THE RALEIGH ARCHITECTURE Co. WINS AIA NC HONORS AWARD FOR “EDENTWINS”

Two modern, urban-infill houses designed in tandem, side-by-side.
 

When architects enter custom-designed housing in awards competitions, they enter either single-family houses or multi-dwelling projects: multiple, separate housing units that are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex.

For the 2015 AIA NC Design Awards, The Raleigh Architecture Company (RACo) did neither. Partners Craig Kerins, AIA, and Robby Johnston, AIA, entered “Edentwins” — two single-family urban-infill houses that they designed concurrently and built on adjoining lots in downtown Raleigh.

On September 26, Johnston and Kerins received an Honor Award for their innovative duo from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA NC) during an awards ceremony held at the 21c Museum Hotel in Durham.

“Edentwins challenge standard single-family infill development by sharing space, resources, and mutual values with each other,” said Johnston, who lives in one of the award-winning houses with his wife and young daughters.

Edentwins are perched above East Edenton Street, a three-lane, one-way thoroughfare that connects residential neighborhoods to the east with downtown Raleigh. The site plan is organized around a shared central courtyard that visually and spatially ties the houses — and the families who occupy them — together. The courtyard provides outdoor play space for the kids and fresh-air entertainment space for the parents.

According to the RACo partners, small buildable areas on the lots and tight zoning restrictions influenced the houses’ compact linear footprints and projecting forms. Front porches, shaded by the cantilevered second floors, link the homes to the community, reinforce the existing vernacular, and maintain how houses there address the sidewalk and street.

Conceived of as “fraternal twins,” according to the partners, the homes share common traits yet retain their own identities. For example, golden-toned North Carolina cypress adds a note of warmth to the exteriors of both flat-roofed houses, although 556 combines the wood with the rusty patina of Corten® steel while 554 uses reclaimed slate from an old house razed in a nearby neighborhood as outdoor cladding.

The award-winning “Edentwins” are the first houses in a cluster of homes the RACo team is completing in the old inner-city neighborhood known as Hungry Neck North.

CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY ON HAPPY + HALE'S NEW DURHAM LOCATION

Happy + Hale, a health-conscious restaurant concept with its flagship shop on Raleigh’s City Plaza, is expanding into Durham’s Ninth Street shopping and dining district, and The Raleigh Architecture Company (RACo) has designed the new addition to this growing business.

Currently under construction, the second Happy + Hale will fill 2000 square feet of a thoroughly renovated space within an existing building on Ninth Street. Yoga Off East will open behind it in 375 square feet.

Owned by Matt Whitley and Tyler Helikson, Happy + Hale is known for using only wholesome ingredients to prepare its fresh-pressed juices, salads, and wraps. To complement the restaurant’s concept, RACo partners Craig Kerins, AIA, and Robby Johnston, AIA, are using simple, honest materials for the physical space: concrete, wood, and open web steel trusses.

Steel trusses at the front of the space will give way to an overhead wood canopy with integrated lighting that will frame the large, open space for dining and gathering. Skylights provide natural light and views of the sky. Clustered pendant lighting will create a warm glow at the tables.

A walnut and stainless steel service bar will provide a “simple, linear ordering process for customers,” Johnston said. A wooden three-panel accordion door will open the interior to the exterior patio.

Within the space, a steel and glass storefront system will surround the “Juice Room” and allow customers to watch the staff prepare cold-press juices. During dinner and evening hours, a rotating menu of cocktails will be served using these fresh juices.

The restaurant’s kitchen will feature a central preparation table that will satisfy day-to-day needs and serve as a gathering point to promote food-based community outreach initiatives.

As Happy + Hale owner Tyler Helikson puts it, “This space represents the culmination of a dream,” said Helikson, “a place to connect, a place to create, a place to love, a place to empower.”

The Raleigh Construction Company, RACo’s construction partner, is building the new Happy + Hale, and expects it to be complete by this spring.

For more information on Happy + Hale, visit www.happyandhale.com.

BUILDING RALEIGH AS FEATURED ON BIT & GRAIN

We were recently featured in Bit & Grain, North Carolina's premier digitial magazine dedicated to storytelling in and around south. We talk about the state of modern architecture in Raleigh as well as some of our most recent articles. Below is an exccerpt and the link to the full article.

Great opportunity and responsibility comes with such growth. But many of the urban problems described in A is for Architecture — traffic congestion, insufficient mass transportation and pollution — are current issues for Raleigh. The question of how to keep Raleigh liveable and affordable for everyone was central to this fall’s Raleigh City Council election. It’s a question architects Craig Kerins and Robby Johnston think about all the time.

Read more of the article here and other great articles at www.bitandgrain.com

NEWS & OBSERVER: “LESSONS LEARNED FROM JOE KWON'S DREAM KITCHEN.”

Joe Kwon and Buckley in Joe’s dream kitchen designed by The Raleigh Architecture Co. Photo by Juli Leonard

By Andrea Weigl
 

Joe Kwon, the rock star cellist of The Avett Brothers, got to do what every obsessive home cook dreams about: design his own kitchen.

Kwon and his wife, Emily Meineke, moved into their new home earlier this year: a modernist house within walking distance of downtown Raleigh.

The couple bought the lot in February 2014, broke ground last summer and moved into the 2,000-square-foot house in January. Craig Kerins and Robby Johnston of The Raleigh Architecture Co.took the couple’s wish list and vision and turned it into reality by designing and building the home. (Kwon and Meineke are having a big year; they also got married in March.)

Kwon is well known as a food lover and avid home cook… READ MORE 

CURBED.COM: “HOW MODERN STYLE AND MATCHING BUILDINGS RE-ENERGIZED A RALEIGH NEIGHBORHOOD”

By Patrick Sisson 10.22.15

Instagram can be an endless font of inspirations and introductions, from new fashion concepts to undiscovered travel destinations. For architect Robby Johnston of The Raleigh Architecture Company, the visual app turned out to be a great way to find a new neighbor.

“A friend was house hunting a few years ago and posting images on Instagram, and as I clicked through, I found a couple doing the same thing nearby,” he says. “I looked at their account—they were well traveled, with interesting careers—and thought, ‘maybe they’re crazy enough to work with us.'”

Crazy isn’t always the operative word a homeowner uses when looking for a new neighbor, or the quality an architect seeks out when hunting for a new client. But then again, Johnston wasn’t a typical architect looking to sell a standard home. Along with partner Craig Kerins, Johnston was in the midst of developing a matching pair of modernist homes in Raleigh’s Hungry Neck neighborhood…READ MORE.

INHABITAT: “TWO COMPACT MODERN HOMES FILL CHALLENGING EMPTY LOTS IN AN OLD URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD”

By Kristine Lofgren
 

Two new compact houses introduce a modern, sustainable, infill-housing model to an old, urban neighborhood, while providing two young families with open, efficient homes perfectly suited to their individual lifestyles. Each home blends in with the neighborhood, but features a bevy of sustainable features, like locally-sourced recycled exterior materials, plenty of natural light and clever design that merges the interior of the homes with the world outside.

The homes were built to carefully blend into the neighborhood. For example, front porches have cantilevered second floors that cover the front porches are typical of every home in the old neighborhood, so these homes have the same feature. And because the houses were designed in tandem, the homeowners can share limited outdoor space between the two slim lots. The Raleigh Architecture Company (RACo), a design-build firm in Raleigh, NC, acted as developer, architect, contractor, and, for one house, owner. READ MORE…

TRIANGLE DOWNTOWNER: “SUSTAINABILITY + VISION + PASSION + RACo”

Robby Johnston and Craig Kerins, co-founders of The Raleigh Architecture Company (RACo) on South West Street, can point to several projects they’ve completed in downtown Raleigh within the three years that they’ve been professional partners.

On Hargett Street, Nuvonivo, a children’s clothing boutique, and Arrow Haircuts, a hip take on an old fashioned barber shop, sit side-by-side. On Hillsborough Street, they designed Runologie, an independent running supply shop, and State of Beer, a craft beer bar and bottle shop. Then there’s Crank Arm Brewing on West Davie Street and, by the end of this summer, Standard Foods market and restaurant on Person Street.

These projects are independent, but they resonate with RACo’s design sensibilities: They’re all “up-fits” in challenging spaces within old, existing buildings — a form of sustainability the partners encourage and enjoy. They’re also characterized by clean, uncluttered spaces, innovative uses of everyday materials, and deceptively simple solutions that generate a lot of surprise per dollar.

“Robby and Craig combine a big picture vision for a great modern city with a practical approach, mainly consisting of the hard work that it takes to actually get projects done,” says David Meeker, a managing member of Carpenter Real Estate, State of Beer, and Runologie, among other businesses. “Plenty of folks have one or the other. It’s rare to find a team that has both.” READ MORE (page 16)…

“HUNGRY NECK” HOUSE IN DOWNTOWN RALEIGH TO BE FEATURED ON 2015 HOMES TOUR

An award-winning Modern home in Raleigh’s old “Hungry Neck” neighborhood, designed and built by The Raleigh Architecture Company (RACo), will be open to the public during the sixth Residential Tour sponsored by the Triangle Section of the American Institute of Architects’ North Carolina chapter (AIA Triangle). The tour will take place on Saturday, September 26, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

One of only seven residences selected for the 2015 tour, the Hungry Neck house received an AIA Triangle honor award for design excellence and construction quality this past spring.

“Honor awards are granted to projects that exemplify excellence of architectural design on all levels of analysis and are reserved for those projects that stand out,” said design jury chairman William Carpenter, FAIA, of Decatur, Georgia.

This house is actually one of a cluster of compact modern houses in the old neighborhood just east of downtown Raleigh. Designed by RACo partners Craig Kerins, AIA, and Robby Johnston, AIA, it perches on an infill lot overlooking a busy thoroughfare. In the spirit of the neighborhood, the partners turned a corner of the façade into a front porch.

The owner is a chef by avocation, so the interior revolves around cooking and entertaining. A light-filled, double-height space in the center of the house connects the open kitchen to the rest of the house. At the rear of the house, large operable glazing lets the dining room expand outside and focuses the view on a 100-year-old oak tree. A balcony off the master bedroom suite provides outdoor living space on the second floor.

AIA Triangle encompasses members in Wake, Durham, Orange, Lee, Chatham, Franklin, Warren, Vance, Granville, and Person counties. The houses on the 2015 tour are located in Raleigh, Durham, Creedmoor, and Pittsboro. 

THE RALEIGH ARCHITECTURE CO. TO ADDRESS AIA WINSTON-SALEM

The young firm’s partners will represent an emerging and innovative design-build practice.
 

Robby Johnston, AIA, and Craig Kerins, AIA, founders and partners of The Raleigh Architecture Company (RACo) in Raleigh, will discuss their design-build work during the American Institute of Architects’ Winston-Salem section meeting on Tuesday, May 19, beginning at 12 noon in the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts in downtown Winston-Salem.

According to section president Jason Miller, AIA Winston-Salem has developed a “dual-pronged approach to section meetings: one focused on policy issues…and another devoted to emerging and innovative practices from across the state.” The RACo partners will represent the Triangle area for the latter theme.

Miller said he’s particularly interested in RACo’s work since he teaches in and practices through the “design-build-centric” Building Science program in Appalachian State University’s Department of Technology and Environmental Design in Boone, NC.

Johnston and Kerins founded The Raleigh Architecture Company and The Raleigh Construction Company, in the Warehouse District of downtown Raleigh in 2012. Since then, the young firm has completed 15 Modern residential projects and 15 commercial projects, including retail up-fits within existing historic buildings from Raleigh to Asheville. Kerins also designs and hand crafts Modern furniture.

For more information on AIA Winston-Salem, visit www.aiawinstonsalem.org.

NEWS & OBSERVER: “HOUSING STOCK EAST OF DOWNTOWN RALEIGH GETS A JOLT OF MODERNISM”

Local developer Jason Queen and The Raleigh Architecture and Constructioncompanies are partnering to build 3 modernist houses on Wynne Street. (Photo by Chris Seward)

By David Bracken
 

RALEIGH — When Craig Kerins and Robby Johnston began building a cluster of modernist homes on Edenton Street a few blocks east of downtown, the architects knew they were tapping into a shift in attitudes among the homebuying public.

“The second those homes started to take shape, there was lots of market interest,” says Johnston. “We started receiving lots of phone calls.”

But the five homes – which feature large overhangs, big shared spaces filled with light from 9-by-9 windows and skylights – were all done on commission and would not be listed for sale.

That is not the case for their latest project, a trio of similarly designed houses that are now going up on Wynne Street a block from Chavis Park.

While a small sample size, Kerins and Johnston’s work is a sign that many of the defining characteristics of modernist architecture – open plans, numerous windows, and easy accessibility from inside to outside – have become features prized by many of today’s homeowners. READ MORE..