AIA North Carolina presented this year’s component design awards to 10 winning projects at the component’s annual design awards banquet this summer. The four-member jury selected the recipients from a record number of 126 entries. The component also paid homage to the 2005 Firm Award winner FreemanWhite, Charlotte; 2005 Gold Medal recipient John L. Atkins III, FAIA, Charlotte; and the 2005 Deitrick Medal recipient Paul David Boney, FAIA, Wilmington.

Honor Awards

Johnston County Industries Inc., Smithfield, N.C., by Clearscapes
Johnston County Industries Inc., a private nonprofit organization that provides vocational training and behavior counseling to disabled and recovering individuals, supports itself through corporate contracts performing simple production tasks. The modest building program, fronting an active business highway, required 10,000 square feet of flexible work areas and staff observation and support spaces. Communal work areas are protected against seated views to the highway with views of the sky and treetops. A variety of materials—concrete masonry, exposed steel, ribbed metal siding, cement panels, and glass blocks—make up the building’s shell.
Jury comments: The plan of this project is straightforward and responds to its environment well by blocking out the mostly vehicular activity that surrounds it. Photo © Jay Mangum Photography.

Merit Awards

Chowan County Courthouse State Historic Site Restoration, Edenton, N.C., by HagerSmith Design PA
This project featured the complete, accurate restoration of a 1767 Georgian courthouse, the oldest government building in North Carolina, to the period of the 1830s for dual-use as state historic site and county courthouse/public meeting space. The courtroom was returned to its original design, which entailed services hidden under the stairs, and historically accurate—and removable—railings and benches in front of the bar. Geothermal heat pumps improve energy efficiency and eliminate external condensing units.
Jury comments: We believe the craftsmanship employed on this project was outstanding, exquisitely executed, and extremely appropriate to the original building. Photo © James West.

FAANC Medical Office, Raleigh, by ARCHITEKTUR PA
More than 50 percent of this project’s steeply sloped site is within a buffer yard protecting an existing stream. A series of architectural CMU fins, set on a 20-foot grid, support an open-roof structure and the tapered girders for the soaring roof. In the parking area below, each bay houses two parking spaces; on the main floor, the bays define exam rooms, offices, and waiting areas. This strategy limits the need for additional paving and drastically reduces the amount of impervious surface applied to the site. Sandblasted obscure glass provides privacy and maintains light quality, while exposed and utilitarian materials respond to a tight budget.
Jury comments: The project takes full advantage of the natural topography of the site, enabling functional elements of the project like parking and circulation. Photo © James West.

Morganton (N.C.) Depot Renovation, by HagerSmith Design PA
The Morganton Depot, built in the 1880s, was remodeled in 1910 and 1952. In anticipation of the re-establishment of passenger rail service on the Western North Carolina Railroad, the City of Morganton and the North Carolina Department of Transportation sponsored a renovation of the building and its site to its 1910 appearance. In the process, an original porch at the east end of the building that had been enclosed in the 1950s was reopened. The architects also reconfigured the existing site to accommodate a bus drop-off, additional parking, accessibility for persons with disabilities, and increased lighting and landscape plantings.
Jury comments: The Morganton Depot was truly brought back from the dead with a heroic and amazing amount of restorative effort. Photo © James West.

National Institute of Statistical Sciences Headquarters, Research Triangle Park, by O’Brien/Atkins Associates PA
A simple and efficient two-story rectangular box responds to the limited budget for this office and conference facility at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences. The 16,000-square-foot form is clad with two contrasting shells: a rusticated brick extrusion on the west and corrugated aluminum on the east that rises to conceal rooftop mechanical equipment. Interior finishes include stone, cherry veneer, and exposed brick.
Jury comments: The architects took typical challenges for a speculative office building and solved them very cleverly by creating visual interest without being overly fussy. Photo © O’Brien/Atkins Associates PA.

Open Air Classroom at Prairie Ridge, Raleigh, by Frank Harmon Architect
The architects sited this open-air classroom, a rural learning center for a natural history museum, on a prairie ridge overlooking a perennial stream sited to capture views of each of the six ecological zones on its 38-acre lot. Deep overhangs shelter the openings and visually extend the structure into the natural landscape. The primary materials—thick, native yellow pine and thin screening—recall the contrast of strength and delicacy in the surrounding environs. A cistern collects rainwater from the classroom’s roof for flushing toilets. The LEED™-certified building uses one tenth of the energy of a standard classroom the same size.
Jury comments: The idea of architecture immersed in nature pervades this structure. The building floats on the scenery and treads lightly on the site. The structural systems reinforce the idea of an open pavilion floating in the woods. Photo © Tim Hursley.

Poland/Defeo Residence, Bahama, N.C., Ellen Cassily Architect Inc.
During his 13-year tenure at North Carolina State University, George Matsumoto designed more than 10 homes, including the Poland Residence (1954). The house, originally slated for demolition, was moved 38 miles to a 27-acre parcel on the shores of the Little River Reservoir in Durham County. The new siting achieves both a dramatic view downhill to the woods below as well as the lake beyond and shades the house from southern exposure. The sloped site also allows the basement guest suite to share the view out the back through a series of generous windows placed in a symmetrical composition sympathetic with the original house. The symmetry and balance of the front and rear of the original house was preserved, as was the memory of the old carport entry, which has become a glazed opening at the bottom of the exterior stair.
Jury comments: We were thrilled to see this exquisite sample of residential Modernism so lovingly restored. Photo © Christopher Ciccone.

Strickland Ferris Residence, Raleigh, by Frank Harmon Architect
The site in North Carolina’s Piedmont region offers a steep, north-facing escarpment 80 feet above Crabtree Creek and shaded by a 150-year-old beech and oak forest. The architects perched the house on nine, “broad-shouldered” wood trusses to avoid cutting a single major tree. They also created a butterfly-shaped roof to open views northward to the creek and to funnel rainwater into a collection system on the south side. Deep overhangs shade the house and shelter the walls and openings below.
Jury comments: The architects chose the appropriate vernacular response to this lovely rural site. This project maximizes all the dramatic views the site has to offer. Photo © Tim Hursley.

Unbuilt Merit Award

Villa Al Bahar, Kuwait City, Kuwait, by Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects
This 1,600-square-meter, four-story villa for a family of seven wraps around a central courtyard, and its major public spaces open to a large garden in the center and smaller gardens on the edges. Walls of varying glass types function as a series of screens or veils and operable louvers make it possible to change the light and adjust to extreme climatic changes. The vertical division of spaces from the below-grade garage to the third level is intended to provide a sequence of movement.
Jury comments: We can’t wait to see this built! The project is a skillful interpretation of an Islamic courtyard house. Photo courtesy of architect.

North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, by The Freelon Group Inc. RTP
This building, sited as a counterpoint to its grade, cantilevers 55 feet off its base to create a new “Modern” campus gateway. The architects designed this space to encourage interaction and socialization among faculty, administration, and students. The office and classroom program is organized into two “bars.” The western bar of faculty offices enjoys views of the quad and bell tower, and the eastern bar contains classrooms and is articulated as an opaque volume. The main administrative offices and dean’s suite are at the north end of the classroom bar to offer privacy from the public zones and a strong visual connection to the campus green and bell tower.
Jury comments: This Modern building reinforces a traditional campus fabric with a straightforward and layered plan that also creates interesting semi-public spaces. Photo courtesy of architect.

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