September 22, 2005 (LOS ANGELES, CA) – Raleigh architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA and an associate professor of architecture at the North Carolina State University College of Design, has been selected to present a seminar during the 2006 National American Institute of Architect Convention to be held in Los Angeles, CA, in June.
Harmon’s seminar, entitled “Architects Discuss America’s New Regionalism,” will identify principles of innovative regional architecture. The purpose of the seminar is to help architects across the nation learn how to: (1) discover the many influences a building derives from its region, from overall design to construction details; (2) identify methods for combining traditional building components and techniques to create new, sustainable buildings; (3) analyze systems for designing comfortable buildings that minimize damage to the environment and maximize the enjoyment of light, air, color, texture, and patterns; (4) comprehend public perception of regionally appropriate design; and (5) evaluate techniques for achieving design excellence on limited budgets.
Internationally acclaimed architects and educators Rick Joy, Tom Kundig and Lawrence Scarpa will join Harmon for the seminar and, along with Harmon, use their own work to demonstrate “America’s New Regionalism.”
Frank Harmon was educated at N.C. State University and the Architectural Association in London. His registration includes the N.C. Board of Architecture), the National Council or Architectural Registration Boards, the State of New York, and Architects Registration Council of the United Kingdom . His profession experience includes working with the firm McMinn, Norfleet & Wicker of Greensboro, NC (1968-70) and Richard Meier & Associates, New York (1970-73). He was a principal in the firm Harmon & Simeloff RIBA in London from 1974-79, before founding his current firm in Raleigh, NC. He has served as a Visiting Critic at Columbia University, the University of Toronto, the University of Virginia, UNC-Charlotte, the University of Liverpool, and Cambridge University. Besides N.C. State, he has also taught at the Architectural Association and Auburn University.
Harmon’s work, which ranges from small sheds to 70,000-square-foot corporate headquarters, has won more AIA/NC awards than any other firm in the state and has been published in many national and regional periodicals and books. Recently, his firm was been named Top Firm Of The Year by Residential Architect magazine. In 2004 he received a Sustainable Business Award for his design for the N.C. Botanical Garden Visitors Center in Chapel Hill, and a Business Week/Architectural Record International Honor Award for his design of the Blacksmith Studio at the Penland School of Arts & Crafts, Penland, NC. In 1995, Harmon received N.C. State’s Kamphoefner Prize For Distinguished Design Over A Ten-Year Period. In 1988, Time magazine selected his Utility Storage Building for a garden center in Raleigh as one of the “Ten Best Designs” of the year.
Harmon is a veteran awards judge and speaker at regional and national design conferences, and an accomplished writer. His writing on architectural issues has been published in numerous periodicals including the September 2004 edition of the international Docomomo Journal. For more information, go to www.frankharmon.com.
