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

Happy Valentine's Day. Everyone knows I am smitten by a ranch home. I am equally keen on featuring more articles on remodeled ranch homes in the Asheville given the great supply we have here. If you have a home to show off please let me know and perhaps together we can influence the recycling of these simple and versatile homes. Thank you!  Troy

PCB&L Architects reconstruct ABC's Brand Identity I have been enjoying the three new ABC Stores popping up around Asheville in the last year. My jaded, winter outlook of late has been warmed by the progressive nature of the sunny, new design from a government agency. It is refreshing to see such thoughtful construction in the context of the commercial strips of Tunnel Road, Leicester Highway and elsewhere. The modern composition and rhythmic nature of the facade, including the new brightly colored graphic, is not only elegant, it honors the nature of how you experience it from the automobile. The entire facade serves as memorable and well branded sign for speedy travelers negotiating traffic and other commercial entities of our mountain version of the American commercial strip.Curious to know how this came about I met with architect Richard Fort of PCB&L Architects in downtown Asheville. Richard was the lead architect on the three new buildings. The architecture company was hired to design both the building and to develop the branding and supporting graphics. Richard stated that the Asheville ABC Board was indeed progressive in their thinking. They realized that their old stores were as unwelcoming as a dirty adult bookstore and were a deterent to the everyday female shoppers they were now aggressively trying to market. As I know from real estate 80% of home buying decisions are made by women along with purchases for the home. In an attempt to expand their market and create a more welcoming environment for all consumers they wanted a more open, well lit and transparent shopping experience. Now isn't that nice.Another important point was that the retail building was designed and built on a very tight budget. The design firm fought to keep key materials such as the contrasting bricks in place and worked to balance the design budget in other ways. This goes to show you that economic commercial buildings don't have to be done in synthetic stucco and plastic windows. With appropriate and professional design planning you can have a sophisticated building that stands out, surpasses your neighbors and is openly sexy. Thank you Asheville ABC board for your progressive strategy and PCB&L for your mindful stewardship of your clients vision and brand. We all benefit from your refreshing collaboration. Admittedly, I write this while sipping on a glass of Sky ginger vodka that I could not resist buying while photographing the interior. Not feeling naughty enough I am deviously hopeful my purchase bought a nice, deep grey brick for another ABC Store somewhere in the future.Article and Photographs by Troy Winterrowd

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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I wanted to share this article from Architizer News called "Life Edited". It does a great job of exemplifying a trend of designing your living spaces utilizing smaller footprints and ecological materials.  To view Click Here. Enjoy!

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Modern Asheville, along with Architect Mark Allison, has created a fan page on facebook to capture the works of J. Bertram King.  Join our fan page and keep up on the latest information.  Click Here. Bert King was born in Greenville, SC and graduated from NCSU with a degree in Architectural Engineering with honors in 1949. He wored for Six Associates and Lindsay Gudger in Asheville then started his own firm in 1952. In 1968 the AIANC gave J. Bertram King Architects an honorary award for the design of Warren Wilson Chapel in Swannanoa, NC. He was President of AIANC in 1973. He retired in the mid-1990's.

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MLS# 477433$525,000    2700sq/ft3 Bedrooms + 3 Baths Beaver Lake and Audubon's Bird Sanctuary are your neighbors when you nestle into this North Asheville home.  Nature surrounds, but convenience is steps away with grocery and restaurants nearby.  An "atomic ranch", this gem features an open great room with a wall of windows and cozy fireplace, a gourmet kitchen, spa bath, and full terrace level suite for your returning family members, teen or home office.  2 decks enjoy the waterfall and perennial gardens.  All of this on a private one acre lot.

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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

Open Again Following Remodel Everyday I walk past the downtown library on my way to the office.  This morning seeing the paper off the windows and the interior filled with light I was reminded that it was open again.  The library designed by Bertram King, who I finally met yesterday, is a great resource for the downtown community and a nice example of his later work.  The library has been thoughtfully restored and updated for today.  Stop by for a visit! If you would like more information on this building please review my past blogs under Bertram King or Downtown Tour.

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AIA (American Institute of Architects) Section Meeting Wednesday, October 27, 2010 12:00 noon Trinity Episcopal Church 60 Church Street, Downtown Asheville 1941 - Sprinza Weizenblatt residence, 46 Marlbrough Road, Asheville, designed by Marcel Breuer. (Photo by Mary Jo Brezny) What may be a surprise to many people is that North Carolina has the third most modernist houses than anywhere in the country. An exploration of some of the state’s modernist gems will be given at this month's section meeting.George Smart, board chairman and founder of Triangle Modernist Houses, an award-winning 501C3 nonprofit organization devoted to preserving modern architecture in North Carolina will give the presentation with images and information about note worthy 20th century homes across the state. “Most people, even many architects, are surprised by the numbers,” Smart said. “I'll discuss the history of modernist houses in North Carolina and show the audience terrific houses from both the past and the present." Smart is a passionate advocate for Modernist architecture, and has facilitated the public’s discovery of these “livable sculptures” through presentations around the state. His knowledge of North Carolina modernism combined with the innovative use of technology for preservation has quickly established a national reputation for research and advocacy.The public is invited to attend this meeting.  RSVP to rsvp@aiaasheville.org .$15 AIA Members, Allied Members, Sponsors$10 Interns, Associate members$20 Non-members