Archive for: Frank Harmon

TMH Announces The George Matsumoto Prize – Calls For Entries

Categories: Triangle Modernist Houses
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George Matsumoto, FAIA

Unique Modernist architecture competition features blue-ribbon jury, public voting, and $6000 in honors.

May 10, 2012 (Durham, NC) – George Smart, Executive Director of Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), today announced the inaugural George Matsumoto Prize, a unique architecture competition to recognize recent achievement in North Carolina Modernist residential design. TMH is an award-winning, non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and promoting Modernist architecture.

The Prize is named for George Matsumoto, FAIA, one of the founding faculty members of the North Carolina State University School of Design (now College of Design), internationally known for his mid-century Modernist houses in North Carolina and elsewhere. Matsumoto will serve as Honorary Chair on the jury of well-recognized architects, including Frank Harmon, FAIA, (Chair), Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, David Jameson, FAIA, Tom Kundig, FAIA, and Larry Scarpa, FAIA.

“George Matsumoto was the preeminent Modernist designer in North Carolina in the 1950s,” said jury chair Frank Harmon. “As he made a lasting impression through his buildings and his influence on a generation of students, it is appropriate to honor him through this design awards program as a means of continuing his legacy of good modern design.”

The George Matsumoto Prize is unique among design competitions for four reasons:

1.     The Matsumoto Prize is open to both architects and designers anywhere in the world who have designed houses built in North Carolina since 2006.

2.     To encourage participation while recognizing the expense of preparing submissions, winners of the Matsumoto Prize receive honors of $3000, $2000, and $1000, respectively.

3.     For the first time ever in a North Carolina design competition, the public will participate as a juror, voting for their favorite houses. The public’s three favorites will receive a special certificate.

4.     The Matsumoto Prize is transparent – submitters identify themselves and their firms.

TMH’s objectives in creating 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,” said George Smart.

“These entries will inspire people dreaming of a Modernist house to know Modernist design is affordable, efficient, sustainable, and most importantly, a house their families will love decades,” he added. “By using an architect or designer, you can have a house, or you can have a great house, for the same budget.”

Competition rules, submission procedures, and deadlines are available online at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/prize.htm.

About Triangle Modernist Houses: 

Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) is an award-winning 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design. The award-winning website is the largest open digital archive for Modernist residential design in America. TMH also hosts popular house tours and trips several times a year. For more information: www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. TMH also maintains an active community on Facebook.

NCSU Landscape Architecture Lecture Series To Feature Frank Harmon, FAIA

Categories: Frank Harmon Architect PA
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Award-winning architect will discuss how the two professions can, and should, work together.

February 22, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh and Professor in Practice at the North Carolina State University College of Design, will

Frank Harmon, FAIA

give the February 27 lecture for the 2011-12 Landscape Architecture Lecture Series. His theme will be “How architects and landscape architects can work together.”

Free and open to the public, Harmon’s lecture will begin at 6 p.m. in the Burns Auditorium in Kamphoefner Hall.

A nationally recognized leader in modern, sustainable, regionally appropriate architecture, Harmon says he will discuss the urban and rural landscape, how architecture fits into it, and how architects and landscape architects can combine efforts “to leave the landscape better than we found it,” he said.

“For the past two decades I’ve chosen to have a landscape architect working beside me when I begin a design,” Harmon said. “At Merchants Millpond in eastern North Carolina, for example, I canoed and camped with landscape architect David Swanson before we drew the first line for the new Environmental Education Center there. I teamed with landscape architect Gregg Bleam to design the recently completed AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design in downtown Raleigh.”

Harmon frequently asserts that the most important decision an architect makes is how to position a building on its site. “That particular throw of the dice determines everything that follows: orientation, aspect and prospect, day lighting, cross ventilation, hydrology, micro-climate, and most importantly, a sense of place. My belief that all good architecture begins with the land makes me value and appreciate landscape architects’ skills and understanding.”

The 2011-12 Landscape Architecture Lecture Series is produced by the Department of Landscape Architecture in partnership with the Student Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Landscape Architecture Advisory Council.

For more information on Frank Harmon, visit www.frankharmon.com

About Frank Harmon, FAIA:

Frank Harmon, FAIA, is a Professor in Practice at NC State University and was the 1995 recipient of the Kamphoefner Prize for Distinguished Design over a Ten-Year Period. He founded his firm, Frank Harmon Architect PA, in 1985. In 2011, his firm was ranked 21st out of the top 50 firms in the nation by Architect magazine, and was included in Residential Architect magazine’s “RA 50: The Short List of Architects We Love.” Harmon’s work has been featured in numerous books, magazines and journals on architecture, including Dwell, Architectural Record, Architect, and Residential Architect. For more information, go to www.frankharmon.com.

“Appetite4Architecture” Dinner Features Special Guest Frank Harmon

Categories: architecture, events, Frank Harmon Architect PA, green architecture, mid-century architecture, modern architecture
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The first in a series of dinners sponsored by Triangle Modernist Houses.

Frank Harmon, FAIA

January 18, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – Frank Harmon FAIA, founder and principal of the award-winning firm Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, will be a featured guest at the first 2012 “Appetite4Architecture” dinner on Tuesday, January 31, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in 18 Seaboard restaurant in Raleigh.

Now in its third year, “Appetite4Architecture” dinners are sponsored by Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), an award-winning, non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and promoting Modernist residential design. The purpose of the dinners is to give the general public a chance to dine with, and talk with, some of the Triangle area’s finest architects in a relaxed, informal setting.

Frank Harmon is well known for modern, innovative, sustainable and regionally appropriate architecture of all types, including houses. Among his best known, award-winning residential designs are:

  • The Taylor Vacation House in the Bahamas, which is included in the book Tropical Modernism and was featured in an exhibit in the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., among many other accolades.
  • The Strickland-Ferris Residence in Raleigh, which has been featured in a number of architectural magazines and received both Custom Home and Wood Design awards.
  • The Low Country Residence in Mount Pleasant, SC, which also received a Custom Home Design Award and a national AIA Housing Award.
  • And the own modern home and gardens he shares with his wife, landscape architect Judy Harmon, in Raleigh, which were featured in Sarah Susanka’s book Outside The Not-So-Big House.

In 2011, Frank Harmon was included in Residential Architect magazine’s “RA 50: A Short List of Architects We Love,” and in 2005 his firm received the magazine’s “Top Firm of the Year” honor. He has been profiled in Dwell magazine and Architectural Record, and he has been a featured guest on American Public Media’s “The Story” with Dick Gordon.

Joining Harmon for TMH’s inaugural 2012 “A4A” dinner will be Durham architect Ellen Cassilly, AIA, who worked in Harmon’s firm before founding her own firm Ellen Cassilly Architect Inc., and Randy Lanou, president of BuildSense/Studio B Architecture, also in Durham. Dona Aguayo of Go Realty is co-sponsoring the January 31 dinner.

The TMH “A4A” dinners are all held at 18 Seaboard, 18 Seaboard Avenue, No. 100, Raleigh, NC 27604. 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. Payments are nonrefundable except for event cancellation. All proceeds benefit TMH’s ongoing documentation, preservation, and house tours programs. For more information on TMH call George Smart, 919-740-8407 or visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

For more information on Frank Harmon, visit www.frankharmon.com.

About Frank Harmon, FAIA:

Frank Harmon, FAIA, is principal Frank Harmon Architect PA, and Professor in Practice at North Carolina State University’s College of Design. His work has been featured in numerous books, journals and magazines, including Dwell, Architect, Architectural Record, Arch Daily.com, and Residential Architect. A frequent lecturer on modern, sustainable, regionally appropriate architecture, he serves on design awards juries across the nation. For more information, visit www.frankharmon.com.

Triangle Modernist Houses Announces The 2012 “Appetite4Architecture” Series

Categories: Triangle Modernist Houses
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A4A dinners bring architects and the public together in a social atmosphere.

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:

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.

About Triangle Modernist Houses:

Triangle Modernist Houses was established in 2007 to document, preserve, and promote Modernist residential design. The award-winning website is now the largest educational and historical archive for Modernist residential design in America. TMH also hosts Modernist house tours several times a year. These tours raise awareness and help preserve these “livable works of art” for future generations. Visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. TMH also has an active community on Facebook.

The House That Steve Jobs Grew Up In, And How It Shaped Apple

Categories: architecture, mid-century architecture, modern architecture
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Essay and sketches by Frank Harmon, FAIA 

“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us,” Winston Churchill said, and perhaps no place has the power to shape us like the place where we grow up.

Lyndon Johnson was born in the hardscrabble and desperately poor Hill Country of Texas. His life and political legacy were shaped by the threadbare surroundings of his childhood.

Steve Jobs grew up in a small, modern house in Mountain View, California. So important was the house that he took his biographer, Walter Isaacson, there to show him the many ingenious details of its design — like the radiant floor and the open plan and windows that brought the outdoors in. It’s nice to think that the man many call a genius grew up in a house with ingenious details.

Joseph Eichler, a California developer noted for bringing good design to the mass housing market, built Jobs’ childhood home. Eichler homes were airy and modern in comparison to most of the mass-produced, middle-class, postwar homes being built in the 1950s. Eichler believed that people of modest means could have beautiful things.

Including the modest family who adopted Steve Jobs.

The clean elegance of the Eichler home, available to everyone, was the original vision for Apple, according to Jobs. “That’s what we tried to do with the first Mac,” he recalled. “That’s what we did with the iPod.”

Paul Jobs made a place on his garage workbench so his young son could work beside him. Outside he built a fence around their Eichler home, crafting the back of the fence to look as good as the front. Steve Jobs never forgot that lesson, and would insist that every element of his Apple products should be beautiful, not just on the outside but even on the inside. “But no one will see it,” his engineers groaned when he insisted on a beautiful hidden circuit board. “But I will!” Jobs replied.

Apple stores were conceived of and meticulously supervised by Steve Jobs. From the open plan to the glass stairs, no detail was unimportant. They are the 21st century embodiment of Paul Jobs’ workbench in Mountain View. We are used to thinking that the digital world is placeless, but in the digital world of Jobs, place mattered.

A student of Zen, Jobs absorbed the belief of Dogen Zenji, a Zen master who wrote, “Whoever told people that ‘mind’ means thoughts opinions, ideas, and concepts? Mind means trees, fence posts, tiles, and grasses.” And, we might add, IPods, workbenches, and Eichler homes.

Like Eichler, Jobs brought beauty to ordinary things. He shaped the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. Now they shape us.

Frank Harmon Discusses The New AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design in New Video

Categories: architecture, business, construction, environment, green architecture, landscape architecture, modern architecture, sustainability, video
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Harmon and landscape architect Gregg Bleam talk about the design process. 

The iconic AIA NC headquarters nears completion in downtown Raleigh.

December 6, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) — Architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, of Frank Harmon Architect PA, recently posted a new video on his website (www.frankharmon.com) in which he and landscape architect Gregg Bleam discuss the design process behind the soon-to-be-completed AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design in downtown Raleigh.

Segments of the video will be updated as AIA NC (the American Institute of Architects North Carolina chapter) moves in and the landscape matures.

Harmon explains at the beginning of the video that the project is the result of his firm winning a professional design competition. One of the reasons Harmon won, according to the judges, was that his concept for a modern, thoroughly sustainable, and regionally appropriate Center embraced building and landscape as a single interdependent, interlocking whole.

“We knew this was a landscape problem,” Harmon says, because of the oddly shaped, triangular site and the parking requirements. As a result, he enlisted Bleam “before we drew a single line” and felt including Bleam in the video on the building was imperative.

Directed and shot by Allen Weiss of Allen Weiss: Works on Film and Paper in Raleigh, the video

Frank Harmon, FAIA

features Harmon in his warehouse-turned-office in Raleigh’s Boylan Heights neighborhood and Bleam in his office in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia. It also includes a variety of footage of the building under construction; of Harmon and Bleam walking the site, looking over plans and laughing together; and behind-the-scenes moments in the construction trailer.

This is the first video that Frank Harmon, a multi-awarding winning architect and Professor in Practice at NC State University’s College of Design, has done for his website. Why did he choose this particular project?

“Because of its design, the AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design is destined to be an icon in downtown Raleigh,” said Kim Weiss, Harmon’s public relations coordinator. “It’s also the first from-the-ground-up, ‘green’ AIA headquarters in the nation.

“But equally important,” she continued, “is that the general public rarely gets to hear an architect talk about the process that lead to the design of a building, especially one as iconic as this one. Through the video, Frank is creating a rapport with his audience, whether that means students, clients, future clients, or folks just interested in architecture. Together, he and Gregg are communicating more than a written description could.”

She also pointed out that “videos are entertaining. It’s simply a fact that people today are more likely to click on a video than to read a written description.”

The man behind the camera, Allen Weiss, noted how comfortable Harmon and Bleam were in front of the camera. “There was no script,” he said. “They just started talking and were of such a similar mindset that I could easily cut from one to the other as they discussed the design process. I was impressed.”

The video opens and closes with audible off-camera voices. Weiss said he purposefully left the “chatter” in during the edit to give the piece a casual, relaxed feel, “unlike the garden-variety, industrial, talking-head videos that are dry and offer no clues into the personalities behind them. I don’t believe you can separate the product from the dynamic and interesting personalities that lead to its creation. My intention was not only to showcase this important structure, but to allow viewers to get to know Frank and Gregg in a simply, personal, human way.”

To hear Frank Harmon and Gregg Bleam discuss the design process behind the AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design, visit www.frankharmon.com and click on AIA North Carolina Center for Architecture Design – Video.” To read more about the project, click on “current” projects.

For more information on Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect, go to www.gbla.net.

For more information on Allen Weiss, visit www.allen-weiss.com.

About Frank Harmon Architect PA

Frank Harmon Architect PA is an award-winning architectural firm that is recognized nationally as a leader in modern, innovative, sustainable and regionally appropriate design. Its competition-winning design for the AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design is currently under construction in downtown Raleigh. The firm’s work has been featured in numerous books, magazines, journals and online magazines on architecture, including ArchDaily.com, Dwell, Architectural Record, Architect and Residential Architect. The firm ranked 21st in Architecture magazine’s Top 50 firms in the nation this year and Frank Harmon, FAIA, founder and principal, was included in Residential Architect magazine’s first “RA 50: The short list of architects we love.” For more information, go to www.frankharmon.com.

Umicore Building Products Donates VMZinc Roof for AIA NC’s New Headquarters

Categories: architecture, building products, business, construction, downtown Raleigh, environment, environmentalism, green architecture, landscape architecture, modern architecture, news, sustainability
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Modern, “Green” Architecture & Design Center to be crowned by

Rendering, AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design

PIGMENTO Red architectural zinc.

September 22, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) – Umicore Building Products USA (UBP), headquartered in Raleigh, NC, has donated $70,000 worth of PIGMENTO® Red VMZ standing-seam zinc panels to be used for the roof of the American Institute of Architects North Carolina Chapter’s new, modern, sustainable headquarters building that is now under construction in downtown Raleigh.

“We are proud to be a supporting member of the AIA NC building. It is wonderful to be a part of such an important project in our own backyard,” said Daniel Nicely, an associate member of the AIA and UBP’s Director of Market Development.

Officially named the AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design, the building was designed by Frank Harmon Architect PA of Raleigh, a multi-award-winning firm well known for its modern, green, regionally appropriate design. Under the direction of principal Frank Harmon, FAIA, the firm won a professional design competition for the project.

The design competition required submissions to be as “green,” or environmentally sustainable, as possible. Among the building’s many eco-friendly features will be the zinc roof.

“The three main environmentally sustainable qualities of architectural zinc are its  durability, its recyclability, and the moderate amount of energy required to manufacture it,” said Nicely. “Using architectural zinc for roofing materials or exterior cladding helps architects achieve LEED points.”

The new building’s other green features include: careful siting, extensive use of glass, operable windows, and open porches to maximize natural lighting and ventilation; a geothermal heating and cooling system; an underground rainwater collection cistern, the use of locally available and recycled materials wherever possible; a broad roof overhang to protect the interior from harsh summer sun; a special energy-conserving elevator; and an innovative parking “garden” comprised of porous paving that will eliminate all storm water run-off.

“There were three irreplaceable elements in the design of the AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design: stone walls, landscape, and the metal roof,” said Frank Harmon. “Of these, the zinc roof was the most generous donation, and I think it will shelter the AIA for generations.”

The red pigment in the PIGMENTO® Red panel is created through a factory process that adds the red pigment to the coil during the manufacturing of the sheets and coils. The advantage of adding the pigment during manufacturing is that the panel will not require any reapplication of color, and the color will weather evenly and smoothly as it ages. VMZINC is recognized for blending well and easily with other architectural products, such as the AIA NC Center’s wood siding (cypress), stonework, concrete, steel, and glass.

The AIA NC building and landscape were designed as one interlocking system with the majority of the site left as green, open, park-like space in this urban setting. The building should be complete by the end of November. The landscaping will not be complete until the spring of 2012. For more information on the AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design, visit www.frankharmon.com and click on “current projects.”

For more information on UBP and VMZ PIGMENTO® Red products, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

About Umicore Building Products USA, Inc.

Umicore is a world-leading producer of architectural zinc. For over 160 years, Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, NC. For additional information, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.

Frank Harmon Wins High Award for Simple Project

Categories: architecture, business, construction, environment, garden design, green architecture, modern architecture, news
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The JC Raulston Arboretum Lath House at NC State University wins AIA NC Honor Award 

September 15, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) – Frank Harmon Architect PA has received a 2011 Honor Award from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA NC) for the firm’s design of North Carolina State University’s JC Raulston Arboretum Lath House in Raleigh.

The Lath House received one of only two Honor Awards presented this year, and it was a pro bono project for Harmon’s firm as a gift to the Arboretum.

The Lath House is an open-air laboratory for horticultural research. Its screen of wood two-by-twos fulfills the specific light-to-shade ratio young plants need before they transition into the larger gardens.

According to the firm’s principal, Frank Harmon, FAIA, the structure was designed as an abstract of a tree that spreads its branches to protect the plants.

The Lath House replaced an older structure that sheltered approximately 700 young and tender plants that perform best in shade. The new structure may provide space for 1000 new plantings.

The 10 and a half-acre JC Raulston Arboretum is a nationally acclaimed garden with one of the largest and most diverse collections of plants, shrubs and trees adapted for use in Southeastern landscapes from over 50 different countries. Plants are collected and evaluated in an effort to find superior plants for use in southern gardens. The Lath House is a key element in the arboretum’s work.

“Over the last three decades, the JC Raulston Lath House has nurtured some of the most successful plants for use in Southern gardens, including hostas, ferns, hydrangea and rhododendron,” Harmon said. “We were honored to be a part of the Arboretum’s mission by designing the new Lath House.”

Will Lambeth, a former member of Harmon’s design team who left to attend Harvard University, served on the design team for the Lath House, which received a Merit Award this summer from the Triangle section of AIA NC and has been published at ArchDaily.com.

Harmon’s firm is known for designing projects that celebrate plant life, such as the cluster of buildings for the NC Botanical Gardens Visitors Education Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Walnut Creek Wetlands Education Center in Raleigh, and the NC Museum of Natural Science’s open-air classroom at the Prairie Ridge Eco-station, also in Raleigh.  For more information visit www.frankharmon.com.

About Frank Harmon Architect PA:

Frank Harmon Architect PA is an award-winning architectural firm located in Raleigh, NC, and recognized nationally as a leader in modern, innovative, sustainable and regionally appropriate design. For the third consecutive year, the firm is ranked as one of the Top 50 Firms in the nation by Architect magazine, and Frank Harmon, FAIA, founder and principal, was included in Residential Architect’s recent “RA 50: The short list of architects we love.” The firm’s work has been featured in numerous books, magazines, journals and online magazines on architecture, including ArchDaily.com, Dwell, Architectural Record, Architect, and Residential Architect. For more information, go to www.frankharmon.com.

When No One Could Travel Faster Than A Horse

Categories: architecture, beauty, environmentalism, historic preservation, land planning, Opinion
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By Frank Harmon, FAIA 

Sketch by Frank Harmon, FAIA

 

August 2011

I bumped into a friend recently at a coffee shop who asked, “Did you recognize me waving at you from my car” last week? I had to admit I didn’t recognize her or her car. But thinking about it later, I remembered a remark by the social critic Lewis Mumford, who suggested that it’s hard to have a conversation with someone when you’re traveling more than three miles an hour.

I had a similar thought last summer when I was looking out the window of a friend’s house in Provence in the South of France. In the distance, two ancient villages clung to the hillside a few kilometers apart, connected by a modern road where tiny cars flitted by like brightly colored bugs. Once the ” province” of Rome, Provence is now a high tech center of European research and development centered in the vicinity of Aix en Provence. The landscape I saw from the window — olive trees, wheat fields, and vineyards surrounding villages built of stone and tile –  has changed very little since the time of the ancient Romans. Yet the old farms and vineyards are giving way to vacation homes and superstores. Some of the farmers have converted their farms into equestrian centers, where the sons and daughters of European scientists can ride horses on weekends. I saw a horse and rider that afternoon, slowly cantering along a trail between the two villages. Both seemed perfectly at ease in the landscape.

Why did the gait of the horse and rider seem so natural in the landscape while the speeding cars did not? I was startled by the contrast. The Provencal landscape was originally scaled to the speed of a horse. For over two thousand years, people could travel no faster than a horse could gallop. Distances between villages were based on what a horse or a human could walk in an hour or two. Fields were sized according to what a horse and plow could cover in a day. That is why the young woman riding the horse in the distance fit so comfortably in the landscape, whereas the red and blue cars zipping along the road seemed independent of this particular, ancient landscape.

We can find similar, slower landscapes in this country. One of the most beautiful roads in America, for example, is the Blue Ridge Parkway, which winds through the Appalachian Mountains. The speed limit on the parkway is 45 mph. Drive faster and you miss the views (and risk a speeding ticket) because the designers of the parkway shaped the road for a slower pace.

And In rural parts of North Carolina where roads are small, it’s possible to see the face of a farmer coming towards you in his truck because you are both driving slowly. As often as not he will wave. (Imagine doing that on an interstate highway or a six-lane suburban throughway.) In the two hundred or so years before automobiles came to North Carolina, our counties were sized based on the distance a farmer could travel on horseback in a day to pay his taxes at the county courthouse or sell his crops at market.

Throughout North Carolina, you also can find remnants of pre-automobile culture: country stores, now usually shuttered, spaced every few miles within walking distance of farmsteads; and country churches like Olive Chapel and Mount Pisgah Church, where steeple bells rang at a quarter to eleven on Sunday morning to remind folks they had 15 minutes to walk to service. High-speed roads have liberated these older landscapes. People no longer walk to the store or to church. And on the whole, this is better. But as my friend Jim Schlosser, who writes about architecture for the Greensboro Daily News, observed, architecture began to go downhill with the construction of the Interstate highway system. Since people no longer slowed down to drive through cities, architects designed buildings to be viewed at 65 miles per hour, with a consequent loss of scale, texture, and detail.

So as we cruise along our wide highways, it’s good to remember that, as a civilization, we have been walking and riding horses far longer than we have been riding in cars. Perhaps some of our discomfort with modern settlements is due to the fact they are sized for the speed of cars and not for the pace of humans. And certainly it’s hard to recognize a friend passing by in her car.

The Bridge at Concord

Categories: architecture, education, historic preservation
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By Frank Harmon, FAIA

At museums and visitors centers, less interpretation is more.

One day in the 1970s, I wandered into the rare documents room at the British

North Bridge at Concord, sketch by Frank Harmon.

Museum, where cloth-shrouded glass cases held poems, speeches and letters written by famous people. You could pull back a cloth, read the document, and cover it up again. When I pulled back one of the cloths, I caught my breath: Before me was the Magna Carta. How amazing, I thought, to find the most important document in British history displayed so diffidently, in a glass case with a curtain over it. I was thrilled.

In America, we handle our history differently. The Declaration of Independence, for example, is encased in bulletproof glass in a gold-plated, titanium frame filled with argon gas. The case is lowered each night into a crypt beneath the National. Archive. The display is so overpowering that it is possible to feel that the container is more important than the founding document inside. It makes me feel as if I am being told of its importance rather than invited to discover it. Yet history is best discovered by each of us, just as democracy is best preserved as a personal responsibility.

I had another epiphany recently when I visited the North Bridge at Concord, Massachusetts, where the first battle of the American War of Independence took place. Now preserved as part of the Minute Man National Historical Park, the Bridge at Concord is a simple wooden structure spanning a stream about fifty feet wide. At each end of the bridge stand two stone monuments, one erected by the Americans, one by the British, many years after the battle. There is no visitors center nearby, no auditorium with a twenty-minute film, no interactive video recreating the battle, and certainly no titanium cases containing artifacts in argon. Instead, in a clearing next to the bridge, visitors sit in a small semicircle of wooden benches. A park ranger stands and tells how the British army, marching out from Boston to intimidate the colonists, approached the bridge and was met by a volunteer group of Minutemen.

The effect of his story is compelling. We can see the short distance between the two groups of men, who, muskets drawn, faced death that morning. We can imagine how the roar of guns silenced birds’ songs on that spring day. We can see the road where the American farmers approached the bridge, and we can see the road down which the British fled. The ranger quotes a poem written by Ralph Waldo Emerson for the dedication of the American monument on July 4,1837:

On the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

And fired the shot heard round the world.

There at the North Bridge, nothing stands between our history and us except sunlight reflected in the dust. We are enlightened without being pushed, always a welcome experience.

Sometimes the best thing for a designer to do is to not get in the way.

 

About the author:

Frank Harmon, FAIA, is an award-winning architect. He is the founding principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA and a Professor in Practice at the NC State University College of Design. He writes frequently on the subject of architecture and his observations of architectural and historic places during his travels. For more information visit www.frankharmon.com.

 

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