The Triangle AIA is reaching back to its roots for its fourth annual tour of residential architecture in central North Carolina.
A renovated mid-century modern home in Chapel Hill and a reinterpretation of the atomic ranch in Raleigh are among five homes to be featured on Oct. 5.
“One’s a classic home built in 1957 and a previous AIA award-winner,” says Chad Volk, co-chair of the tour planning committee for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill section of the AIA. “It was designed by Jim Webb, and shows that good design is timeless.”
It’s been renovated twice, most recently by Aggie Crews, principal and project architect in Publico Design. She’s brought the home back to the architect’s original intent.
“It emphasizes the horizontal, with Prairie Style elements,” Volk says. “It’s an open plan with connections to the outside with porches and decks.”
“Spring,” designed by BuildSense of Durham may be more vertical, but it’s still well-connected to its wooded surrounding. A two-story contemporary, it’s clad in cedar and with metal screen panels incorporated into its façade. A two and a half entry tower/spine, also featuring metal screens to allow light in, connects all its interior spaces. Steel mesh floor plates allow transparent views up and down.
Four of the homes were selected by a jury chaired by Matthew Hufft of Hufft Projects in Kansas City. Included are a lakefront home designed by Weinstein Friedlein Architects of Chapel Hill, a modern, one-story bungalow in Raleigh by Caidus Design and a contemporary home in Cary by Tonic Design.
“As a region, the Triangle’s architecture is special, and different from California or Louisiana or North Dakota or Minnesota,” he says. “There’s a local vernacular that’s well-designed in terms of the overall style, region, culture and climate.”
Indeed. In a vast and sprawling sea of traditional home-building, architects in the Triangle readily draw on a modern heritage established in the 1950s by Dean Henry Kamphoefner and the North Carolina School of Design.
The five homes on this self-guided tour are no exception.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 on the day of the tour. For more information, go to www.aiatriangletour.com.
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