Bower House Overall Comp

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Sale Price: $1,610,000 Size: 3516 sqftAmenities: 4 Beds + 3.5 Baths + View Great to see that this house recently sold up at Ciel this year. Below is from a past article I had written on it in 2011.The Bower House The Bower House is in punch list phase of completion and I was fortunate enough to get a little tour yesterday from the listing agent. The 3516 sq/ft. home encompasses 4 bedrooms and 3.5 Baths and is currently listed at $1,595,000. Overall, the two things I like the most about this speculative designer home is the scale and the way it sits on the lot. Hunter Paul Coffey of Blowing Rock designed the contemporary home and is savvy to dramatic mountain settings. The house comfortably takes advantage of both the slope and the dramatic view, offering some indoor/outdoor living options including a retractable wall that slides open to allow for an additional outdoor living room with fireplace.Interior Designer, Talli Roberts, chose interior materials that warmly blended the mountain and modern aesthetic. Constructed by Cottonwood, it is a very solid, livable mountain home that blends with its mountain environment without overstating itself and wisely bucks the trend of massive living spaces. I think its a high quality home for this moment that will only get better with age and patina.

Samsel Architects win Gold Award with Celo House EcoHouse Magazine singled out five homes nationally including one right here in Asheville. The contest judges especially liked the pairing of energy technology with the use of natural materials inside and outside a 1,538-square-foot home in Celo, N.C.The house won praise for tree preservation; rainwater storage for irrigation; pervious walkways, patio and driveway to control water runoff; and the use of drought-resistant plants. The home also features sustainability-certified wood shingles and locally harvested stone.The home's walls are filled with spray-foam insulation and the windows and doors use low-e (low thermal emissivity), argon-filled glass.It was designed by Samsel Architects, Asheville, N.C.; it was built by Sunspace Homes, Burnsville, N.C.Article portion courtesy of Inman News' Mary Umberger; Photo courtesy of David Dietrich Photography

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A budget-conscious, urban home in Asheville designed by architect Daryl Rantis will be featured in the October/November issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine.The home in the Chicken Hill neighborhood west of downtown was designed with a strict budget to meet the needs of downsized, contemporary lifestyles. The article about the home, “Small & Tall,” shows that despite a tiny lot and a tight budget, the little house can rise to the occasion. The urban feel of the vertical home was specifically designed to appeal to a modern sensibility and fit on a small lot, according to Rantis, the Director of Design at Green Hammer in Portland, Ore., a design/build construction company. Rantis took the position in July after practicing seven years in Asheville. He is still connected to Western North Carolina through an association with Alembic Studio.The style of the house is a fusion of modern and Craftsman, reflecting the contemporary lifestyles of city dwellers while paying respect to the architecture and cultural heritage of Asheville with its rich tradition of highly detailed architecture. Details of the home are more typical of Craftsman-style houses, which are traditionally known for their intricate finishes.The Fine Homebuilding article focuses on the home’s small footprint. The three-story design uses less foundation (concrete) and less roofing (metal), two materials used for their longevity but which are also carbon intensive. The small footprint of the building still allows a reasonable amount of square footage, about 1,500. The interior is appointed with minimalist trim details and modern cabinetry that breaks from the traditional Craftsman. Wood beams and floors in the living areas give it a clean, yet warm interior. Interiors were styled by Asheville artist Denise Legendre of Denuci Design. The skin of the building, made from cement fiber panels, reduces the amount of wood and maintenance. It is contrasted with the use of locally harvested cypress for its warmth and beauty.The neighborhood’s proximity to downtown, the River Arts District and public transportation allows private, detached home ownership in an urban area. A family could live in the home with less dependence on a car. Built and developed by Bill MacCurdy of Sun Construction in 2009, it is designed to be part of a six-building cluster.Photos by J. Weiland Photography

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I recently toured 10 Crowningway in one of my favorite Asheville neighborhoods, Sunset Summit, just off Town Mountain Rd. The current owners, Bradley and Peggy Holmes, purchased the 1964 built, Bert King home in 2006. Having lived in it for a few years they were slowly exploring renovating the home when a pipe burst causing extensive damage and forcing them to seek repairs. This presented the opportunity to expand and bring the house into the future at the same time.As I pulled into the drive of the home I did not recognize it from the photos as I had found from its 2006 MLS listing. It was similar, but not the same house. I pulled out again to check the address. This was it. The confusion stemmed from the house looking so originally 60’s that I thought I was at the wrong house in the same neighborhood of mid-century homes. The house had seamlessly been altered within its original aesthetic. The owners had been careful to match the original wood siding and other appropriate details.  Cool! Mid-Century MakeOvers - Allow me to pause and make a point here. You will often see around the country and in Asheville mid-century and ranch homes that get a traditional makeover by their owners and become a mix of conflicting styles. In Asheville you will witness many being “dragged out” in craftsman style garb such as windows, doors and siding. The end result is conflicting and uncomfortable and often times challenging to sell. I find that maintaining the homes true nature is the best way to go long term. Let's look at people as an analogy. We have all watched those make over shows where they find people who are 40-something trying to wear clothes of a 20 year old, a man trying to hide his balding head with a come-over or a woman trying to shove her breasts into a shirt that is way too small. Without fail the fashion expert will make them over wearing clothes that fit their true proportions and nature, age appropriate and working with their natural bones. In the end they look more fashionable, approachable and walk with more integrity by doing less. The same is true of a house. You don’t have to be a designer to know that it just feels right. Keep it simple and work with what you have. In continuing with my tour I found that the entry space was the most visible, but subtle departure from the original styling. The contemporary slat wall was crafted by a local artist, Craig Wies, using slats of rich Walnut. The choice was a personal statement and reflection of Brad’s upbringing in Pennsylvania and memories of building family homes using walnut off the land. To avoid isolating this feature they tied the wood into the entry flooring and the cap to the kitchen cabinetry.Originally, the home had no internal stairs to the basement. In removing the flooded and damaged laundry from this area and expanding it in the front they created an expansive entry and circulation area. As I toured the bedroom wings there was mention of the house having been expanded in one area to allow for a closet and other closets and doors being rearranged. If they hadn’t told me I would have thought it was all original. Again, it was seamless in its updating. This played out further in the den. Despite closing off an entry to the living space and rearranging a closet they were able to salvage all the paneling and place it back. The warm wood maintained the integrity of what was appropriate to the period and lifestyle keeping the contemporary and cozy feeling of the room while adding a needed third bedroom to the home.Overall, the house was clean, open and comfortable like most of the Bert King homes I have been in. I can’t say much more than they just feel right. Peggy states, “Some architects bring the outside in, but she feels that Bert King's designs really bring the inside out.”  They definitely balance function and flow and make for a quality livable home for generations. Just ask the Holmes who plan to live a quality life in their own for many years. I commend them for their sensitve updating to this Bert King classic contemporary home and hope they inspire others to do the same.

SAI House Comp

I was excited to tour SAI Design's latest creation on Town Mountain Road today. For now I am simply giving you a sneak peak of more to come. The house is rich in good design thought and will take me some time to put it all together. In the meantime please get to know these guys and visit their website at www.saidesign.net. Enjoy!

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A Minimal Home for a Local Architect Southern Living Magazine published the design and plans of this home designed by local architect William O. Moore.  The house was originally constructed for him and his wife on North Griffing Blvd. in 1973 and was constructed for $42,000. Following, publication he sold plans to many others who wanted to create this simple living space for themselves. The home showcases one of his signature design features of a dominate roof. He told me, "Roofs are traditionally cheaper to maintain and replace." So he dedicates maximum square footage to the roof in containing interior spaces.More information on the history and designs of Bill Moore coming in the future.

SmartBuilders piece together a "Clever" Home

If you were to travel to the end of Reems Creek Rd and continue onward and upward you would eventually come to the valley perimeter and there you would find a tall, sleek box sitting on 40 private acres overlooking the vastness of the western North Carolina mountains. This 3200 square foot box, constructed of structural insulated panels, known as SIPs, is being pieced together and finished off this month for a new resident from Florida. The cross country effort included Clever Home designers from San Francisco, Insulspan fabricators from Michigan and SmartBuilders being the local player pulling this project together.

I met Gawain Mainwaring, owner of SmartBuilders, at the site for a tour. He showed me some of the details of this 3 bedroom and 2 ½ bath home that came shipped to him in pieces. The four-story home is topped off with a master suite on top that opens up to its own private terrace with a fire pit. The entry level contains the great room with a sleek KitchenAid kitchen. The dramatic overhead light fixture the owner made himself using LED lighting and a plumb bob refracts light and adds movement to the space. Clever!Overall, the owner has created a wonderfully layered and cool home to enjoy for years to come. I give him great credit for braving the frontier of modular construction over distances. In the end it is a great product. I don’t know the details of the costs involved on this particular home, however, it is my experience that doing this type of modular construction affordably can still be challenging in our area and throughout the country. There are cost hurdles given the complexity of manufacturing, shipping and coordinating. Given the great local designers, builders and design/build teams (including SmartBuilders) we have in this area it is my feeling that you can get something site specific and site built just as affordably today with tailored results. I simply recommend comparing options. Either way I appreciate the collaboration that went into this great new addition to the growing modern landscape of Asheville.Stay tuned for more modern from SmartBuilders in the future!Article by Troy Winterrowd, Photos by Troy Winterrowd and SmartBuilders

Outside In House

R2S, a design collaboration of Asheville residents Peyton Shumate, Lindsey Rhoden and Thad Rhoden, submitted a 1600sf modern residence design named The Outside(In) House for the Who's Next 2.0 Design Competition. This competition is hosted by FreeGreen, an online business devoted to promoting more modern and energy efficient stock plans. Announced on Monday, The Outside(In) House placed in the top 50, of over 400+ design entries. If one of the top 3, R2S will be paid to complete the house plans that will then be available for purchase at www.freegreen.com.Peyton Shumate and Lindsey Rhoden work for PBC+L Architecture and Thad Rhoden works for Architectural Design Studio, both downtown firms. "Design competitions are fun. They allow the creative freedom that most client-based projects do not and also give the three of us an opportunity to work together. If we are able to make this project a reality, that's even better!", says Lindsey. The three architects were classmates at Clemson University.Architects of Western North Carolina have had luck with this competition in the past. In the spring of 2010, the Who's Next 1.0 Competition 1st Place winner was Asheville architect Daryl Rantis, and R2S (Rhoden, Rhoden & Shumate) placed in the top 12. The unique aspect about this competition is that the winners are determined by judging and also public vote.To see the design and vote, go to: http://www.freegreen.com/WhosNext/view/plan-general.aspx?id=639. Voting ends January 29, 2011. Please note: a confirmation link in an email will come from FreeGreen to validate your vote.For more on R2S - check out www.sparcdesign.wordpress.com

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A peaceful "cabin" out in the woods for a young couple's primary residence.Tom Virant and his wife, Yumiko, recently completed this minimalist home for their friends in the woods of Virginia.  The open, light and airy structure meshes perfectly with the site, blurring the line between inside and outside.  The Asheville based architect design + build team, Virant Design, started the design process on this home in October of 2009.One of the specific requirements was to keep the footprint small and to have no basement.  Their friends wanted to make sure they had no room to collect useless stuff and keep life to a minimum.  The result is this 24' x 24' x 24' cube standing in the middle of four wooded acres.  The house is 980 sq/ft and has 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths and a roof deck.  The house was specifically designed for two people with the goal of feeling like they were living outside.  The design process included Tom and Yumiko doing shade studies to site the house for passive solar gain which influenced window placement and tree selection in relationship to the site.Originally, Virant Design was hired to only design the house.  However, one of the owners wanted to help construct the house and most local contractors would not allow that.  The Virants agreed to temporarily move up to the site and help build the house themselves.  Tom and Yumiko drove up with their Airstream in January of this year to get started.  The harsh winter prevented them from getting a good start until late March.  In just several months the house was completed in October for a cost of approximately $150,000 including site preparation and septic.The property sits in a unique, eco-development called The Quarries.  An architect out of Charlottesville originally started the project on the site of an old soapstone quarry.  The goal was to reclaim once industrial land and turn it into a sustainable development with eco-friendly home-building practices, as well as promoting a sense of community through common walking trails, recreational quarries, and common lands.Text by Troy Winterrowd, Photos by Virant Design

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Leicester House by SPG ArchitectsThis hilltop residence, located at the edge of a wooded knoll in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Moutains, has expansive southern and western views.  Approaching through the woods, one arrives at a one-story facade of corten steel framed by wood.  A hint of the views is provided through the glass door, but it is not unitl the entry that the full impact of the hilltop views can be experienced.  The south and west glass walls open to rolling farmland velow and the mountains beyond.  The entry level serves as the primary living area, with a guest wing carved into the hilltop below.  The house is functional, energy efficient and visually inspiring.  The greening of the house complements its visual warmth, grounding the modern structure in its rural landscape.For more information and environmental details on this modern addition to the Asheville landscape please Click Here!Asheville Design Center Wednesday, Oct 13 at 6pm - "Eric Gartner of SPG Architects will discuss the firm's local work in green building.  Set in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with sweeping views across majestic landscape, SPG Architects' Leicester House serves both as a solitary retreat and a generous space for entertaining. SPG's work clearly presents a visual consistency based on human proportions, the exploration of light, and the judicious use of materials that provide singular tactile, visual, spatial and temporal experiences. Two external crises that unfolded during design and construction encouraged the client to turn Leicester House into a model of energy efficiency. In response to a severe drought, rainwater collection was incorporated along with geothermal energy use, energy efficient lighting, automatic sun shading and reclaimed furniture. When the economic crisis squeezed budgets and ruled out an infinity pool, plans were adapted to create a green 'infinity' roof instead."Text and Photos by SPG Architects