors and the public. The public vote counts for one-sixth of the jury decision for the final award winners. The houses with the highest number of public votes will also receive special “People’s Choice” recognition.  Public voting will begin on www.trianglemodernisthouses.com in early July and end July 20^th.

Again this year, George Matsumoto will serve as the jury’s Honorary Chair. Also returning to the jury are: Frank Harmon, FAIA, (Chair) of Frank Harmon Architect PA, Raleigh; Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, of Marlon Blackwell Architect, Fayetteville, Arkansas; Tom Kundig, FAIA, of Olson Kundig Architects, Seattle, Washington; and Larry Scarpa, FAIA, of Brooks + Scarpa Architects, Los Angeles, California.

Triangle Modernist Houses is an award-winning, non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design. According to George Smart, the objectives for the Matsumoto Prize are “to expand the public’s awareness about the great inventory of North Carolina Modernist houses, to showcase the skills of the North Carolina residential design community, and to inform the public that great design can be well within a homebuyer’s reach.”

“We hope these entries demonstrate to the public that Modernist design is affordable, efficient, sustainable, and most importantly, a house a family will love decades,” he added. “We also want potential homeowners to realize that, by using an architect or designer, they can have a great home for the same budget as an ordinary house.”

Competition rules, submission procedures, and deadlines are available online at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/prize2013. To see last year’s submissions and winners: http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/prize.htm.

TRIANGLE BUSINESS JOURNAL: “People: George Smart”

• Date added: April 30, 2013
  

  George Smart

• Submission Type: Professional Recognition
• Current employer: Triangle Modernist Houses
• Current title/position: Founder, Director

George Smart, founder and Executive Director of Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), the non-profit organization that archives, preserves, and promotes Modernist residential architecture in North Carolina, has received the 2013 Isosceles Award from the American Institute of Architects Triangle Section. READ MORE..

Triangle Modernist Houses Founder Receives AIA Triangle Award

George Smart is recognized for his many contributions on behalf of modernist

George Smart

architecture and architects.

 

April 29, 2013 (Raleigh, NC) — George Smart, founder and Executive Director of Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), the non-profit organization that archives, preserves, and promotes Modernist residential architecture in North Carolina, has received the 2013 Isosceles Award from the American Institute of Architects Triangle Section (AIAT).

 

“This award is a recognition of a love affair with modern residential architecture,” said Michael Harwood, AIA, University Architect for NC State University, during the awards presentation. “George Smart has done so much to support, preserve, encourage, and celebrate modern architecture. Triangle Modernist Houses is a treasure trove of information about modern residential architecture and continues to look for new ways to expand that celebration.”

 

The purpose of the Isosceles Award is “to recognize individuals, institutions, associations, or companies outside the profession of architecture who, in collaboration with AIA Triangle members, have made significant contributions to the improvement of the built environment,” according to the AIAT website.

 

Smart’s contributions began six years ago when he started the website www.trianglemodernisthouses. His initial goal was to document the surprising number of existing Modernist houses in the Triangle area. Since then, the archive has expanded to cover the entire state, as well as national and international Modernist masters’ bodies of work. Today, the archive is the largest open digital archive for residential Modern in the United States.

 

Smart’s mission has become known by the many events he organizes that bring Modernist residential design and the public together.  Among those events are popular single- and multi-homes tours, an architecture movie series, summer-long networking events for anyone interested in and working in modern design, and the Matsumoto Prize, an annual design awards program named for Modernist master George Matsumoto, FAIA.

Smart created the Prize to “encourage the public to appreciate architecture as an art form, and [to encourage] young architects to continue the Modernist movement in houses so important to North Carolina and the arts,” as stated on the TMH website.

 

“Thanks to the thousands of tour participants and hundreds of volunteers, TMH has grown into a thriving community that continues documenting, preserving, and promoting the state’s Modernist houses,” Smart said after receiving the Isosceles Award. “It is my privilege to honor the families who cherished, and the architects who designed, the houses our lively community loves. I accept this honor from AIA Triangle on behalf of everyone involved at TMH and look forward to continued collaboration with AIA Triangle.”

 

Architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, and over a dozen other well-known architects in the Triangle region, nominated Smart for the award, which was presented during AIAT’s April 18 awards dinner at the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library at NC State University.

 

For more information on AIA Triangle, go to www.aiatriangle.org.

 

 

For more information on George Smart and Triangle Modernist Houses, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

 

BuildSense in Durham Hosts “Thirst4Architecture” Happy Hour April 25

 

 

April 9, 2013 (Durham, NC) – BuildSense/Studio B Architecture, a design/build firm in Durham, will host Triangle Modernist Houses’ (TMH) popular “Thirst4Architecture” happy hour event on Thursday, April 25, from 6-8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

 

Thirst4Architecture events are casual gathering opportunities for anyone interested in architecture and design.  The host business provides refreshments.

 

“We welcome Modernist homeowners, architects, artists, designers, realtors, engineers, contractors, property investors, building managers, Modernist homeowners, materials and furniture dealers, and anyone else with a huge crush on great architecture,” said TMH founder and director George Smart. “T4A events focus on building relationships, generating passion about good design, creating strategic alliances, and connecting people to each other.”

 

BuildSense/Studio B Architecture building.

BuildSense/Studio B’s Randy Lanou and Erik Mehlman will open their sustainable offices for April’s T4A. The building is an old Tire King location that the partners transformed into an exemplary “green” commercial structure complete with wind power, solar power, sustainable materials, and a charging station for electric cars. The building utilizes about 35 percent of the energy required to power a typical building of the same size and use. As a result, it was named Triangle Business Journal’s Green Commercial Project of the Year in 2012.

 

Build Sense/Studio B shares the building at 502 Riggsbee Avenue, Durham, with ClearVue Glass and a yoga studio. For more information and directions, visit www.buildsense.com.

 

For more information on Triangle Modernist Houses and other T4A events, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

 

 

 

TMH To Host Public Tour of The Larson Residence

Late architect Jon Condoret’s favorite project will be open to the public for the first time.

March 20, 2013 (Durham, NC) – Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), the award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential architecture, will host a tour of the unusual 1973 Arthur and Florence Larson Residence in Durham on Saturday, April 13, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

Originally designed by the late Chapel Hill architect Jon Condoret, the Larson home began at 4825 square feet. When the Larsons sold the house, the new owners engaged California architect Fu-Tung Chung to design the renovation, which was built by Landmark Renovation with the late landscape architect, Judy Harmon, designing an entrance path and garden. A further 2011 addition expanded the house to 6040 square feet.

“Jon Condoret considered the Larson house his favorite project,” said George Smart, TMH Executive Director. “It’s easy to see why. The expansive walls and ceilings, combined with exposed beams, echo the angular exterior.  The house is filled with natural light and views of the wooded surroundings. We are very grateful to the current owners for opening it on April 13 to the public.”

According to the Durham Herald’s 1993 obituary, Arthur Larson joined the Duke faculty in 1958 and became only the second James R. Duke professor of law after having served as Undersecretary of Labor, Director of the U.S. Information Agency, and as special assistant in charge of speeches for President Dwight E. Eisenhower. He also served as consultant on international affairs to President Lyndon B. Johnson, the U.S. State Department, and the United Nations.  While the Larsons lived in their Modernist home, they frequently entertained friends and fellow Duke Faculty, often holding classical music concerts in the large two-story-clear living room.

Tickets to the tour are $6.50 in advance or $10 at the door. (Advance sales close a week before the tour.) Admission is on a timed-entry basis every 30 minutes. Photography is allowed anywhere inside and outside the house. Architects can earn continuing education credits for attending the tour if arrangements are made with the American Institute of Architects in advance.

To order tickets, select an entry time, get directions to the house, and for additional information, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/tour. Proceeds benefit TMH’s ongoing mission. Call George Smart with any questions: 919-740-8407.

 

A Modernist Passing: Death Of The Paschal House In Raleigh

Photo by Colin Campbell for the News & Observer

Though praised by Frank Lloyd Wright, Paschal heirs tear down their iconic childhood home.

March 5, 2013 (Raleigh, NC) – Despite years of preservationists pursuing every conceivable option to save it, the 1950 George and Beth Paschal House, a Raleigh mid-century modern icon designed by James Fitzgibbon that even Frank Lloyd Wright praised, was suddenly destroyed on Friday, March 1.

Concerned preservationists were completely unaware that demolition was imminent. That very morning George Smart, founder and director of the non-profit Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), along with Myrick Howard, President of Preservation North Carolina, and Raleigh architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, presented a petition to the City of Raleigh to have the Paschal house declared a Raleigh Historic Landmark.  Such designation would have put a “stay of execution” on any demolition.

As lead petitioner, Smart prepared the extensive documents and hand-delivered them on Friday, March 1, to City officials.  By noon he learned that, without public knowledge, the heirs obtained a demolition permit two weeks earlier and a backhoe was already on site that moment, knocking down the house.

The property will be subdivided into five lots. “We don’t have all the information yet,” Smart said, “but this appears not to be a straight sale. The heirs are partnering with a developer, Anderson Marlowe, to build five $2 million-plus McMansions. That’s not going to be easy in this economy, even in that neighborhood.”

“It’s a tragedy,” Frank Harmon told the Raleigh News & Observer that afternoon. “We’ve lost the greatest example of residential design in the last 60 years.”  The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

“What’s really sad,” Smart added, “is that the heirs could have subdivided the land into four lots and walked away with $2- to $2.5 million five years ago, thus saving the house. And by now it would have been remodeled and loved by new owners.”

“It was an act of vandalism,” an irate Myrick Howard told the newspaper

To read the News & Observer’s full report on the demolition of the 1950 Paschal House: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/01/2718520/demolition-of-modernist-raleigh.html

For a complete history of the house, including the many preservation efforts, go to http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/fitzgibbon.htm and scroll down to “1950.”

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Leland Little Auction Gallery To Host “Thirst4Architecture” Happy Hour

The first 2013 T4A networking event sponsored by Triangle Modernist Houses

February 14, 2013 (Hillsborough, NC) — Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd., a premier North Carolina auction gallery in Hillsborough NC, will host Triangle Modernist Houses’ (TMH) popular “Thirst4Architecture” happy hour event on Thursday, March 14, from 6-8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

This will be the first of the 2013 spring/summer TMH Thirst4Architecture events, which serve as networking opportunities for anyone interested in architecture and design, including architects and designers. The host business or organization provides refreshments.

“We welcome Modernist homeowners, architects, artists, designers, realtors, engineers, contractors, property investors, building managers, Modernist homeowners, materials and furniture dealers, and anyone else with a huge crush on great architecture,” said TMH founder and director George Smart. “T4A events focus on building relationships, generating passion about good design, creating strategic alliances, and connecting people to each other.”

This will also be the first time Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales (LLAES, Ltd.) has hosted a T4A event.

“We aim to introduce our auctions to local and regional Modernist aficionados and collectors,” said Leland Little, auctioneer and founder. “We applaud what Mr. Smart has developed with TMH — an effective and energetic group of Modernist supporters — and we appreciate the opportunity to serve this cause by opening our gallery doors wide for the first T4A event of 2013.”

The LLAES, Ltd. auction gallery is located at 620 Cornerstone Ct, Hillsborough, NC 27278 (919-644-1243). For directions and more information, visit www.llauctions.com.

Triangle Modernist Houses is an award-winning, non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and promoting Modernist residential design from the 1950s to today. Future T4A events will be held at BuildSense in Durham (April 18), in situ studio in Raleigh (May 16), Byrd Tile in Raleigh (June 20), the AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design in Raleigh (July 18), and TRIG Modern in Raleigh (August 15). For more information on TMH and the T4A events, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

About Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd.:

LLAES, Ltd. specializes in consigning and auctioning estates and collections including, but not limited to, mid-century modern design, furniture, fine wine, collectible cars, militaria, silver, fine art, Asian art, pottery, porcelain, and jewelry. Our fine offerings represent various styles, cultures, and histories.