Description:
A companion to the Owner's residence built for their retirement, this house accommodates their children and grandchildren who converge for vacations, traveling from as far away as Argentina. It also serves as a writing retreat for the Owner-husband. The Owner's vision was: "I see it as a tower... a place that is not a home but where they can be on vacation from the constraints of home. Words that come to mind are playful, fanciful, magical, adventurous, fun". After the initial season workout, the house was dubbed "Crayola Lego Dream house".

Architect's Statement Concerning Design Program and Solution
Discovering early that a tower worked well for stacking the private spaces but that the shared, communal spaces required a larger footprint, those spaces were gathered into a one-level attached pavilion with a butterfly roof. The house needed to be flexible to meet the family's changing/growing needs. Initially, there are 2 adult bedrooms and a shared bunkroom for small kids with built in bunks. During construction, a large storage room on the first floor was converted to a bunkroom that can be used by teens. A fold down bed converts the top floor study into an extra bedroom. A screen porch off the living/dining area encourages al fresco dining and serves as a parents' retreat while watching over the adjacent outdoor play yard. The Architect designed extensive built in seating and storage to minimize furnishings and clutter. Stair landings and stair halls, with built in seating/storage, become retreats for one or two to read or enjoy games. Spring & Fall are long temperate seasons at this elevation (3000 ft) and the house is designed with operable windows for cross ventilation. The tower is organized around a "chimney" - the vertical stair well and halls - so that cooler air can enter the lower levels and exhausted at the top by the chimney effect. A fan at the top that can be reversed in winter to force warm air back to lower levels assists this vertical air circulation. To announce arrival at the top floor, the study opens onto a screened porch and outdoor deck in the tree tops, capped and protected by another butterfly roof - this one a fanciful hat of "polygal" panels and extended rafters. This aerie is positioned to allow views, from late fall into early spring, to landmarks like "Middle Mountain" and a high ledge called "Far Away See".

Type of Construction (Materials, Engineering Systems and Other Pertinent Technical Information):
Foundation walls are reinforced CMU. Framing is conventional wood construction. Horizontals are primarily 2 x 12's and exterior walls are 2 x 6's to allow maximum thickness insulation blankets. Cantilevers are carried by engineered LVL's. The tower is sheathed in cement fiberboard in its natural color with a sealer, and the "pavilion" is sheathed in 20 gauge corrugated steel panels, with a proprietary silver finish (similar to, but more uniform than galvanizing). Windows are narrow profile aluminum, coated with a long-life flouropolymer factory finish. Glazing is 1" insulated units with low E glass. The HVAC system is electric, high efficiency heat pumps (natural gas was not available at the site). Since the house can be fully occupied, or at times, occupied by one person, there are three zones. All heat pumps operate at maximum occupancy, but can be set back leaving one to operate when only the Owner is using his study. The single story unit with its butterfly roof directs all rainfall to a single oversized gutter & downspout, permitting collection for reuse. The final check showed the house envelope performance exceeded the applicable energy code requirements by 28%.

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Built Honor Award
The Celo Residence
Asheville, North Carolina
by Samsel Architects, P.A.

Description:
This 1538 square foot guest cabin is located adjacent to an organic farm overlooking the South Toe River. The highest portion of the property offers stunning mountain views, however, the owners wanted to minimizing the home's visual impact on the surrounding hillsides and neighbors. The house was located down slope and adjacent to a woodland edge which provides additional privacy and protection from strong northern winds.

Architect's Statement Concerning Design Program and Solution
The home is intended to serve an evolution of purposes: a vacation cabin for the family, a rental cabin, a full-time home during the construction of the owner's future main house, and ultimately as a guest cabin to supplement the main house. The sensitive nature of the site guided much of the home's design. The bent floor plan takes advantage of the site topography and winter views. Energy efficiency and water conservation were design priorities that minimize the home's environmental impact.

Type of Construction (Materials, Engineering Systems and Other Pertinent Technical Information):
The home is constructed with conventional wood framing, engineered floor joists and cable ties supporting the roof structure. The resulting vaulted ceiling makes the relatively small spaces seem much larger. Spray foam insulation in the walls and ceiling provides an air-tight envelope and the standing seam roof collects rain water which is stored in a pair of buried cisterns. FSC certified cedar shingles clad the home.

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Restoration Honor Award
The Grove Arcade Rehabilitation
Asheville, North Carolina
by Griffin Architects, PA & Rowhouse Architects, Inc.

Description:
Containing 275,000 square feet on 6 floors, the Grove Arcade occupies an entire city block in downtown Asheville. Originally built in 1929 as a retail arcade with offices above, the Grove Arcade was the center of public life in Asheville until 1945. During World War II, the federal government took over the building and closed it to the public. In 1991 a new federal building was built and the arcade became available for redevelopment. Street level retail occupies the ground floor, with offices and residential uses on the upper floors. The lower level contains parking, building services, and storage areas.

Architect's Statement Concerning Design Program and Solution
The Grove Arcade reopened on November 2, 2002, to high acclaim from the Asheville community. The renovation of this 270,400 square foot building (larger than a super Wal-Mart) had been in the making for more than 20 years.

Numerous public and private individuals, two clients, two architects, several changes in developers, engineers, contractors and architectural program created numerous challenges. Creative coordination between project designers was necessary to weave new mechanical systems (i.e. restaurant kitchen exhaust hoods) up and through office and residential floors above while dropping plumbing down, concealed and acoustically isolated through retail and dining areas below. The financial arrangements for such a multi-owner, multi-use project were complex. At its conclusion, the effort returned Asheville's largest historic renovation project to viable public use and positioned the Grove Arcade for a new century of commercial vitality.

One of the nation's earliest arcades, the Grove Arcade was renewed as a public market on the street level with offices and residential uses above. The building was updated to meet new building code requirements for mixed-use occupancy, incorporating new building systems and means of egress without disruption to the historic, highly-finished interior public spaces of the arcade. Sixty years of bricked-up street fronts, placed by the previous owner, were replaced with new glazed storefronts in keeping with the original design. A sleeping giant was reawakened on the streets of Asheville.

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Honor Award

Capital Center
Asheville, North Carolina
by Rogers / Chenevert Architects PC

Description:
The project is the modernization of a 1960’s era nine story former bank building for resale as an office and commercial condominium. Street level spaces are for retail uses, upper floors for offices and a rooftop space and open terrace for restaurant/bar use. The work included significant changes to all four exterior facades, the upfitting of interior spaces and the replacement of most of the mechanical and electrical systems. Exterior walls were insulated. Windows were replaced and enlarged. The north facing curtain wall was replaced and reconfigured. Balconies were added at every level.

Architect's Statement Concerning Design Program and Solution
The Owners wished to reconfigure this building to make it a significant presence in the center of town and to provide office and retail spaces of distinction. In the original building the curtain wall on the main street façade stretched from the 3rd floor to the roof and covered the entire façade from side to side. This produced a narrow space used as a janitor’s closet between the back of the elevator shaft and the curtain wall. In the new design this space was replaced with balconies accessible from the elevator lobbies and the circulation spine of the office floors at every level. A balcony stretching across the façade was also added at the 2nd floor level to establish a horizontal line at the prevailing storefront height along the street. This balcony is accessible from the reception lobby and conference room for this floor that is divided into individual offices in an “executive suites” arrangement. Windows were added to the east façade to provide daylighting and views for offices in this area and windows on the south and west were enlarged to enhance daylighting and to open the spaces to the views of the mountains to the south and west.

Type of Construction (Materials, Engineering Systems and Other Pertinent Technical Information):
The building is a poured-in-place reinforced concrete structure. Exterior materials were brick, single glazed curtain wall and windows and metal siding covering a mechanical penthouse on the roof. In the new building the exterior brick was maintained, all glass was replaced with insulating high performance glazing. Windows were added on east, south and west walls. Metal siding was used on spandrels under new strip windows, on the edge of balconies, on the now exposed elevator shaft and for the roof top exterior walls. An aluminum louver system is employed on the top floor of the building to surround the open restaurant terrace and provide a crown for the buildings new composition.

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Unbuilt Merit AwardABC Store Prototype

Asheville, North Carolina
by PBC+L Architecture

Description:
The Board of Directors of the Asheville Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control has commissioned the design of a new retail store prototype. The 4,000 sf building includes retail space, offices and storage, and accommodates product delivery. The prototype is designed to be easily modified to fit numerous locations within Asheville. Currently two of these stores have been built and are in operation since 2009.

Architect's Statement Concerning Design Program and Solution
The Asheville ABC board wished to create a new image for their retail stores, one that will enhance the shopping experience for existing customers while attracting new ones. The new prototype is designed to provide a contemporary shopping experience that feels safe and enjoyable. This is accomplished with a simple, open interior easily monitored by ABC staff. Curtain walls provide ample natural lighting, supplemented by well illuminated product. Carefully located exterior lighting allows a safer trip between automobile and store.

The prototype is comprised of a set of exterior facades, sometimes transparent, and other times not. Transparent walls are curtains walls, and solid wall are brick veneer. The particular configuration of these walls at each location is easily modified to respond to respective site conditions, including visual access to passing motorists.

Type of Construction (Materials, Engineering Systems and Other Pertinent Technical Information):
Polished concrete flooring, steel framing and trusses, brick veneer walls, high performance glazing and curtain walls, and aluminum shading devices.

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