modern | green | sustainable architecture
“From site, client, and experience, Frank Harmon spins a highly specific, easy-living modernism.” - Vernon Mays, Residential Architect magazine
If you’ve seen the new building along Peace Street in downtown Raleigh, across from William Peace University, you may be wondering why it looks so, well, so different.
It’s the new headquarters of AIA North Carolina , the statewide trade group for architects, and one reason for the design was to assure that such a relatively small building made a statement and didn’t get lost in the shadows of much larger buildings… READ MORE
January 2, 2012
“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us,” Winston Churchill once said, and perhaps no place has the power to shape us like the place where we grow up…
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December 25, 2011
by Richard Stradling
RALEIGH — Anyone who has ever renovated an old building knows your bound to find surprises
Rendering of the completed project.
when you start tearing out sheet rock and taking down drop ceilings.
Fortunately, for the congregation of First Presbyterian Church in downtown Raleigh, most of those surprises have been pleasant ones.
The church is about midway through a project to restore and modernize its 111-year old sanctuary building and add a new building to its campus at the corner of Morgan and Salisbury streets, where the church has faced Union Square since before the Capitol was built…
…The church hired Raleigh architect Frank Harmon to design a new education and office building with a glass front that will give the church a more public face…
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(Photo by Gilbertson Photography)
By Mike Welton
The American Institute of Architects North Carolina Chapter’s (AIA NC) new Center for Architecture and Design opens this month at the intersection of Wilmington and Peace streets in downtown Raleigh. The 12,000-square-foot building, clad in native Carolina cypress harvested from the Great Dismal Swamp, with roof and siding of rose-colored zinc, was designed by Frank Harmon Architect PA.
The $5.4 million project brings new meaning to the concept of teamwork. AIA NC and Harmon worked closely with Clancy & Theys Construction, John Moore with 4SE Structural Engineers, Carl Simmons of CMS Engineering, RMF Engineering, and landscape architect Gregg Bleam to make the headquarters building — one that serves all seven AIA sections across North Carolina — a reality less than a year from groundbreaking. AIA NC’s David Crawford was responsible for hunting down and securing a $3 million bond through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Of the $3.2 million in construction costs, $1.15 million was delivered in pledges through a fundraising campaign — much of it from architects themselves — with another $600,000 coming from in-kind donations from state and national suppliers…
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By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall
10-18-11
I mentioned the Playhouse Parade at Cameron Village in Raleigh in my weekend activity 
round-ups these past couple of weeks.
The fundraiser features a dozen outdoor structures – some for kids and some for adults. It supports Sassafras All Children’s Playground, a project that will replace the aging play equipment at Laurel Hills Park on Edwards Mill Road in north Raleigh with a new one designed for children of all abilities. Leaders of the ambitious project need to raise about another $1.5 million to reach a $2 million goal.
I finally got over there with my own family on Sunday. The buildings are amazing. There are six for kids, including a pirate ship, castle and fire station. Another six are geared toward adults and include a potting shed, tiki hut and a Gothic church chicken coop. The structures come furnished and some even have electric and water hook-ups.
My favorite (though I’d be happy with the tiki hut too) was the contemporary play house designed by award-winning architect Frank Harmon. I loved the clear roof, colors and chalkboard walls… READ MORE
The Arboretum needed an open-air lath structure to replace the existing dilapidated shade house adjacent to a Japanese garden. Conceived of as an open-air laboratory for experimental horticultural techniques and methods, and designed as an abstract of a tree spreading its branches to protect the plants, the new pro bono structure will fulfill the specific light-to-shade ratio needed for the plants in the spring, using a screen of wooden two-by-twos…
…CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
Greenroofs.com Project of the Week: 8/22/11 
Duke University
Ocean Conservation Center (OCC)
Beaufort, NC, USA
2,400 sf. Greenroof
Located at the Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, North Carolina, the 5,600 sf Marguerite Kent Repass Ocean Conservation Center (OCC) is a stellar example of merging the built structure with the site. Built in 2006, it uses geothermal pumps for heating and cooling, solar panels for hot water, and photovoltaic rooftop panels to convert sunlight into electricity. Local building materials, such as yellow southern pine and Atlantic white cedar and recycled wood, are used throughout the structure. Designed by the office of Frank Harmon Architect PA, the OCC was awarded Gold LEED certification.
Installed by Living Roofs, Inc. in 2010 over the low-slope portion of the previous Energy Star® roof, the 2,400 sf greenroof utilizes a pre-vegetated extensive system with specialized components to secure it from high coastal wind exposure…
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photo from Sky Gardens.com
The Marguerite Kent Repass Ocean Conservation Center (OCC) is located in Beaufort, North Carolina, at the Duke University Marine Laboratory. The building was designed by the office of Frank Harmon Architect PA and is a stellar example of merging the built structure with the site. Read more…
By Meghan Druding
Unpainted Aristocracy, selected by Frank Harmon FAIA
When researching the RA 50 for our November/December 2010 issue, we asked the RA 50 architects to name their favorite buildings. We’ve gathered images of some of their answers here.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW, which includes Frank Harmon’s selection (right).
At the American Institute of Architects annual conference Architectural Record spoke with a diverse group of designers—including James Timberlake, Brad Cloepfil, Lawrence Scarpa, and many other important architects [including Frank Harmon, FAIA].
North Carolina architect Frank Harmon discusses his work with Architectural Record senior editor and GreenSource managing editor Jane Kolleeny at the American Institute of Architects conference in New Orleans.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO