Greetings from in situ studio!
Fall is here, the windows are open, and the work continues.
As of 10 01 10, we are one year old! We have enjoyed an amazing first year thanks to great clients and numerous supporters. Please come meet many of them at our one-year birthday celebration. An invitation follows below.
We are also excited to have new work starting and several new community initiatives underway.
As always, thank you for your continuing support!
One Year Celebration
We are throwing a big party next week to celebrate our clients, the great work they have enabled us to do, and everyone who has supported our efforts to start a new practice in the midst of a struggling economy. What a year! Please join us on Thursday 10 13 11 from 6:00 to 8:00 in the evening.
Food, drink, and music are all on us. We will have Klausie’s food truck in our lot, other goodies to nibble on, beer from Natty Greene’s, wine from the Wine Feed, work by CityFabric and David Rozek in the space, the folks from Axiom Green Build, a new finished model for the Goodman Residence, and the unveiling of the ExplorisBus Bench! Bring your friends, bring your family – we are excited to see you. RSVP here.
An Update on the Work
In celebration of our first year, we have revamped the website. Take a look.
We also have new projects to announce.
We also have new projects to announce.
Possibly the biggest recent news in the Triangle design community is Vernacular Studio joining Gensler, an international design firm with expertise in almost every imaginable project type. We are very happy for firm principals, Chad Parker and Brett Hautop, as they enter into this new relationship. As part of their transition, we are helping them wrap up projects that are already underway and will not be carried over to their new Gensler identity. Our collaboration to date has been wonderful, as we have realized numerous shared values and design priorities in the way we pursue our work. Thanks to Chad and Brett for this opportunity. We wish them the best in their new venture!
The Morgan Residence in Charlottesville will be a renovation and addition to a 1913, two-story, brick four-square. We are looking forward to working with Chad and Rebecca to tailor this majestic, historic property to their lifestyle, inside and out. The landscape surrounding the home, in particular, is beautiful, and our initial visioning has focused on connecting the interior to an existing, south-facing side porch, a new patio area, and an upper floor sleeping porch and balcony. The interface between the historic house and their contemporary lifestyle is sure to yield a rich design solution.
The Morgan Residence in Charlottesville will be a renovation and addition to a 1913, two-story, brick four-square. We are looking forward to working with Chad and Rebecca to tailor this majestic, historic property to their lifestyle, inside and out. The landscape surrounding the home, in particular, is beautiful, and our initial visioning has focused on connecting the interior to an existing, south-facing side porch, a new patio area, and an upper floor sleeping porch and balcony. The interface between the historic house and their contemporary lifestyle is sure to yield a rich design solution.
We have also been invited to work with the City of Raleigh to design a cistern and irrigation strategy for theWalnut Creek Wetland Center in southeast Raleigh. Erin was project architect for the center while at Frank’s office, and we are honored to help complete the original vision for the project.
Goodman Residence Update
The concrete panels for the Goodman Residence are in place! Anchorage Building Corporation has done an amazing job of placing thirty-six insulated precast concrete panels made by Ideal Precast. One panel weighed twenty-thousand pounds, and the set required a crane the same size of that recently used to erect the steel superstructure for new Chick-Fil-A in Cameron Village! The panel set only required three days, meaning the house foundation, bearing structure, walls, exterior finish, and water proofing are complete. What a system!
To learn more about concrete panel houses, please contact us here.
To learn more about concrete panel houses, please contact us here.
Book of the Month
Retrofitting Suburbia is Ellen Dunham-Jones‘ most recent book, written in collaboration with June Williamson. The book focuses on the structural inefficiencies of American suburban planning and recent improvement trends of altering suburban systems to become more sustainable and efficient. Designers have had a lot to do with this, and we firmly believe that architects must play an important role in addressing the design challenges presented by our sprawling modern growth patterns. Developments like North Hills are encouraging signs for the future of smart development throughout our city, and we encourage any dialogue that aims to solve the transportation, resource, and lifestyle challenges we will all face in the coming decades.
Please share your thoughts on this topic with us here.
Detail of the Month
In a situation where there is no eave overhang, as with the Chasen Residence, the gutter detail becomes a critical design problem. At the Chasen Residence, we have designed a large custom box gutter that will easily accommodate rainwater from the roof and direct it to downspouts and cisterns below. Thermal expansion of a gutter of this length is an important consideration, and the strap attachments allow free movement of the gutter along its length. In this particular application, the gutter also provides a substantial “cornice” at the top of the exterior wall that provides a visual transition from wall to roof.Working in Our Community
We recently completed building the Exploris Middle School bus bench in collaboration with Christian Karkow ofClearscapes, Sara Glee Queen, and Sophia Ann Williams of The Crafts Center. Following the design of the winning group of students from last semester’s design competition, the bench has turned out wonderfully, and we even have a site! Come see it unveiled at next week’s one-year celebration.
Exciting news for Raleigh City Farm: they received unanimous approval from City Council to move forward with their plans for the site at the north end of Blount and Person Streets. Congratulations to Erin, Laura, Laurel, and Josh! We are excited to begin working with them in the near future to design a thoughtful campus of market structures, storage sheds, and a perimeter fence.
Matt’s students at the School of Architecture are doing amazing work (pictured)! This semester’s studio focuses on building systems, structures, and technology, so the learning curve for these third-semester graduate students is steep. The current project asks students to design a new Wright Brothers Memorial Museum at Kitty Hawk. Mid-term reviews are next week, and the work is looking great! Thanks to the students for their energy and passion for learning.
Finally, we recently learned that we have been selected to take part in the joint Triangle AIA and NCSU School of Architecture lecture series this fall at the College of Design. The 11 14 11 lecture will be a presentation and panel discussion involving four local firms, with in situ studio representing the category of “pint-sized” firm. Other architects on the panel include Phil Freelon AIA of The Freelon Group, Ellen Cassilly AIA of Ellen Cassilly Architect, and Brett Hautop AIA of Vernacular Studio, now Gensler. Other lecturers this Fall are William Carpenter FAIA of Lightroom, Juhani Pallasmaa Hon FAIA of Juhani Pallasmaa Architects, David Jameson FAIA of David Jameson Architect, and Merrill Elam AIA of Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam Architects. Thanks to the School of Architecture for this opportunity!
We are excited to be starting our second year at a full sprint! Please let us know, if we can help you in any way. Hope to see you at the party next week!
Best.
in situ studio