Giving the public access to some of the best architects in the Triangle.

January 9, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) has announced its third “Appetite4Architecture” series of dinners that give the public the chance to enjoy relaxed, informal discussions in an upscale dining environment, where diners have direct access to some of the area’s best residential architects and professionals.

TMH is an award-winning, non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and promoting Modernist residential design.

“Dreaming of a new Modernist house? Long admired the work of a local architect or designer? Thinking about architecture as a career? Appetite4Architecture offers a chance to break bread with prominent members of the Triangle’s design community in an intimate, affordable small group setting,” said TMH founder and board chair George Smart. “There are no presentations or PowerPoint slides — just great conversations with award-winning cuisine.”

The schedule and special guests for the 2012 A4A dinners:

• Tuesday, January 31: Frank Harmon FAIA, Ellen Cassilly AIA, and Randy Lanou.
• Tuesday, February 21: Kenneth Hobgood FAIA, Erin Sterling Lewis AIA, and Brian Shawcroft AIA.
• Tuesday, March 6: Vinny Petrarca and Phil Szostak FAIA.

Again this year, the “A4A” dinners will be held at 18 Seaboard in Raleigh and begin at 6:30 p.m. The dinners include three courses from a preselected menu (vegetarian options are available) plus coffee, water, tea, tax, and gratuity. Price per person is $53. Tickets are available at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/a4a.

TMH requires a minimum of 10 participants per event (maximum 17). Otherwise the event will be cancelled with full refunds. If someone purchases a ticket but then can’t attend, substitutions are allowed. Payments are nonrefundable except for event cancellation. All proceeds benefit TMH’s ongoing documentation, preservation, and house tours programs. For more information call George Smart, 919-740-8407.

For more information on TMH, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

Millau Viaduct

January 3, 2011 (Cary, NC) — Triangle Modernist Houses continues the 2011-2012 Nowell’s Architecture Movie Series this month with a special screening of “How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster,” a documentary on the life and works of one of the world’s premier architects, Norman Foster, principal of Foster + Partners in London, England. The film will be shown Thursday, January 19, at 7:30 p.m, in Cary’s Galaxy Cinema.

The new film traces Foster’s rise to the top of his profession and his unending quest to improve the quality of life through design. It presents Foster’s origins and how his dreams and influences inspired the design of emblematic projects, such as the largest building in the world, Beijing Airport, the Reichstag, the Hearst Building in New York, and his world-famous bridges, including the Millennium Bridge in London and the breathtaking Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, in Millau, France.

Foster became the 21st Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate in 1999 and was awarded the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture in 2002. He has been awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Architecture (1994), the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1983), and the Gold Medal of the French Academy of Architecture (1991). In 1990 he was granted a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, and in 1999 was honored with a Life Peerage, becoming Lord Foster of Thames Bank.

In a review of the documentary, The Guardian in London explained: “The title is taken from a question put to him by his hero, American architect Buckminster Fuller, referring to the Sainsbury Centre next to UEA, a quirky question designed to get him and us thinking about the concept of mass in architecture. By accident or design, this movie makes his buildings look airily light: expressions of pure thought and design.”

Blueplate PR is sponsoring this special screening of “How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?” Sponsors for the entire TMH Architecture Movie Series include Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture, Dail Dixon FAIA, Studio B Architecture/BuildSense, Modern Home Auction, Cherry Modern, Kontek, and Alphin Design+Build.

Tickets to the film are $9. The Galaxy Cinema is located at 770 Cary Towne Boulevard, Cary, NC 27511 (919-463-9989).

The Bombay Beijing restaurant near the Galaxy is offering a special deal for movie-goers: Have dinner in the restaurant before the movie and receive one free admission for each $15 spent.

Hosted by Triangle Modernist Houses, the Nowell’s Architecture Movie Series features hard-to-find films about Modernist architects and architecture. Films are shown one Thursday of each month from October through March. For a complete list of upcoming films, to buy advance tickets, and to see a trailer of upcoming films, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/movies.

All proceeds from ticket sales support Triangle Modernist Houses’ mission of documenting, preserving and promoting Modernist residential design from the 1950s to today. For more information on the award-wining organization, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

Examining the life, career, and influence of the American architect/artist. 

November 30, 2011 (Cary, NC) — Triangle Modernist Houses continues the 2011-2012 Nowell’s Architecture Movie Series this month with a special screening of “Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture” on Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 p.m, in Cary’s Galaxy Cinema.

Directed by Mark Richard Smith, the film focuses on the life and career of Louis Sullivan as an artist and what he tried to do for American architecture. Much of the footage is comprised of moving shots that trace building details and ornamentation not readily seen by the casual eye.

“Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture marks the first time that the life and career of Louis Sullivan have been brought to the screen,” the film’s website states. “Aside from several films that presented certain parts of Sullivan’s career such as his skyscrapers and banks, there has never been an in-depth exploration of him as an artist and what he tried so hard to do for American architecture.

The film presents Sullivan as an artist who never felt completely comfortable in the romanticism of the nineteenth-century or the unsentimental, mechanized world of the 20th century. It also looks at how Louis Sullivan exerted a tremendous influence on the development of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Tickets to the film are $9 at the door. Galaxy Cinema is located in the Village Square Shopping Center at 770 Cary Towne Boulevard, Cary, NC 27511. Phone: 919-463-9959.

Hanbury Preservation Consulting in Raleigh is sponsoring this special screening of “Louis Sullivan: The Struggle For American Architecture.” Sponsors for the entire series are Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture, Kontek, Alphin Design Build, Cherry Modern, Modern Home Auction, Studio B Architecture, and Dail Dixon FAIA.

Hosted by Triangle Modernist Houses, the Nowell’s Architecture Movie Series features exciting and hard-to-find films about Modernist architects and architecture. Films are shown one Thursday of each month from October through March 2012. For a complete list of the upcoming films, to buy advance tickets, and to see a trailer of upcoming film, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/movies.

TMH is a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 to preserve and promote Modernist architecture in the Triangle. The award-winning website is now the largest educational and historical archive for Modernist residential design in America.

Appointment to the Advisory Council is a one-year term starting January 1, 2012. Selected from a cross-section of the design community, Advisory Council members support and improve TMH’s programming including popular house tours, architecture movies, trips, presentations, and many other events.

Members of the 2012 TMH Advisory Council are:

• Queron Smith, Senior Vice President, M&F Bank
• Architect Chad Parker, AIA, of Gensler
• Caterri Woodrum, Chief Financial Officer, NC Museum of Art
• Architect Brian Shawcroft, AIA
• Greg Raschke, Associate Director for Collections and Scholarly Communication Administration for the N.C. State University Libraries
• Architect Robby Johnson, AIA, of Clearscapes
• Stan Williams, Senior Director of Public Affairs for the North Carolina Symphony
• Architect Matt Griffith, AIA, principal of in situ studio
• Dr. David Brook, Director, North Carolina Archives & History
• Architect Jessica Johnson Moore, AIA, of More Space Studio
• Design associate Paul Hobgood of Kenneth Hobgood Architects
• Architect Jody Brown, AIA, author of the blog “Coffee With an Architect”
• Project designer Tika Hicks of Frank Harmon Architect PA
• Ann Marie Baum, Cherry Modern
• Architect K.C. Ramsay
• Kim Weiss, principal of Blueplate PR and public relations coordinator for Triangle Modernist Houses

“One of the greatest challenges we face in architectural history is the identification, protection, and public appreciation of North Carolina’s modernist architecture—especially of houses,” said Dr. Brook, “I am particularly interested in the intellectual and architectural legacy of Dean Henry Kamphoefner and the faculty and students of the former School of Design at NCSU. I welcome membership on the TMH Advisory Council as a way to preserve this heritage and to encourage future excellence and innovation in architectural design.”

“The Advisory Council is part focus group, part brain trust.  Their experience and insights into design and preservation tapped new wildly popular events moved our website up to 30,000+ hits a month.  It’s an honor to get this dream team together, and I look forward to a great 2012,” said George Smart.

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

October 27, 2011 — David Hill, Assistant Professor of Architecture at North Carolina State University’s College of Design, has won a second Mason Smith Research Grant from Triangle

David Hill

Modernist Houses, the non-profit, award-winning organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and promoting modernist residential design.

Hill and his students will use the grant to create digital models of houses designed by ground breaking modernist architect George Matsumoto, FAIA. The models will be posted on the TMH website and elsewhere.

This is Hill’s second Macon Smith Research Grant from TMH. In 2009 he received the grant to interview Matsumoto at the architect’s home in Oakland, California.

TMH also awarded a 2011 MSR Grant to Tyler Merkel of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who will create infrastructure for his website, Mid-century Michigan, and to research Alden Ball Dow, FAIA (1904-1983) for TMH’s archives. Mid-century Michigan is an independent project Merkel initiated to document modern houses in East Grand Rapids and the surrounding areas.

Tyler Merkel

George Smart, founder and board chairman of TMH, announced the award recipients this week.

Smart established the Macon Smith Research Grant Program in 2009 to support research into residential modernist architecture and architects. Grants of up to $1000 are available to private citizens, academics and students, or institutions.

The grants are named for modernist architect Macon Smith (1919-2008). From 1996 to 1999, Smith was instrumental in the publication of an award-winning historical chronology of AIA North Carolina: “History of the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 1913-1988: An Architectural Heritage.” He served on countless AIA boards and committees and won both the 2001 Deitrick Medal and the 2006 F. Carter Williams Gold Medal, the highest honors presented by AIANC.

In early 2008, Smith spent many hours scouring his own records and driving around Raleigh, NC, with George Smart to help TMH get started.

“Through my dad [the late architect George Smart Sr.], I knew Macon my entire life, but it wasn’t until we started TMH that I got to know him well,” said Smart. “We had some great afternoons riding around finding his work around Raleigh.  His knowledge of NC architecture became my inspiration for expanding our archives beyond the Triangle area.  David and Tyler now carry the torch for the passion we all share.”

Anyone interested in applying for a 2012 Macon Smith Research Grant an send an email and PowerPoint proposal to Smart at George@trianglemodernisthouses.com. The proposal should include up to 300 total words describing the project the grant would fund, and 10 photos in up to five slides, plus one slide of contact information.

For more information on Macon Smith, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/smith. For more information on Triangle Modernist Houses, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

October 6, 2011 (Durham, NC) – George Smart, founder and board chairman of Triangle Modernist Houses, will present his signature talk “Mayberry Modernism: North Carolina’s Modernist Legacy” to the North Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects on October 21 during the NCASLA’s Fall Conference in Concord, NC.

Triangle Modernist Houses is an award-winning, non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and promoting modernist residential design from the 1950s to today. “Mayberry Modernism” showcases North Carolina’s large collection of Modernist residences, many in good shape, some endangered, and many others destroyed.

“Understanding the need to preserve and promote Modernist residential design, an important period in the nation’s architectural heritage, isn’t limited to architects, homeowners, and historians,” Smart noted. “Landscape architects have also been intimately involved in the planning and design of public and private environments in the modern world. And the NCASLA can count among its membership some of the finest Modernist landscape architects in the nation, both today and in the recent past.”

Smart’s presentation includes a PowerPoint presentation of every modernist house in the state that has received a design award from the American Institute of Architects from mid-century to new construction. Many of those award-winning houses feature landscapes designed by members of the NCASLA. Smart will present “Mayberry Modernism” from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m. in the Embassy Suites Hotel in Concord.

Founded in 1899, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is the national professional association representing landscape architects. The Society’s mission is “to lead, to educate, and to participate in the careful stewardship, wise planning, and artful design of our cultural and natural environments.” For more information, go to www.asla.org.

The North Carolina Chapter of the ASLA was formed in 1973. Master landscape architect Dick Bell, a member of the ASLA’s Council of Fellows, served as its first president. The Chapter includes members in private practice, public practice, academic, and related professions. For more information, go to www.ncasla.org.

For more information on “Mayberry Modernism” and Triangle Modernist Houses, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

Rem Koolhaas, 67, is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, and Professor in Practice at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He won the Pritzker Prize in 2000 and Time magazine named him one of “The World’s Most Influential People” in 2008.

According to the film’s synopsis, “Rarely has an architect caused as much sensation outside of the architecture community as Rem Koolhaas.”

Directed by Markus Heidingsfelder and Min Tesch, the documentary is “an engaging portrait of a visionary man [and] a visually inventive, thought-provoking portrait of the architect.”

Koolhaas himself has called it “the only film about me that I have liked.”

Other sponsors for this special screening include Kontek, Alphin Design-Build, Cherry Modern Interior Design, Dail Dixon FAIA, Studio B Architecture, ModernHomeAuction.com, and Eidolon Design. Tickets are $9 at the door. To reserve discount advance season tickets, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/register.htm.

Special associated offer: Bombay Beijing, an Indo-Chinese restaurant across the street from the Galaxy Cinema, offers film-goers a free ticket for every $15 spent in the restaurant that night before the movie.

The Galaxy Cinema is located at 770 Cary Towne Boulevard, Cary, NC 27513; 919-463-9989. For more information and directions: www.mygalaxycinema.com.

“Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect” is the first of six architecture films in this year’s series.  They run on certain Thursdays monthly from October through March. To see the entire line-up, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/movies.

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.

Season tickets are now available.

September 12, 2011 (Cary, NC) – Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), the award-winning non-profit organization that documents, preserves, and promotes Modernist residential architecture, has announced the 2011-2012 Nowell’s Architecture Movie Series starting in October and running through March at the Galaxy Cinema in Cary.

This season’s dates and films about architecture are:

• October 20 — Rem Koolhaas, A Kind of Architect, “an engaging portrait of a visionary man that takes us to the heart of his ideas.”
• November 17 — The Birds Nest, a documentary about the famous and controversial National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
• December 15 — Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture, an in-depth look the architect as an artist “and what he tried so hard to do for American architecture.”
• January 19 — How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?, a new film that “traces the rise of one of the world’s premier architects, Norman Foster, and his unending quest to improve the quality of life through design.”
• February 16 — God’s Architects, a documentary by young filmmaker Zak Godshall “that studies and celebrates five solitary designer/builders from Arkansas, California, Louisiana and Mississippi.”
• March 15 — Philip Johnson: Diary of an Eccentric Architect, a film that “shows the human side of Johnson and how his extraordinary life shaped his rich architectural legacy.”

Trailers and more information on each film are available at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/movies.

This marks the third year TMH has organized and hosted the architectural movie series, which is primarily sponsored by Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture. Other sponsors are: Kontek Systems, Alphin Design Build, Cherry Modern, Modern Home Auction, Dail Dixon FAIA, Studio B Architecture, Eidelon Designs, Hanbury Preservation Consulting, Rusty Long Architect, Lee Hansley Gallery, and Blueplate PR.

“You might be surprised to know that we’re rapidly becoming the center for date night.  Whether people have known each other two days or 20 years, our movies are a guaranteed home run: entertaining yet thought–provoking, an audience with similar interests, great popcorn, and lots of door prizes!” says George Smart, TMH Board Chair.

All movies start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets at the door are $9 but season tickets are only $29, representing almost a 50 percent savings. Advance tickets, including season tickets, are available at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/movies. Proceeds benefit TMH’s ongoing documentation, preservation, and promotion programs.

September 7, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) – The architectural firm Pearce Brinkley Cease + Lee (PBC+L) in downtown Raleigh will join Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) to host this month’s TMH “Thirst 4 Architecture” happy hour on Thursday, September 22, from 6-8pm. The event will be held in the PBC+L offices in Suite 1000 of the classic Capital Bank Building at 333 Fayetteville Street.

TMH founder and director George Smart points out how fitting it is to hold this T4A happy hour in the Capital Bank building. It is frequently referred to as the “Little Seagram Building” for bearing a striking resemblance to a Mies van der Rohe skyscraper in New York City.

“The building was designed by New York architects Emery Roth and Raleigh’s Milton Small in 1966 for BB&T,” he said, “and it’s a terrific example of a mid-century modern office tower. I’m sure everyone who comes to the September event will not only enjoy the networking and refreshments, but will also enjoy being in a Small-designed commercial structure. We’re very grateful to PBC+L for giving us this opportunity.”

Master landscape architect Dick Bell, FASLA, will be on hand to sell and sign copies of his new memoir “The Bridge Builders.” The book traces Bell’s evolution as a designer from his childhood spent growing up on the Outer Banks during the Great Depression to his establishing the former award-winning “Water Garden” mixed-use development on Raleigh’s Glenwood Avenue/Highway 70 West. (For more information on Bell’s new book: http://thebridgebuilders.wordpress.com)

“Thirst 4 Architecture events are intended to build relationships, generating passion about good design, create strategic alliances, and connect people,” Smart said. “It’s all interaction. There are no presentations or PowerPoint slides. Come enjoy the refreshments, enter for door prizes, and make new friends and contacts.”

There is no charge for attendance and the sponsoring firm provides all refreshments.

For more information on “Thirst 4 Architecture” events, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/t4a.

For more information on PBC+L and directions to their offices, go to www.pbclarchitecture.com