awards and news

“I don't know who this guy is, but he's either a genius or a schizophrenic.” - Jury member Max Protetch of Max Protetch Gallery in New York after Frank Harmon won three 1999 AIA/NC design awards

Frank Harmon-Designed Houses To Be Featured On Two Triangle Homes Tours

Monday, August 16th, 2010

August 16, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – The residential work of Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh will be well represented on two major Triangle-area home tours this fall. In fact, Frank Harmon Architect PA is the only architectural firm with projects on both tours.

Harmon’s Karmous-Edwards house in Raleigh’s Coley Forest neighborhood will be open for public touring during Triangle Modernist Houses’ “TMH Modern 2010” tour in Raleigh on September 25. Completed in 1998, the house features deep overhanging rooflines and natural cedar shingles. It is nestled into the edge of a large corner lot, preserving most of the property for a park-like setting. Porches and a large terrace extend the indoors into the landscaping. The house was featured in Raleigh Metro Magazine in 2006.

Harmon’s award-winning Strickland-Ferris house in the Laurel Hills neighborhood will be featured in the first-ever homes tour sponsored by the Triangle section the American Institute of Architect’s North Carolina chapter (AIA Triangle) a week later on October 2. Completed in 2004, the house perches on a steep, wooded hillside above Crabtree Creek on broad-shouldered wood trusses for minimal site disturbance. The northern elevation features a glass and steel façade from floor to ceiling. A butterfly-shaped roof seems to hover above it.

The Strickland-Ferris house has received both AIA North Carolina and AIA Triangle design awards. In 2009, it won the Grand Award in Custom Home Magazine’s Custom Home Design Awards. It has been featured in Architectural Record, Dwell, Wood Design & Building, and Raleigh Metro magazines, and was included in Triangle Modernist Houses’ 2009 fall homes tour.

Frank Harmon Architect PA was founded by Frank Harmon, FAIA, in 1985. For more information on his firm and other projects, visit www.frankharmon.com.

For more information on the TMH Modern 2010 Tour, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/2010.

For more information on the AIA Triangle homes tour go to www.trianglehomestour.com.

Frank Harmon, FAIA, To Discuss Building with Craft at HandMade Expo in Asheville

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Celebrated architect advocates collaboration between architects and artisans.


June 3, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) –  Architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of the award-winning firm Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, will present a talk entitled “On Building with Craft” at HandMade: The Western North Carolina Craft, Architecture & Design Expo in Asheville on Friday, June 25, from 3-4 p.m.

The Expo, a two-day event that brings the public together with artists, architects, builders and designers to share and learn about collaborations between craft artists, homeowners and industry professionals, will take place June 25 and 26 at the NC Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, Asheville, NC.

Recognized nationally as a leader among architects who advocate regionally appropriate, sustainable modern design, Frank Harmon has incorporated work by local crafts people and artisans in many of his projects, including a series of 10 metal screens fabricated by Raleigh metalsmith Christian Karkow for an award-winning house Harmon designed in Mt. Pleasant, SC.

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National Magazine Spotlights Small North Carolina Project

Friday, May 21st, 2010

May 21, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – “Even small buildings can have an important, and positive, environmental impact,” writes architecture critic Vernon Mays in an article on the Merchants Millpond Visitor Center in Gatesville, NC, for Architect magazine, one of the nation’s leading professional architecture journals.

The Visitors Center, designed by Frank Harmon Architect PA of Raleigh, was completed this spring to serve as a gathering point and educational facility for Merchants Millpond State Park, a Registered Natural Heritage Area that covers 1900 acres and includes the millpond and part of Lassiter Swamp.

Mays describes the new 7500-square-foot center as a “modest, wood-framed structure [that] incorporates a low-tech approach to sustainable design and recalls a historic mill that once occupied the site.”

Recalling the old mill fulfilled a commitment that principal architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, of Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, made to his client, the North Carolina Division of Parks & Recreation.

“I promised the client our building would have the feel of the old mill,” Harmon told Mays. “It wouldn’t look like the old building, but it would have the qualities of a rustic, wooden structure with rafters and deep overhangs.”

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Regional Modernism In The South: Frank Harmon To Address AIA Jacksonville

Monday, May 17th, 2010

May 17, 2010 (JACKSONVILLE, FL) – The importance of  “place” in the process of creating innovative, sustainable and regionally appropriate contemporary design will be the theme for the lecture by architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, during AIA Jacksonville’s Design & Honor Awards Gala on Friday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m., at the Downtown Library, 303 Laura Street.

The Gala and lecture are open to the public. AIA Jacksonville is a chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) representing and serving AIA Florida members in Duval, Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties.

Harmon, founder and principal of the Raleigh, NC-based firm Frank Harmon Architect PA and a Professor in Practice with North Carolina State University’s College of Design, served as the chairman of AIA Jacksonville’s 2010 design awards jury. Harmon’s firm has received more AIA North Carolina design awards than any other firm in the state and was recently ranked 13th among the Top 50 Firms in the nation by Architect magazine. He is recognized nationally as a leader in modern “green” architecture.

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2010 List Released: Raleigh Architecture Firm Ranks 13th Among The Nation’s Top 50

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Frank Harmon Architect PA moves up in Architect Magazine’s annual list of best firms.

May 12, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Frank Harmon Architect PA, a multi-award-winning firm based in Raleigh, NC and recognized nationally as a leader in innovative, modern, and regionally inspired “green” architecture, has placed 13th on Architect magazine’s 2010 list of the top firms in the nation, moving up from the 26th spot the firm held last year.

Frank Harmon Architect PA, founded by principal Frank Harmon, FAIA, in 1985, is the only firm in North Carolina to make the “Architect 50” this year. The Freelon Group in Durham placed 60th and Little in Charlotte placed 71st.

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Frank Harmon, FAIA, To Discuss Sustainable Architecture at UNC-G Symposium

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

March 10, 2010 (GREENSBORO, NC) — Raleigh architect Frank Harmon FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA and Professor in Practice at NC State University’s College of Design, will join three other internationally recognized speakers for UNC-Greensboro’s Environmental Symposium 2010 to be held Friday, March 26, from 1-5 p.m. in the Sullivan Science Auditorium.

The symposium is sponsored by the UNCG Biology Department with financial support from Syngenta. The theme for the 2010 symposium is “Practical Steps Toward Sustainability.”

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Frank Harmon, David Crawford To Headline First “Appetite 4 Architecture” Dinner & Discussion

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

March 2, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Multi-award winning architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA, and David Crawford, executive vice president of the North Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA NC) will be the featured guests for the first “Appetite 4 Architecture” dinner on Tuesday, March 23, at 18 Seaboard restaurant in Raleigh. Proceeds will benefit the future AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design in downtown Raleigh.

Appetite 4 Architecture (A4A) is sponsored by Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) as a way for the general public to dine with prominent members of the Triangle’s design community in an intimate, small group setting. Dinner guests will be able to discuss anything they want with the designers, from their dream home or renovation project, to the designers’ work or a house they’ve admired.

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Leaving The Land Better Than We Find It: Frank Harmon Takes His Message To Idea Exchange

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

February 2, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) — For three decades, Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, has insisted that architecture can and should do more than produce buildings, especially since conservation of energy and natural resources has become imperative. It should also make a didactic contribution, he says, demonstrating the best use of the land by responding to, respecting, and conserving the site; integrating building and landscape; and promoting both passive and technological sustainable design principles.

Harmon, a multi-award winning architect and frequent speaker at seminars and symposia on design, will again make his case for sustainable building and development at the Center for Design Innovation in Winston-Salem, NC, when he participates in the CDI’s Idea Exchange on Tuesday, February 16, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

CDI is a multi-campus research center for the statewide University of North Carolina. According to its website, the Idea Exchange is “a public forum for considering creative processes, digital techniques, business strategies, and other interests related to developing the knowledge economy of North Carolina’s Piedmont region.”

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Frank Harmon To Deliver Special Lecture at NC State University

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

January 28, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Frank Harmon, FAIA, will deliver the annual Harwell Hamilton Harris Lecture on February 15 at 7 p.m. in the Burns Auditorium of Kamphoefner Hall at North Carolina State University’s College of Design in Raleigh.

Sponsored by the College of Design and the Triangle section of the American Institute of Architects/North Carolina, the annual lecture is endowed by the estate of the renowned architect Harwell Hamilton Harris, FAIA (1903-1990) who served on the faculty of NC State’s College of Design from 1962 to 1975.

Frank Harmon is a fellow of the American Institute of Architecture and a Professor in Practice at the College of Design. He is the founder and principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA, a multi-award-winning, LEED AP, green architecture firm established in 1985. He was also a close friend of Harris for many years, and he credits Harris with steering his design sensibilities towards modern, innovative and regionally appropriate design.

In 2005, when Harmon’s firm was named Top Firm of the Year by Residential Architect magazine, he told writer Vernon Mays, “[Harwell Harris] taught me that every client and every situation is different and new. And it is the architect’s job to understand the needs of every situation and every client. He loved to say that the house is a portrait of the client.”

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Future AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design Featured on “Architects + Artisans”

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

January 26, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Under the headline “David vs. Goliath in Downtown Raleigh,” the new design-oriented blog Architects+Artisans: Thoughtful Design for a Sustainable World looks at the future AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design in downtown Raleigh and its location near the state Government Complex.

The post includes a video of the building model as it transforms into a real structure in space via computer-generated imaging.

Writer and editor for the blog, J. Michael Welton, spoke with architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA, the firm that won the project through a professional design competition in 2008. Harmon explained how he approached the “pork chop” shaped site (his description) and the context, which includes the monolithic Archdale building overshadowing Peace Street along which the Center will be built.

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