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.

 

News & Observer: “Tar Heel of the Week: George Smart, saving modernist homes”

June 3, 2012

George Smart (N&O photo by Takaaki Iwabu)

by Marti Maguire

The history of architecture is marred with cases of belated appreciation. Think Victorian mansions pushed aside to make way for interstates, or Gothic buildings torn down and replaced with gleaming, tinted-window skyscrapers.

But George Smart, founder of the nonprofit Triangle Modernist Houses, wants to save the state’s little-recognized modernist legacy from the wrecking ball. READ MORE…

Triangle Modernist Houses Receives 2011 Anthemion Award

Capital Area Preservation recognizes contribution to historic preservation

September 26, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) –  Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), the non-profit organization that documents, preserves, and promotes modernist residential design from the 1950s to today, has received a 2011 Anthemion Award from Capital Area Preservation, Inc. (CAP), Wake County’s non-profit historic preservation organization.

CAP presents its Anthemion Awards annually to recognize and encourage outstanding historic preservation efforts in Wake County. Award winners have all made noticeable contributions to the preservation of Wake County’s architectural landscape.

Founded by George Smart in 2007, Triangle Modernist Houses.com is the website and archive for Triangle Modernist Archives, Inc., a non-profit, 501C3, non-traditional historic preservation organization. The TMH website’s archive features hundreds of modernist houses, from the 1950s to today, as well as profiles of the architects who designed them, video and audio files of interviews and lectures by modernist architects, and a free listing of modernist houses on the market.

Today, TMH maintains the largest single archive of modernist residential design in the nation and has become a national resource for the preservation, protection, and appreciation of residential modernist architectural.

TMH also features special archives on Pioneering WomenArchitects and Pioneering Black Architects in North Carolina.

Earlier this year, TMH received an Advocacy Award from Preservation Durham. The organization has also received a Sir Walter Raleigh Award from the City of Raleigh, an Award of Merit from the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill, a Gertrude S. Carraway Award from Preservation North Carolina, and a national Paul E. Buchanan Award from the Vernacular Architecture Forum.

TMH also hosts a array of home tours and other events to support its mission. For more information visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

George Smart Receives 2011 Preservation Durham Advocacy Award

Triangle Modernist Houses’ founder and director praised at awards ceremony.

June 20, 2011 (Durham, NC) — George Smart, founder and director of Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and promoting modernist residential design, is a 2011 recipient of Preservation Durham’s Advocacy Award for individual effort.

The 2011 Preservation Awards were announced during Preservation Durham’s Annual Meeting on June 15.

“George’s labor of love has turned, in a few short years, into the country’s largest online archive for modern architecture and modernism,” Preservation Durham announced during the awards presentation. “George has made it his personal mission to actively promote the value of modern architecture in our daily lives and in our architectural heritage – from mid-century/1950s houses to new construction – as well as the architects who design them.”

The award presentation cited Smart’s ongoing effort to archive and promote historic preservation “by cataloging the disappearing mid-century modern homes and commercial structures throughout the Triangle region and state, many of which we have lost and, sadly, many of which are currently at-risk.”

The presentation also cited TMH’s weekly newsletter and free listing of modernist houses for sale that helps realtors find buyers for those houses, especially those in danger of being demolished.

“But George’s hard work, dedication, and commitment to historic preservation is illustrated by more than a single website,” the announcement continued, pointing out TMH’s many house tours, dinners, tours outside the state, annual architecture movie series, and other educational programs.

“Educating the public about the importance of preserving the architectural treasures of the recent past is always a challenge for local and regional non-profits,” the announcement concluded. “The Triangle is fortunate and we are grateful to have such a staunch advocate, volunteer, and crusader in George Smart.”

Smart expressed his gratitude for the award:  “Durham has an amazing range of Modernist houses, many of which are approaching 50 years old. Now is the time for the community to recognize these houses as the next generation of Durham’s history. TMH is proud to help Durham cherish that legacy through our online archive. We are honored to receive this award.”

This marks the fourth public accolade Smart and TMH have received. In 2008, TMH received an Award of Merit from the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill and a Gertrude S. Carraway Award from Preservation North Carolina. In 2009, TMH received the Paul E. Buchanan Award from the Vernacular Architecture Forum and a Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Community Appearance from the City of Raleigh.

For more information on Preservation Durham and its awards program, visit www.preservationdurham.org.

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

 

Assocation of Architecture Organizations Accepts TMH As New Member

Triangle Modernist Houses joins national network that promotes excellence in architecture and design communities.

April 4, 2011 (Durham, NC) — The Association of Architecture Organizations (AAO) has accepted Triangle Modernist Archive, Inc., the parent non-profit entity for Triangle Modernist Houses.com, as a new member.

Based in Chicago, AAO is a national network that promotes excellence in architecture and design education communities. AAO encourages cooperation among institutions, educators, and the general public, and is committed to sharing knowledge and experiences for greater public awareness and appreciation of architecture.

Triangle Modernist Houses’ Director Receives City Award

October 8, 2009 (DURHAM, NC) – George Smart, Jr., founder and executive director of Triangle Modernist Houses.com, has received a 2009 City of Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Community Appearance. The awards ceremony was held October 7 at the

George Smart

Fletcher Opera Theater in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh.

The award credits Smart as “a champion of the local Modernist architectural movement, raising public awareness through web-based resources, grants, and public tours.”

In 2007, George Smart launched www.trianglemodernisthouses.com, a website dedicated to preserving modernist homes in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina by increasing public awareness of their existence – especially when that existence is threatened by neglect or encroaching development.

“The more people who know about these extraordinary houses, the less likely they are to get torn down,” Smart told Dwell magazine earlier this year.

Triangle Modernist Houses Presents Its First Grant

July 15, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) –  David Hill, assistant professor architecture at North Carolina State University’s College of Design in Raleigh, has received Triangle Modernist Houses’ first Macon Smith Research Grant.

David Hill

Triangle Modernist Houses.com is the online entity of Triangle Modernist Archives, Inc., an award-winning nonprofit which preserves, advocates, and builds community around modernist residential design in the Triangle area of North Carolina.

TMH established the Mason Smith Research Grant program to support research into Modernist architecture and architects who practiced in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill region of North Carolina.

TMH Honored with National Architecture Award

July 1, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) — Triangle Modernist Houses, an online, nonprofit educational archive for cataloging, preserving, and advocating modernist residential design in the Triangle area of North Carolina, was honored recently with the 2009 Paul E. Buchanan Award from the Vernacular Architecture Forum.

The Buchanan Award was established in 1993 to recognize contributions to the study and preservation of vernacular architecture and the cultural landscape that do not take the form of books or published work.

Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) provides extensive details on more than 145 architects with over 3300 photographs of 640 rarely seen homes. Information is gleaned from public records, published reports, interviews, and reader contributions.