Frank Harmon » green architecture

Architect Magazine: Merchants Millpond Visitors Center

kweiss — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:55:43 +0000

April 17, 2010

by Vernon Mays

Natural beauty is what draws people to Merchants Millpond State Park in Gatesville, N.C. Its 760-acre lake and adjacent swamp are home to towering bald cypress and tupelo gum trees, primitive species of fish, and a countless variety of birds. Helping visitors understand the park’s unique ecosystem is a challenge, fostered by a new 7,500-square-foot visitor center, which demonstrates that even small buildings can have an important, and positive, environmental impact.

Designed by Frank Harmon Architect, of Raleigh, N.C., the modest, wood-framed structure incorporates a low-tech approach to sustainable design and recalls a historic mill that once occupied the site.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

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

kweiss — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:51:25 +0000

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.”

As a designer and educator, Frank Harmon has been a leader in “green,” or sustainable, architecture for decades – long before the concept entered the general lexicon. He has spent years educating the public through speaking engagements at conferences and conventions across the country, including Dwell Magazine’s annual “Dwell on Design” convention and several national conventions of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

He has also spent years educating his clients on the imperative for sustainable, regionally appropriate design and recently completed three thoroughly “green” projects: the NC Botanical Garden’s Visitor Education Center at UNC-Chapel Hill (slated to become the state’s first LEED Platinum building), the Walnut Creek Urban Wetlands Park Education Center in Raleigh, and the Merchants Millpond State Park Visitors Center in Gatesville, NC.

Among the current “green” projects Harmon’s firm is working on are the Oyster Research Hatchery at UNC-Wilmington, the UNC-Asheville Craft Campus, and AIA North Carolina’s Center for Architecture & Design in downtown Raleigh.

The other three speakers at the symposium are: Dr. Robert Jackson, director of Duke University’s Center on Global Change who will discuss the problems of nitrogen pollution; Dr. Patricia Gober, co-director of the National Science Foundation’s Decision Center for a Desert City, who will discuss water resource sustainability; and Dr. Susan Smalley, director of the Michigan State University C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems, who will discuss community-based food systems.

UNCG’s Environmental Symposium 2010 is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.uncg.edu/bio/index.

For more information on Frank Harmon, go to www.frankharmon.com.

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

kweiss — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:56:52 +0000

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.”

Frank Harmon is well known nationally for his firm’s modern, innovative, “green” and regionally appropriate architecture. From September to November 2009, he saw the completion of three high-performance, or “green,” projects in North Carolina, including the NC Botanical Gardens Visitor Education Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill that is slated to be the state’s first LEED Platinum building – the highest level of certification given by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system.

“It seems natural to me to design green buildings,” he said, “to catch the sun, accept the breeze and grown naturally out of the earth.”

In lectures and seminars, and as a Professor in Practice at NC State University’s College of Design, Harmon frequently asserts the necessity for modern buildings to be regionally appropriate – to address the specific context, materials, textures, colors and forms of a special region, using both traditional and non-traditional methods.

“The most sustainable – and liberating – thing we can do is acknowledge the places we are in,” he told Dwell magazine in January of 2008 when he was featured in the magazine’s “Conversations” section.

The CDI’s Idea Exchange is held in the Winston Tower, Suite 2105 (21^st floor) at 301 North Main Street in downtown Winston-Salem.

Currently CDI’s constituent schools are the UNC School of the Arts and Winston-Salem State University, collaborating with Forsyth Technical Community College. Sessions are recorded and web-streamed for remote access. For more information, go to www.centerfordesigninnovation.org.

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

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

kweiss — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:31:10 +0000

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.

“Ours is a horizontal statement,” Harmon told Welton. “The real face of the building is to the south, looking toward the State Capitol.” He also notes: “It’s on less than an acre, and we placed it parallel to Peace Street. It’s a long, thin building with a porch on the south side. You’ll find that all over the South – at Mount Vernon, for example – so we knew that was a good pattern to follow.”

The new building, a thoroughly “green” structure that will embrace all the high-tech as well as low-tech principles of sustainable design, will serve as headquarters for the North Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects. According to the AIA NC website, it is also intended to serve as “an architectural example for the entire state.”

To read the entire post and to see the video of the future building, go to architectsandartisans.com and click on “David vs. Goliath in Downtown Raleigh.”

For more information on Frank Harmon and to view more images of the AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design, visit www.frankharmon.com and click on “current” projects.

About Architects+Artisans:

Architects + Artisans is a sophisticated, well-informed provider of content, images, and knowledge concerning excellent architecture, artisanship and sustainability for the 21st century. It is not just about designers – but about the people and products that make a well-designed place ring true. It is written and edited by J. Michael Welton, whose work on architecture, design and travel has appeared in The New York Times, Interior Design, Dwell, Green Source and Travel + Leisure. Visit http://architectsandartisans.com.

Sustainable Architecture on the North Carolina Coast: The Ocean Sciences Teaching Center

kweiss — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:21:02 +0000

This is a Masters project — focused on the renamed OCEAN CONSERVATION CENTER — submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Environmental Management degree in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences of Duke University.

By Gwen Maura McLaughlin

Dr. Michael K. Orback, Advisor

View the entire project here: Sustainable_Architecture_on_the_North_Carolina_Coast_The_Ocean_…

WTVD’s Angela Hampton: Walnut Creek Urban Wetlands Education Center

kweiss — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:52:27 +0000

Monday, November 16, 2009: ANOTHER GREEN PARK PLACE

by Angela Hampton

I’ve had some great feedback on my last blog about Garner’s environmentally friendly “White Deer Park”. I was also reminded of another “green place” in Wake County. It’s the Walnut Creek Urban Wetland Educational Park, just south of downtown Raleigh.

The newest addition is the Environmental Education Center. It’s 7,000 square feet and includes classrooms, a library, a bookshop, a conference room, a laboratory and more. Like the structures at White Deer Park, the Walnut Creek Education Center is made with recycled materials and has a bio-retention system to filter storm water runoff before it returns to Walnut Creek. Raleigh architect, Frank Harmon, FAIA, of Frank Harmon Architect PA, says he designed the center to embrace the park’s mission, which is to conserve a natural wetland. So, the center is poised six feet above the wetlands flood plain, to protect it as much as possible. Plenty of windows provide natural light and ventilation. There’s also a huge back porch that bridges the gap between indoors and out.

The entire park is about 50 acres and will no doubt provide a beautiful respite and learning experience for people in Raleigh, while preserving the wetlands and a home for wildlife. I think we’re lucky to have these green spaces. Enjoy!

North Carolina’s First “Green” Oyster Hatcher Starts Construction at UNC-Wilmington

kweiss — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:38:03 +0000

September 9, 2009 (WILMINGTON, NC) – Construction on the “green” Oyster Hatchery Research facility at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, NC, has begun this week, heralding improvement of the state’s oyster population and, in turn, cleaner coastal waters. And both will emanate from in an environmentally sustainable building.

The onset of construction is the result of an effort that began in 2006 when the North Carolina Aquarium Division asked Raleigh-based architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, a nationally recognized leader in sustainable, or “green,” design, to work with the state’s new Oyster Hatchery Program to determine the feasibility for three eco-friendly oyster hatchery facilities along the North Carolina coast.

According to the study, the oyster population in North Carolina has declined an estimated 90 percent in the early 1900s. Habitat loss, decline of water quality, diseases and over harvesting have all contributed to this dramatic decline. This not only affects a major segment of the state’s fishing industry, but it also impacts water quality since one adult oyster can filter sediment and pollutants out of 15-50 gallons of water per day. When the oyster population was at its peak, for example, entire estuaries like the Pamlico Sound could be filtered and cleaned in a matter of days.

The state’s three future oyster hatchery facilities would produce billions of eyed larvae to help reestablish the state’s oyster population. They would also educate the public on the oyster’s value to the quality of coastal waters.

The 12,000-square-foot Oyster Hatchery Research facility being built on the Center for Marine Sciences campus at UNC-Wilmington is the first phase of implementing the study, and is now part of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.

In accord with the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ policy requiring sustainable and green building practices wherever feasible for state-owned buildings, the Oyster Hatchery Research facility will preserve trees and topography and retain 100 percent of stormwater on site to be used to in cleaning the interior. Harmon also designed the robust building to allow fresh air ventilation during good weather to eliminate the need for HVAC during spring and fall. Primary construction materials are steel and brick, the latter required on the predominately brick UNC-W campus. Recycled materials are used wherever possible.

Construction should be completed by May of 2010.

For more information on the North Carolina Oyster Hatchery Program, go to www.ncoysters.com. For more information on Frank Harmon and this specific project, visit www.frankharmon.com.

Ocean Conservation Center Featured On Treehugger.com’s “10 Best Environmental Programs” List

kweiss — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:18:34 +0000

August 20, 2009 (BEAUFORT, NC) – The Ocean Conservation Center in Beaufort, NC, designed by Raleigh, NC-based Frank Harmon Architect PA, is one of the reasons Treehugger.com has placed Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Ear Sciences on its list of “10 of the Best College Environmental Program in the U.S.”

Treehugger.com is an international media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability issues into mainstream discourse. Contributor Blythe Copeland offers the following about Duke’s program:

“Students at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences choose from undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral degrees in concentrations that include environmental studies and policy, earth and ocean sciences, and environmental law. The University also maintains a hands-on Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, NC, where courses on biology, science and nature writing, and marine policy take place in the Gold LEED-certified conservation center. Doctoral candidates have three research areas to pick from: marine science and conservation, which includes marine ecology and coastal geology; earth and ocean sciences, comprising climate change and solid earth processes; and environmental studies and policy, which focuses on ecosystem science and aquatic and atmospheric sciences.”

Located on Piver’s Island at the head of the Beaufort Inlet, the Ocean Conservation Center provides state-of-the-art teaching facilities for Duke’s Marine Lab, while identifying and demonstrating innovative, environmentally sound design and construction technology. Completed in 2006 as Duke’s only Gold LEED-certified building, the Center features photovoltaic cells, geothermal heating and cooling, and recycled and local materials wherever possible. The building was featured as a case study in Environmental Design + Construction magazine in June of this year.

Treehugger’s complete list of Best College Environmental Programs in the U.S. can be seen at www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/10-of-the-best-college-environmental-programs-in-the-us.php. For more information on Duke’s program, go to www.nicholas.duke.edu/marinelab/facilities/repass.

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

Towards A Green Architecture, by Frank Harmon

kweiss — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:13:26 +0000

TOWARDS A GREEN

ARCHITECTURE

Frank Harmon

Since the Industrial Revolution in the

1800’s, architects have firmly believed

in the power of technology to solve

environmental problems. Architects

solve problems of lighting, heating,

cooling and ventilation of buildings

mechanically. We no longer deal with

heat and humidity by opening the

windows. Just the reverse: we close

them up tight and crank up the AC. As

post-Industrial Revolution architects,

we have “transformed nature” by

creating artificial environments, what

the critic Reyner Banham called the

“architecture of the well-tempered

environment.”

Ironically, buildings built prior to the

Industrial Revolution were very much

in balance with nature and solved

problems in a very natural way: buildings

were smaller and, consequently,

used less energy; windows opened;

construction materials were indigenous

to the area in which they were used.

Today, instead of solving environmental

problems, architecture creates them.

Our buildings use over fifty percent of

all energy created in the United States,

consume one third of all the trees that

are cut, and siphon twenty-five percent

of the nation’s fresh water. As a result,

today’s architects are searching for

more high-tech ways to use less energy.

Yet to make our 21st Century buildings

more environmentally responsible,

we should not only look towards

technology, but we should start looking

backwards to lessons we can learn

from pre-industrial construction.

Speaking of pre-industrial… on an

August night several years ago, my

wife and I drove to Taxco, a silver

mining town on the central plateau of

Mexico. We got lost on poorly marked

mountain roads, swerved to miss a

truck while driving in a thunderstorm,

and arrived at our hotel at 2 AM,

shaken and exhausted. The night

watchman showed us to our room,

where we collapsed, barely noticing

our surroundings.

At dawn, however, we awoke to

discover sunlight saturating the

whitewashed adobe walls of our room

and illuminating a roof made of gnarled

tree trunks. Outside our room, a

terrace overlooked the town of Taxco.

And from that vantage point, we could

see thousands of adobe houses which

seemed to grow from the hillside,

melting into the rocky hills outside the

town.

Fastened to the terrace wall were

several green glass bottles of the

sort we throw away every day in the

United States. Someone was growing

vines in the bottles, obviously caring

for the plants each morning. We felt at

home in this place, in contrast to the

frightening night on the road leading to

it. In Taxco we were surrounded by the

—

“picturesque” and “ravishing.” And I

believe that what underlies its beauty

are three quite elemental principles, or

qualities: deference to the land, respect

for simple, indigenous materials, and

careful use of energy. The people who

built Taxco understood these principles.

Those who live there today still do. And

these three principles—indigenous

materials, energy conservation and

responsible land use—are universal

concerns for architecture today.

Sticks and Stones

Why do most of the ancient buildings

we admire so much seem so naturally

rooted to their places? Because prior

to the Industrial Revolution, buildings

were made of materials that were

Yet in 2004, we build quite differently.

The architect Glenn Murcutt creates

houses sublimely connected to the

land of Australia, yet he then uses

sunscreens built in Norway and

fireplaces imported from South Africa.

When I built my own house in North

Carolina several years ago, I was

surprised to see a truck arrive at the

construction site piled high with steel

roof beams manufactured in Texas.

How strange that a roof for my house,

so carefully designed for the climate of

Raleigh, came from 1500 miles away,

nearly in Mexico.

It was at that point, I believe, that I

began to think locally. For an outdoor

classroom on the Scuppernong River in

Tyrrell County I specified Atlantic white

cedar has been used for generations

in eastern North Carolina to make

shingled houses and shrimp boats

because of its strength and resistance

to rot. The classroom’s contractor,

however, wanted to use western red

cedar from British Columbia, 4000

miles away. It was cheaper, he argued.

But, I countered, using a local material

would reduce the pollution caused

by transporting the red cedar and

encourage the growth of sustainable

forests nearby. If the forests are nearby,

we’ll be encouraged to take good care

of them. Besides, who wouldn’t want

to create a building in eastern North

Carolina that is as familiar and friendly

as a shrimp boat?

Taxco is built of mud, sticks, and the

fronds of palm trees. Its buildings show

the marks of their making like a clay pot

shows the fingers of the potter who

formed the bowl. Since the Industrial

Revolution, we have become detached

from our environment and alienated

structures because

believe that, just as

clay pitcher when

shared physical world

our

to those

principles so evident

resources

turn to technology

energy, we will find

Photovoltaic cells

for example, can

warmth of the sun

below a factory

use the constant

to heat and cool

the workspace. My office is currently

designing an Ocean Science Teaching

Center to be located in Beaufort, North

Carolina, where for two centuries

traditional buildings have collected

the ocean breeze for by facing into

the wind. Our building faces into the

wind also, and with geothermal wells,

a photo voltaic rooftop, and a wind

turbine it will generate all the energy

the center needs for lighting, cooling,

and laboratory equipment. The teaching

center will use fifty percent less energy

than a normal building because its

windows open to porches that shade

the walls and catch the southwest

summer breeze.

Of course, buildings that conserve

energy cost more to build. The Ocean

Science Teaching Center will cost

about fifteen percent more than a

conventional building. But compare

that to what it costs for our military to

make oil safe for SUVs. The science

center will pay for its extra cost is less

than five years. How long will it take to

replace the trees that are being killed

on our Blue Ridge Mountains from

pollution from coal-fired power plants?

For many people, energy conservative

design is synonymous with thick

walls and small windows. “Efficient”

buildings mean boring buildings. Yet

nothing could be farther from the truth.

Sustainable design doesn’t mean

bland design. Look at the old houses of

Charleston, South Carolina, to see what

I mean. Charleston’s original planter

families wanted their brick mansions to

recall English country houses. Before

long, however, they noticed that their

slaves were more comfortable in the

hot, humid summer than they were.

Modeled on African houses, the

slaves’ cabins had porches and were

one room deep, allowing the evening

breeze to flow through the structure.

Unlike the brick mansions, those wood

cabins didn’t hold the heat at night.

Thus the Charleston “single” house

evolved: one room deep with porches

opening to walled gardens. And they

are as desirable and comfortable today

as they were then.

In Taxco, thick adobe walls temper the

hot summer sun and release it into the

rooms at night when the air is cool. As

we learn to use energy more wisely, the

air around us will be fresher and cleaner,

and we’ll want to open the windows.

—

In Taxco, the building sites were made

by man and donkeys. Each rock ledge

and declivity inspired creative building

because the earth could not be moved.

As individual as the houses are, the

town’s landscape enjoys a unity akin to

a vine growing over rocks.

In the South, rural fields contain houses

and barns built of flimsy materials, yet

they seem as at home in their place as

cows standing in a meadow. Farmers,

not architects,

designed and

constructed

these houses

and barns, yet

today we cannot

build as well as

those farmers,

who were forced

to respect the

land and the

natural landscape

without benefit of

bulldozers.

I believe that we,

as architects,

are ethically

challenged to design and build in such

a way that enhances the land—that

makes it better than the way we found

it. And I’m not arguing for a retreat

from technology, but, rather, for a more

profound use of it. So how can we, in

the age of the Internet, air conditioning,

and photovoltaics, create the sense

of wonder found in a thatched hut in

Mexico? Good architecture lives in

complicity with our senses. Ultimately,

architecture is measured by simple

things, like sunlight sparkling in a coffee

cup. For architects, the act of building

should be an act of caring. By building

sustainably, in the words of the late

Sam Mockbee, “What we build are

shelters for the soul as well as houses

for our bodies.”

CLICK ON THIS LINK – green_arch – TO READ THE ARTICLE

National Journal Features Case Study of Duke’s Ocean Conservation Center

kweiss — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:36:14 +0000

July 2, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Duke University’s only LEED Gold-certified building – the Ocean Conservation Center in Beafort, NC – is featured in a case study in this month’s Environmental Design + Conservation, a professional journal and premier source for integrated high-performance building dedicated to efficient and sustainable design and construction.

Designed by award-winning architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, of Raleigh, North Carolina, the 5600-square-foot, state-of-the-art teaching facility is the Marguerite Kent Repass Ocean Conservation Center at the Duke University Marine Laboratory. It includes a teaching laboratory, a 48-seat lecture hall with advanced teleconferencing and videoconferencing capabilities to connect to classrooms and research labs around the globe, interpretive educational displays, and spaces for social interactions overlooking Beaufort Channel.

The case study, entitled “ Beacon for Sustainability,” discusses how the building’s form directly responds to its location and allows it to maximize natural ventilation and lighting. The study also delineates the building’s other green features, including photovoltaic rooftop panels for converting sunlight into electricity, a solar hot water system and high-efficiency ground-coupled heat pumps, and the use of recycled and local materials wherever possible.

Since 1997, Environmental + Design Construction has supported progressive architects, designers, specifying engineers and building developers who enhance the sustainability of new and existing buildings. For more information, visit www.edcmag.com. To read the entire online version of the OCC study, click on “Article Rotation.”

In March of this year, the OCC received a Wood Design Award: Green Building Category from WoodWorks-Southeast, a division of the Wood Products Council of North America for non-residential construction.

Frank Harmon, FAIA, is the founder and principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, NC, and a recognized national leader in modern, innovative and regionally appropriate sustainable architecture. For more information, visit www.frankharmon.com.