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eco Smart Two architects — one in Raleigh, one in Wilmington —; a Cullowhee professor; an innovative Wake Forest builder; a coastal real-estate developer; and the owners of a vacation retreat in Marion all share an environmentally friendly vision and take steps to preserve and protect the landscape of North Carolina. www.ncsignature.com 117 SKETCH BY LIGON FLYNN

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Page 1: Nc Signature

ecoSmart

Two architects — one in Raleigh, one in Wilmington —; a Cullowhee professor; an innovative Wake Forest builder;

a coastal real-estate developer; and the owners of a vacation retreat in Marion all share an

environmentally friendly vision and take steps to preserve and protect the landscape

of North Carolina.

www.ncsignature.com 117

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DOING WHAT COMESNATURALLY

Architect Frank Harmon established his love for the outdoors whilesplashing around the creeks of his native Greensboro and has since

shared his respect for the environment with students and clients alike.

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Written by Lori K. Tate

At home, Frank Harmonreads the paper by anexpanse of natural light.Opposite: Harmon’s home is supported by concretepiers, thereby protectingunderground tree roots.

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frank harmonEco Smart:

rank Harmon discoveredGreenway Park when he waseight years old. Growing up hespent countless hours playingin the park’s streambed build-ing dams and forts, observingthe nesting habits of kingfishers,

and watching tadpoles hatch. “I just adored this place,” recalls the Raleigh architect. “I

realized when I became an adult that some person thoughtof that and what a gift I owe to him or to her who thoughtof this idea of turning that streambed into a park. It just fur-ther reinforced me and mybelief that we as architectscan do wonderful things forother people not only nowbut in the future.”

Wearing a brown fedora,66-year-old Harmon drivesdown Raleigh’s HillsboroughStreet quoting WaltWhitman’s “When LilacsLast in the Door-yardBloom’d” as he talks aboutspring. Listening to him waxpoetic about flowers with hisrich voice tinged with justthe right amount of Southern accent, it’s clear his love fornature hasn’t wavered since those days of splashing in astreambed.

Harmon believes the environment is to be respected. Thatbelief has served as the foundation of his career, and it’s abelief he’s been passing on to students at North CarolinaState University since he began teaching there in 1983.

WORKING WITH NATUREFascinated with an older home across the street from his

junior high school in Greensboro, Harmon decided tobecome an architect in eighth grade. He began studyingarchitecture at NCSU and then transferred to theArchitectural Association in London. He worked in Englandfor six years after graduation and later moved to New YorkCity to work with Richard Meier, whose work includes The

Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, and the Museum ofContemporary Art in Barcelona, Spain.

Harmon founded Frank Harmon Architect in 1983 andhas since completed more than 200 architectural projects.Housed in a weathered gray building that offers a distantview of the Raleigh skyline, Frank Harmon Architect includesHarmon and his team of four (six in the summer with theaddition of interns). His wife Judy, a landscape architect, alsoshares the space, as they often collaborate on projects.

Although the structures designed at Frank HarmonArchitect are aesthetically pleasing, the core of every design issustainability. “It starts by thinking about the site,” explains

Harmon. “If you look at any oldfarm house in North Carolina, you’llsee that the farmer who built it knewabout orientation and knew wherethe sun would set in the summer andknew where the breezes came from.That’s why I love the roads of NorthCarolina because there are all theselessons lying out there in front of usabout how to use the site well.”

‘BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT’If Harmon has a mantra it is this:

Always leave the site better than youfound it. The project his firm

recently completed for Circular Congregational Church,Charleston, South Carolina’s oldest church (circa 1681), is aperfect example. “They really wanted this addition thatwould give them ways to extend their urban ministry, and itwas in a churchyard, which meant we had to move somegraves, but they were totally alright with that,” says Harmon.“It also meant that we had to cut down an elm tree, and so Ipromised them that the building we gave back would be better, would make that site better, and would actually bemore green. That’s what they got.” Turns out the elm treewas diseased and would have eventually fallen anyway.Harmon used the wood from the tree in the building.

Using reclaimed materials and local materials are twoimportant components of green architecture. “The environ-mentally responsible reason [for using local materials] is thatyou don’t have to transport the materials,” says Harmon.

F“THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR

LANDSCAPE, I THINK, ISUNCONSCIONABLE BECAUSE

THAT’S ACTUALLY THE MOST

PRECIOUS GIFT THAT WE GIVE

TO OUR CHILDREN.”

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“The average building materials that we use come fromthousands of miles away. There’s a saying in the organic foodworld, ‘Eat what you can see,’ in other words what growsaround you. I say, ‘Build with what you can see.’ ”

Some of Harmon’s favorite local materials include Southernyellow pine, 5V tin for roofs, North Carolina blue stone, andAtlantic white cedar, which grows on the North Carolina coast.He has also incorporated geothermal heating and cisterns thatcollect rainwater for irrigation and plumbing into his designs.

For the newly completed Marguerite Kent Repass Ocean Conservation Center, a teaching facility for DukeUniversity’s Marine Lab in Beaufort, Harmon incorporatedolder benches from a lab on the Duke campus into thedesign. “Not only did they save $80,000, but they didn’t fillup a landfill,” says Harmon.

Other projects his firm is working on include transforminga 1950s textile mill in Star into an arts and crafts incubationcenter, designing the Visitor’s Education Center for the NorthCarolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, and designing anew education building for the First Presbyterian Church indowntown Raleigh and creating a master plan for the existingbuilding. According to Harmon, the latter will be the firstgreen church in the Capital City.

“I’m a big believer in doing what comes naturally,” he says.“The destruction of our landscape, I think, is unconscionablebecause that’s actually the most precious gift that we give to ourchildren.” It’s certainly a gift he’s enjoyed throughout his life.

frank harmonEco Smart:

A NATURAL FIT

Erin Sterling, 29, has been working with Frank Harmon as an internarchitect/designer for the past five years.She’s currently working on a visitor’s center for North Carolina Parks andRecreation and another for Raleigh Parksand Recreation. We caught up with her to find out how a University of Kentuckygraduate found her way to Raleigh.

How did you find Frank?“I had just heard really great things aboutthe whole Triangle area, the community ofarchitects, and the good work that’s goingon in the area, and it’s definitely true. … Aprofessor of mine had a connection inChapel Hill. … He gave me a list of 10architects, and Frank was on that list.”

What do you like best about workingwith him?“My favorite thing is the atmosphere thathe creates and that he nurtures here. It’svery much a teaching environment, but atthe same time it’s very serious and we’reall given a great deal of responsibility.”

How has he changed your perception of nature?“I really believe that everybody has thesame desire to be in nature and to appre-ciate it. I truly believe that. I think it’s justa natural thing but not all the time arethose feelings fulfilled or even brought tothe surface. Frank’s work is a catalyst forthat. … I really enjoy seeing that there’svery little separation between Frank’s lovefor nature and for architecture. That hasbeen very inspiring to me.”

Frank Harmon devotes his architectural lectures to environmen-tal issues, along with addressing space and color considerations.

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“This is our most sustainable building sofar,” says Frank Harmonas we walk into the open-air classroom atPrairie Ridge Eco LifeStation for Wildlife &Learning, which was established by the NorthCarolina Museum ofNatural Sciences as an outreach facility.

With a prairie on oneside and a forest on theother, the classroom ispowered by photovoltaicpanels that collect the sun’senergy and turn it intoelectricity. A large south-facing overhang keeps thebuilding warm in the winterand cool in the summer, asthere is no air conditioning.Rainwater collected in acistern is used for flushing

the toilets, and the mulchthat serves as a walkway tothe building was ground up from scrap pieces ofwood left over from thebuilding process.Constructed of Atlanticwhite cedar and southernyellow pine, the buildingfeatures a roof made ofGalvalume, a materialknown for its durability.

“The idea here is to dothings that are really entertaining, and then children will also sort ofintuitively realize that this is a good thing to do. Thisis a building that doesn’tuse fossil fuels to cool itself.It uses the natural coolantsof the earth,” says Harmon.“The idea is to put childrenback in touch with nature ina safe way.”

CLASS ON THE PRARIE

frank harmonEco Smart:

Frank and Judy Harmon only use their air conditioner in July and August. “Weuse the trees to cool our house,” says Frank of the couple’s pink 1,800-square-foothouse that sits a block off of Hillsborough Street. “We have super-thick insulation inthe roof, and all the windows are carefully placed so that they don’t get direct sunor if they do get direct sun it’s filtered through leaves.”

Built of concrete and steel, the Harmon’s house has a 1,000-square-foot footprint,and was built above ground so as not to disturb any roots. “I think we only cut onepretty good-size root,” says Judy. “We didn’t have to chop down any trees. … Wedidn’t have to do any grading.”

“Our house is thin [20 feet], and it has windows on both sides so every room canbe cross-ventilated,” says Frank as he points out the corner windows which makethe space feel larger. In the kitchen, North Carolina blue stone from Denton servesas the countertops.

Their one-third-acre lot features a lush garden with a winding pathway of ChapelHill gravel leading to a lap pool. A permanent ladder offers access to the flat roof,which collects rainwater for irrigation.

“It’s important to me that it’s small,” says Frank of his house, “but it has very high quality.”

AN ARCHITECT’S STUDIO

Cubicles are forbidden at Frank HarmonArchitect. Instead everyone sits at a big tablewhile paper lanterns hang from the exposed ceiling. Depending on who’s in the office you mighthear Billie Holiday or electronic music fromUnderworld oozing from an iMac. The open conference room is peppered with sketches, andthe accent walls of the space are painted a brightkelly green.

“About 15 years ago, I really had this bigchange in the way I thought about myself and myoffice, and that’s when I changed it to this bigopen space where we all sit around a table,” saysHarmon, who was inspired by the set up in hisarchitectural design studio class at NCSU. “Ithought to myself why don’t I organize my officelike this? You know — a big studio and everybodyin that studio could have their own project, and Icould be like the critic. I wouldn’t have to doeverything and design everything.”

The revamp seems to have worked as the spaceexudes a casual yet professional ambience. “Theenvironment is very much about equality with anunderstanding of hierarchy,” says intern architect/designer Erin Sterling. “Everybody has respect for one another.”

a concrete example

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Frank Harmon’s thin home — it’s only 20 feet wide— allows for more efficient cross-ventilation.

— Lori Tate

— LoriTate

— Lori Tate

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NO VISIBLEPOWER LINES

In western North Carolina, a professor’s home goestotally off the grid and proves that you don’t need

electricity to create warmth.

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Written by Lisa M. Dellwo

ucked into a sunnyhillside above Sylva,Lydia Aydlett’s home isa model of charm andlocal craftsmanship.The front door, ofwormy chestnut leftover from her builder’sshed, is punctuatedwith seeded glass win-

dows that make the 2003 structure seem like it’s been there alot longer.

Pass through the entry into an area where the living roommelds into the dining room and kitchen, and you’ll see ashipshape space with storage niches and display spacestucked under a stairway for which local blacksmith DavidBrewin created fanciful banisters of leaves and trailing vines.Brewin’s work also turns up in the pot rack overhanging thekitchen and in the brackets for the overhead beams hewn ofoak from Aydlett’s surrounding acreage.

It’s not until you walk to the rear of the house, though,that you discover what makes it truly unique: an array ofsolar photovoltaic panels that supplies every bit of the elec-tricity Aydlett requires. No transmission wires connect the1600-square-foot house to a power company. Instead, 18bright-blue panels, 12 of which track the sun’s east-westprogress every day, gather energy from the sun and transmitit to a bank of batteries in a utility room nearby. The batter-

ies provide electricity to operate lights, a stereo, a computer,two televisions, a dishwasher, and a clothes washer.

Additional solar panels heat water for household use andprovide a boost to the propane burner that provides the hotwater for the radiant floor heating.

NO SACRIFICE WITH SOLARAydlett, an assistant professor of psychology at nearby

Western Carolina University, doesn’t want anyone to thinkthat she’s living a life of self-denial. Like many academics,she listens to National Public Radio in the morning andwhile preparing dinner, and in the evening, she might watcha medical drama on the television in her second-floor bed-room. The house’s passive solar design — a southern orienta-tion with large overhangs that block the summer’s worst heatfrom reaching her etched cement downstairs floor — meansthat she only has to turn on the heat at night.

“Probably the only thing you’d have in a typical home thatI don’t have is a clothes dryer,” she says. She hangs laundryoutside in sunny weather and on a clothesline in her upstairssleeping porch in the winter.

Aydlett’s interest in living off the grid began in the 1970s,when she came to WCU for a master’s degree in psychology.“I was newly divorced and a single parent, very interested inalternative energy and alternative lifestyle,” she says. “That wasthe era for that kind of thing.” She bought a farmhouse on 25acres, and learned all she could about solar power. “It seemedlike magic, that you could make electricity out of sunshine.”

TAt her solar-powered home in Cullowhee, Lydia Aydlett is creating a model for clean energy.

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lydia aydlettEco Smart:

In 1984, Aydlett moved to Chapel Hill to pursue a Ph.D.,selling the farmhouse and three acres. On the remaining 22acres, she built a 300-square-foot solar-powered cabin, with helpfrom women friends, for weekend living. In 1995, while work-ing as a pediatric psychiatrist for the Lincoln CommunityHealth Center in Durham, she moved to a small passive-solarhouse in Arcadia, a passive-solar community in Carrboro.

When Western Carolina University offered her a job in 2000,Aydlett decided the time was right to pull the plug. While shelived in the weekend cabin, she and builder Tom West designeda home influenced by Raleigh architect Sarah Susanka’s “Not-So-Big” series of books. “It’s fascinating to me to think about howto construct an environment that meets your needs but in whichthe parameters are constrained, like in a sailboat,” she says.

West had to learn a lot about solar power in the process.“He’s a quick study,” she says. “He was able to get technicaladvice from solar distributors who were not here on site.”

The small footprint of the house and its passive solar featureshelped to constrain the size (and expense) of the photovoltaicarray. She also practices conservation by using compact fluores-cent light bulbs and by connecting power strips to applianceslike the televisions and computer that normally draw powereven when they’re turned off.

Aydlett’s children are grown now, with children of their own,and she shares her home with shelter dogs Suki and Penny. AtThanksgiving, her family all gathers for dinner. She’ll prepare thetraditional turkey dinner in her propane range. If the weather israw, she might light the wood stove. If it’s bright, the passivesolar features will work so well that she has to open a win-dow or two. And if anyone wants to run the dishwasher,she’ll check a meter to ensure that the batteries are storingsufficient voltage.

Otherwise, it’s a typical family gathering. “I’m not sufferinghere,” she wants people to know. “I’m very comfortable here.”

1. Lydia Aydlett’s solarhome is not without modern conveniences,like a microwave and adishwasher in thekitchen.

2. The photovoltaic arraycaptures solar energyand powers the entirehouse.

3. Aydlett’s screenedsleeping porch upstairseliminates the need forair conditioning.

4. Large windows bring innatural light.

Above: A bank of brilliantred batteries stores allthe energy harnessed bythe solar panels.

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The day we had the solarpanels installed was the firstand only time I’ve ever beenon our roof.

“They’re beautiful, aren’tthey?” said Dave Hollister,founder of Asheville-basedSundance Power Systems,the company that installedour 2.5-kilowatt array.

They were beautiful: glistening royal blue slabs of glass with Mondrian-likegrids across the surface. But Dave was talking aboutanother kind of beauty, too:the simple beauty of har-vesting the sun’s energy topower our lives.

It took 12 years to get tothat day two years agowhen we first flipped theswitch of our Sunny Boyinverter and began generat-ing our own power. The firsttime we got an estimate forphotovoltaics, we couldhave bought two well-equipped cars for the sameamount of money, but wewould have had to park one of them on the streetbecause of the garagespace needed for the batteries.

VALUES OVER MONEY

Ten years later, a lot had

changed. The price of solarPV had dropped modestly,and North Carolina hadintroduced net metering,which allows customers tosell surplus power back tothe utilities, obviating theneed for the expensive andspace-consuming batteries.In 2005, Sundance installeda system on our Durhamroof that, on average,reduces our power bills byabout 30 percent. Not badfor a sprawling contempo-rary house built in 1964when energy was cheap.

Our system cost aboutthe same as a Toyota Prius,

and at current energy rates,we would expect to recoupour investment in 17 years.On days when we generatemore than we can use —generally sunny days in thespring and fall when we’renot using air conditioning —the meter runs backwardsand our surplus power isreturned to Duke Energy.We are also paid for ourproduction of alternativeenergy through the NorthCarolina GreenPower pro-gram.

This is no money-makingoperation, though, and it’snot meant to be. Like all

early adopters, we are paying a premium for technology that we hopewill become more afford-able. At the end of the day, it’s more about valuesthan money.

My husband, BillSchlesinger, is an environ-mental scientist whoaddresses the causes andeffects of climate change inpublic forums, emphasizingthe need for us to adoptconservation measures andenergy technologies thatwill reduce our dependenceon fossil fuels. And my writ-ing projects have become

much more focused on envi-ronmental issues in recentyears.

As professionals whowrite and speak about envi-ronment and energy, we aretrying in this one way toinspire others to follow ourlead, so that generatingsolar energy will become asmainstream as having run-ning water.

We are still way too farfrom that goal. Our friendMolly Tamarkin recentlybegan looking for a housewith solar features. Newhouses she looked at werefilled with luxuries but defi-

cient in energy efficiency,and builders were unenthu-siastic about incorporatinggreen features. So when ahouse with solar panelscame on the market — ours— she grabbed it. The solarfeature was just as much ofa selling point as our beauti-ful stone fireplace, she toldus.

We didn’t intend to leaveour house so soon afterinstalling the solar panels,but we are happy to leavethem as a legacy for ourhome’s future owners. Solarenergy may not make asmuch sense in our new

home in New York state, butwe will explore it, along withgeothermal and wind power,as a way to reduce our car-bon footprint there, too.

Going Solar

lisa m dellwoEco Smart: Eco Smart:

lisa m dellwo

The story of how one family let the sunshine in …

— Lisa M. Dellwohas recently moved from herpartially solar-powered homein Durham to New York'sHudson Valley, where sheand her husband will beexploring ways of greeningtheir new home.

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HOUSE OF THEFUTURE

Using native Southern yellow pine, Enertia homesheat and cool themselves, basing temperature

regulation on a familiar model: the earth.

Written by Kathleen M. Reilly

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our years ago, Merry Kay and JoeFarrington moved into a very specialhome in Durham. Their home has noheating or cooling system, and yet theystay comfortable all year round. No heating bills, no cooling bills — and nocontribution to the greenhouse effect.

“Our house isn’t just about using energy-efficient appli-ances,” Merry Kay explains. “We’re just not even using heating or cooling appliances at all.”

Wake Forest-based Enertia, a manufacturer of beautiful and affordable “geo-thermal” homes, built this home in an“ultra-green” style.

The company began as the brainchild of Michael Sykes.“I’m an engineer,” Sykesexplains. “I put myself throughschool building houses.Anybody who builds stuffalways tries to think of a betterway to do it — more efficient,less expensive.”

Back in the ’80s, Sykes beganhearing early rumblings aboutthe greenhouse effect, and hepaid attention. “The reasonearth stays so warm is becauseit has an atmosphere around it,but if you look at a picture of earth from space, theatmosphere is so small, you can hardly see it. It looks asthin as the shell on an egg.”

Sykes then looked at hiswork. “I thought, ‘why don’t I build a house that has a littleatmosphere around it?’ ” He set about trying to figure out a way to apply his idea, and hisinspiration included classicNorth Carolina elements.

FATMOSPHERIC HOMES

“As a teenager, I worked in the tobacco barns inGreensboro,” he says. “Those barns stayed warm in the winter and cool in the summer.” Part of the reason, hedecided, was the pine lumber used to build the barns. Pine,he explains, has resin in it — that sticky yellow sap that runsunder the bark — making pine wood more heat-absorbent.

So Sykes built his homes withpine, and with a double-wallstructure that acts as the home’sown “atmosphere,” keeping theheated or cooled air inside. Thehomes absorb the heat of thesun during the day, and thenrelease that back into the home,warming it without any electri-cal heating appliances.

But does it really work?Absolutely, say the Farringtons.“In the winter, the logs radiatethe sun’s heat into the home,plus we have radiant floor heat-ing,” Farrington explains.“Those are tubes that run under-neath the floor. They have waterin them, and the water circulatesup to solar panels on the roof.The sun heats the water, thenthe water runs through the tubing so your floors are alwayswarm.”

What about the hot NorthCarolina summers? “We have a

basement, and if you’ve ever been in a cave, you know it’salways cold,” says Farrington. “The house uses natural convection currents to draw that cool air up and circulate it through the walls. Hot air rises up through the roof. Ifyou’re somebody who likes your home at 65 degrees and it’sa Carolina summer, you won’t get that. But when it coolsdown at night, it lowers the temperature in the house during

enertiaEco Smart: Eco Smart:

enertia

The 4,586-square-foot“Southern Pines” modelfeatures soaring ceilingsand a balcony loft. Rooftopphotovoltaics denote thehouse “Zero Energy,”meaning it produces morepower than it requires.

TOP: Sunlight streams in onan Enertia sunporch.

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THE SANCTUARY

On Lake Wylie near Charlotte, residents of anexclusive lakefront community, called The Sanctuary,find it’s good to be green.

Thanks to its careful attention to wildlife protection,water quality, and preservation of native flora and fauna,and for employing green building practices, the homecommunity was the world’s first to receive a ThreeDiamond Designation from Audubon International, anenvironmental education organization devoted to theprotection of land, water, wildlife, and natural resources.

Residents extend the green approach by creatingnatural backyards, complete with environmentallyfriendly butterfly, hummingbird, and bluebird gar-dens, all with the help of an on-site natural resourcemanager. Twenty miles of nature trails surroundingthe property and a seven-mile undisturbed shorelineare the perfect setting to appreciate the importance ofecological conservation. — Elizabeth Hudson

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the day to about 75 degrees — cooler if the night tempera-tures are cooler.”

HOUSE SMARTOnce Sykes saw the potential for his home, he realized he

could help even more by offering the home as a kit. “Wewere doing three or four houses a year, but by creating thehome as a kit, we can make up to 20 houses a year,” he says.“We ship them all over the country to 25 states.”

The kit is “almost like a Lego set,” Sykes explains. Thehome is built as timber blocks, carefully numbered, and thensent to the location where a contractor has already built afoundation. The home is assembled on the spot; then theinterior is finished. Total time? About six to eight weeks.

By building an Enertia home, homeowners are making agiant step toward decreasing pollution. “It’s not cars that arereally the biggest polluters of the earth; it’s houses,” Sykessays. “We use far more fossil fuel in heating houses andbuilding materials than cars put out. Cars just get morepress. If you want to buy a fuel-efficient car, that’s fine, butif you really want to make a big difference, it’s how youbuild your house that really counts.”

Sykes is particularly proud that Enertia is a NorthCarolina invention. “The whole concept was created inNorth Carolina, developed in North Carolina, and usesSouthern yellow pine,” he says. “Hey, the other NorthCarolina invention, the airplane, really took off. I hope this will, too.”

Eco Smart:

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For information on homesites, contact The Sanctuary11235 Wildlife Road, Charlotte, N.C. 28278 (877) 295-0950

Greenfire Developmentdemonstrates reuse at itsfinest by transforming oldbuildings in downtownDurham into sustainable andluxurious spaces.

Greenfire has two greenprojects underway — con-verting the Hill Building (for-merly the Sun Trust building)into a boutique hotel andspa, and turning RogersAlley, three buildings includ-ing a former fire station andpharmacy, into mixed-usebuildings. Rogers Alley’s firstrestaurant tenant, DosPerros, will be an upscaleauthentic Mexican restau-rant slated to open in early2008, and the Hill buildingwill open in 2009.

These two projects seekLeadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design(LEED) certification for avariety of green features:cool roofs reflect heat, ageothermal standing column well utilizes under-

ground temperatures, a cistern collects rainwater toflush in low-flow toilets, bikeracks and showers encour-age energy conservation (asdo solar water heaters), andthe company hopes to recy-cle 75 percent of the con-struction waste.

Two other projects incor-porate green aspects: theBaldwin Lofts and DurhamKress, which includes bamboo flooring (a rapidlyrenewable resource), car-peting from recycled fibers,recycled dry wall, and ahigh-efficiency heat pump.The first owner moved intoDurham Kress in mid-June,and more residents will be attracted by the ritzysurroundings.

By combining urbanrenewal with green prac-tices, Greenfire enrichesdowntown Durham with sustainable class.

— Heather Hans

NEW DIRECTIONS IN DURHAM

For information visit www.greenfiredevelopment.com

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green builtEco Smart:

proximityhotel

Sustainable design doesn’t have to mean rustic accommodations and earth-toned décor — considerGreensboro’s Proximity Hotel. Set to open in September,the outfit is equal parts luxury and green living, built accord-ing to federal standards set by the Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design (LEED) green building rating system.

Sacrificing neither style nor sustainability, hotel designerDennis Quaintance brings harmony to the structure by draw-ing on a sense of local history, as he did with the reincarna-tion of the O. Henry Hotel in 1998. Named afterGreensboro’s historic Proximity Manufacturing Cotton Mill,the hotel’s appearance recalls the industrial icon with a ware-house-inspired architecture and loft-style lobbies.

Proximity Hotel is situated just a block away from its sisterhotel, the O. Henry, and is located on Green Valley Road, inthe center of a bustling commercial district. Proximity’srooftop solar panels cause the eight-story structure to stand

out, but inside, Quaintance’s environmental measures — likethe regenerative drive elevator (a first in North America) andthe energy-efficient filtration system — go unnoticed. Thehigh ceilings, enormous windows, and classic-modern décor,along with a bistro, art display and fitness studio, have a high-fashion appeal; practicality seems to be an afterthought, butaccording to Quaintance, the hotel’s environment-friendlydesign and operation will use 40 percent less energy and 35percent less water than a hotel of comparable capacity.

Built from recycled gypsum, concrete, and sheetrock,among other materials, the building will eventually do doubleduty, functioning both as a hotel and a sustainable practiceseducation center that will offer tours and outreach programs.

Written by Emily Gallimore

Among one of the “greenest”hotels in North America, Proximityuses 100 solar roof panels (inset)and an energy-producing elevator,the first of its kind in the U.S.

Proximity Hotel704 Green Valley Road, Greensboro, N.C. 27408 (336) 379-8200, wwwproximityhotel.com

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ENVIRONMENTIntegrating the outside with the inside is in

architect Ligon Flynn’s nature.

Written by Marimar McNaughton

1. Ligon Flynn’s office incorporates anenvironmental aesthetic by bringingthe outside in.

2. Soaring ceilings and exposed spacespromote a feeling of openess.

3. A living courtyard sets the stage forgreen design.

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ut of the mar-itime forest, thesun shines on acorner of a lowwhite wall — it’san unexpectedstructure here in

this vine-draped thicket and an architectural reminder that“someone lives here.”

The fusion of architecture and nature is the bedrock ofLigon Flynn’s signature style. The “dean” of Wilmingtonarchitecture built his practice in the early 1970s andanchored many of the Lower Cape Fear region’s most stunning contemporary homes on this simple principle: “No building is complete for human habitation without a garden.”

Flynn ushered a new architecture for historic Wilmington,mentored by Henry Kamphoefner, Dean of North CarolinaState University’s School of Design, a man who preachedmodernism to his disciples. Kamphoefner encouraged Flynnto embrace the great outdoors, allow open floor plans tounfold behind stiff exteriors, and to punctuate spaces withexpanses of windows. A tenet? An outdoor room is bestnourished by lush gardens that balance the massing of thehouse on its site.

LIVING SPACESFlynn’s office, a former livery stable on Second Street in

Wilmington, draws architects, designers, and green-buildingenthusiasts into its cobbled brick courtyard. Here, the sunpasses overhead, casting beams of light into a tree-linedopening. Breezes drift through the space. The sound of mov-ing water trickles from a far-off fountain into the shallowpool of a terraced garden, a pleasing sound of nature foreveryone who works and visits here. Like so many of Flynn’sarchitectural creations, it’s as though this space is a living,breathing organism.

“We design the out-of-doors for habitation the same as wedo indoors,” Flynn says.

“We design buildings around the natural or native foliagethat exists on this coast. The greatest tree we have here is thelive oak. The north end of Figure Eight Island is covered inlive oaks. We have put houses in and never cut one,” he says.

SENSITIVE LANDSCAPINGFlynn trademarked his idiom by designing homes embed-

ded into the natural fabric of the landscape — Hewlett’sCreek, Howe’s Creek, Pages Creek, and Figure Eight Island.Many of these locations are Wilmington’s best-kept secrets.

For a surgeon and his family, for example, Flynn created asecluded year-round retreat on five acres. Down a windinglane, horses graze on wooded pasture until a circular driveannounces the understated entrance to the house. Definingthe groomed landscape, a low masonry wall with a signatureporthole leads the eye past sculpted gardens and into a lushlawn where the home’s open great room, with floor-to-ceil-ing windows, embraces the southernmost point of Hewlett’sCreek, welcoming 180 degree views of the waterway.

YIN AND YANGNear Middle Sound, a bank of mailboxes marks the

entrance to a well-worn dirt lane that forks like spokes on acompass ending on a 15-acre enclave. A high bluff overlooksthe Intracoastal Waterway toward Figure Eight Island, and apair of slender, two-story country homes, set apart like bookends, bridges the beginning and the ending of the 20thcentury. The first is a vintage weatherboard relic, moved tothis location by the owner, who commissioned Flynn todesign a modern replica, linked each to the other with aslate-covered Charleston-style courtyard, enclosed bywrought iron gates, embellished with iron railings on win-dowed balconies, cast iron planters filled with vermilliongeraniums, and a lap pool surrounded by slate benches andlow masonry walls. The new home honors the image of theolder structure, creating a pair of residences for extendedmembers of the same family.

Flynn’s NCSU classmate and colleague, David Erwin,landscaped both of these homes. Flynn and Erwin alsoblended their yin and yang talents to cultivate the settingand create a seaside home for North Carolina’s artist andarbiter of country living, Bob Timberlake. In a live oakgrove, steeped by marshland, two architectural structures arelinked with winding footpaths and native plants in a tapes-try of green-on-green texture. Only an iron gate and thebarest glimpse of a low tabby wall rendered from local oys-ter, clam, and conch shells appear out of the underbrush,an architectural reminder that Ligon Flynn was here.

ligon flynnEco Smart:

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RIVER DUNESJust outside of Oriental, a new home community initiates a

forward-thinking approach to coastal development.

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Written by Kathy Grant Westbrook

Maintaining a natural shoreline isone proactive step developers aretaking to protect fish estuaries.

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t isn’t surprising that a newresidential community isbeing developed on theIntracoastal Waterway, justoutside the small town ofOriental in coastal PamlicoCounty. (Show me a bodyof water, and I’ll show youlots of people who want tolive on it.) What is surpris-

ing is that it isn’t being overdeveloped.Instead of cramming as many houses as possible on every square inch of the property,as is so often the case with waterfront realestate, the developers of River Dunes havechosen to create a relatively low-density development. And that’s just one of many steps they’ve taken in the name of environmental stewardship.

COASTAL GREEN SPACERiver Dunes occupies 1,341 acres overlooking the Neuse

River as it empties into Pamlico Sound. Approximately a halfdozen creeks are located on the property, along with almost400 acres of wetlands. “We realized this was going to be a verysensitive piece to develop,” says Ed Mitchell, president ofRiver Dunes Corporation. Just how sensitive became clearwhen Mitchell discovered that 26 different local, state and fed-eral authorities would be involved in the permitting process.

As Mitchell saw it, he had two choices. He says, “You cancertainly try to work together and use that wealth of knowl-edge that they [the regulatory agencies] have or you can takeit strictly from an engineering approach and try to meet theminimums and look at it simply from a business perspec-tive.” Mitchell and his partners chose the former.

In a move that would have been unthinkable to mostdevelopers, Mitchell organized a meeting and encouragedrepresentatives from all of the various agencies — rangingfrom the local planning board to environmental advocacy

groups to the Corps of Engineers — to attend.Approximately 40 participants showed up, with a follow-upmeeting drawing 57.

Mitchell and his partners came away from those meetingsconvinced that River Dunes could be a profitable, as well asan environmentally responsible, business venture. They com-mitted to preserving lots of green space within the develop-ment, with plans calling for about 630 homes — approxi-mately half of what the property could actually accommo-date. Construction has begun on more than a dozen homes,and by the time you read this, the first residents are expectedto have moved in. Among the first homes going up is the10th Anniversary Idea House for Coastal Living magazine. Itwill be open for tours in the fall.

Other environmentally friendly measures being taken atRiver Dunes include: using river rocks or sand, as opposed topavement, on parking lots and trails, and encouraging residentsto use electric carts instead of cars for traveling within the com-munity. Additionally, a permanent conservation easement pro-tects 238 acres that are particularly environmentally sensitive.

But here’s the real kicker: this is a boating community(there’s nary a golf course in sight), yet residents are notallowed to have private boat docks, nor was a marina built on

river dunesEco Smart:

IFuture homeowners appreciate the preservation of River Dunes’ natural setting.

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Some folks will be lucky enoughto call River Dunes home year-round. For others, it will be a part-time paradise. When investing in asecond, or vacation, home, thereare factors to consider, says CarolWright, Oriental Buyers’ Brokerand president of Pamlico CountyBoard of REALTORS.

1. Think about the distancebetween the primary residenceand a vacation home. Is it an easyday’s drive from one to the other,or are there good flight connec-

any of the property’s creeks. Instead, developers dug out a 28-acre, inland basin — accessible via a manmade channel leadingfrom one of the creeks — and equipped it with 400 boat slips,thus protecting wildlife habitats along the shoreline, and also pre-venting spectacular views from being obstructed by one boatafter another.

In lieu of boat docks, residents are allowed to build what the

developers are calling vista docks. “This is a place you can gohave a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in theevening,” says Mitchell. With a maximum size of 12 feet by 16feet, vista docks can be built six feet beyond the water line andsix feet behind the marsh line. “That’s really the ideal place toput a sitting dock like this, because it won’t disturb the habitat,”says Mitchell. Vista docks provide the perfect setting for relax-

ation, which is important, he says,because many people “come [to RiverDunes] to get away from a hecticlifestyle.”

There are plans for a number ofamenities at River Dunes, including:an ice cream shop, a bakery, a restau-rant, gift shops, a swimming pool, ten-nis courts, a spa, a nature and adven-ture center, a chapel, and a performingarts pavilion. What’s more, you won’thave to be a resident of River Dunes todrop in for a cone of chocolate icecream or a loaf of just-baked bread.“We’re not a gated community,” saysMitchell, “[and] we don’t want peopleto get the idea of a gated communitywhen they enter. When you enter, wewant you to get the feeling of an oldcoastal village of 100 years ago.”

river dunesEco Smart:

River Dunes2512 Orchard Creek RoadOriental, N.C. 28571(800) 975-9565www.riverdunes.com

Part of River Dunes’ appeal is its peaceful locale so conducive to relaxation. On a smallerscale, Bob and Susan Werner are also promoting relaxation — only they’re doing it withchairs. Seven years ago, the husband and wife team began custom building Adirondackchairs, comfortably contoured in an inviting style that says, “Sit down. Take a load off.”

The Werners give their River Breeze Adirondack Chairs added pizzazz by topping off theback slats with depictions of itemslike sailboats, flamingos, andpineapples. The Werners do notkeep an inventory of chairs butcustom-make each one.Customers are encouraged to sitdown with the couple and conjurenew designs. That’s just how oneof their coolest chairs came to be.

“A customer came by and want-ed a fish chair,” says Susan. “Wesat down and worked out thedesign.” The fish chair has sincebecome a favorite with shoppers;the design of the fish is incorporat-ed into the chair such that thehead of the fish is turned skywardfrom the top of the backrest andthe tail fins make up the ottoman.Fun, funky, and functional, thechair is perfect for any watersidesetting, from ocean to lake tomountain stream. And, like all ofthe Werner’s chairs, it’s available ina wide range of colors, from harbor blue to flamingo pink.

Have a Seat

READY TO BUY? tions between the two?2. Decide whether you want

a vacation destination that willprovide lots of entertainmentand an active nightlife or onethat is low-key and laid back.In other words, what lifestyleare you looking for?

3. Get the inside scoop onthe area you’re considering bytalking with people who livethere or have vacation homesthere. “Most important,”Wright advises, “ask whatthey don’t like.”

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River Breeze Chairs7801 Main Street Vanceboro, N.C. 28586(252) 244-2452

— Kathy Westbrook

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GREEN RETREATAs the first U.S. member of EcoClub, an international eco-tourism

organization, The Cottages at Springhouse Farm in western North Carolina promotes solitude and sustainability.

Written by Jay Ahuja

ucked away in thewoods of McDowellCounty, The Cottagesat Springhouse Farmattracts couples formyriad reasons:anniversaries, honey-moons, birthdays,retreats from the kids,and, perhaps most

often, a chance to simply “get away from it all.” Whateverthe reason, once you’re here, a sense of solitude can washover you in almost no time.

Settling in to your private bungalow, you realize thatyou’ve completely left behind the pace of your workadaylifestyle. Perhaps while flipping through the pages of a 1940sissue of Life magazine conveniently left on the coffee tablefor guests to peruse; or waking from a nap in the comfort-able double-sheeted bed; or merely lounging with a book onthe tall, hand-hewn rope bed set beside the wall-length livingroom windows, you come to fully understand it. There’s noTV blaring, not a hint of yard work going on, no trafficwhizzing by, and nary a phone, computer, or PDA to connect you to the office.

Out on the back deck, soaking in the comfortable two-person hot tub without a soul around, stars vividly displayedoverhead, you have no concern or idea what time it might be(For those who might enjoy a smoke on the deck or even in

the hot tub, a modest collection of fine cigars is available ineach cottage). Chilling out after dinner, stoking a fire in thewood-burning stove, and discovering a favorite station onthe cottage’s handy satellite radio, guests can easily get lost in their environs, utterly enjoying the company and conversation. An optional couples’ massage takes your “totalimmersion weekend” to another level, as two licensed massage therapists, Sherry and Carey, appear at a prearrangedtime with a pair of massage tables and deftly set up a veritablespa experience in the cottage (or, if you prefer, they’ll use theback deck). Moments after your massage, they’re gone, andyou could very well not a see another human being untilcheckout time.

SECLUDED LUXURYWith just six cottages spread out over 92 acres,

Springhouse Farm may be the very definition of a singulardestination. Greeted by Arthur and Zee Anne Campbell aswe pull onto the property, Arthur hands us a loaf of fresh-baked bread, hops on his four-wheeler, and leads the way up a winding dirt road as we follow in our sedan. When mywife, Karen, and I planned our weekend, we had everyintention of checking out some local attractions and enjoy-ing a restaurant or two in nearby Lake Lure. Shortly afterarriving at our nicely appointed cottage, that plan was quick-ly ditched, as we decide instead to leave the car parked, soakin our surroundings, and just unwind.

We brought along a cooler with beverages and snacks, but

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The luxury cottages areequipped with a hot tub —a perfect place from whichto enjoy the natural setting.

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springhouse farmEco Smart:

also enjoy the fresh-baked bread, as well as the local honeyand farm fresh brown eggs waiting in our cottage. Our firstnight, we opt to grill up some tasty, vacuum-packed, frozensteaks and stuffed potatoes that our hosts conveniently keepin their office. The cottage’s Weber propane grill comes in handy. You may want to bring your own foil/plastic wrap for leftovers, but just about everything else is providedand the well-equipped kitchen is more than functionalenough to prepare our traditional weekend breakfast ofomelets and mimosas.

Given another day or two here, our borrowed fishing gear might have eventually left the trunk of the car, or wemay have even pulled out the blanket and picnic basket to explore the view from the top of the property. Aside from a short walk to tour the circa-1826 farmhouse, itsgrounds and three ponds, we weren’t particularly compelledto leave our cottage. Boredom never once rears its head and,if time and budget allow, we could easily spend an entireweek here. If this sounds like a little slice of heaven to you,The Cottages at Springhouse Farm may be just what thedoctor ordered.

springhouse farmEco Smart:

ECO FRIENDLY — AND YOU CAN BRING YOUR DOG

The Cottages atSpringhouse Farm haveearned designation as thefirst United States memberof EcoClub and is also anaffiliate of the InternationalEcotourism Society. As such,they have restored two his-toric homes on the property,recycled downed trees tobuild furniture, floors, andcabinets in the cottages,and cut down no live hard-woods to clear the roads ormake room for the cottages.The entire farm is a wildlifesanctuary (you may see deer,wild turkeys, and all sorts ofsmall mammals and birds),but the owners do not allowhunting on the property andall fishing is catch-and-

release. Compact fluores-cent light bulbs are usedthroughout the cottages andevery effort has been takento minimize the impact oftourism on the property(power lines are under-ground and a single wellsupplies fresh spring waterto all the cottages).

Each cottage has centralair, heat, ceiling fans, a hottub, propane grill, fireplaceor wood-burning stove,plenty of stacked firewood,and its own charm, so Iwon’t presume to suggestone over the others. Yourchoice boils down to this:do you want a queen- orking-size bed? TheOutrigger and Compleat

Angler units offer king-sizebeds, up-to-date furnishings,and slightly larger bath-rooms. As you might expect,they cost a bit more.

If you are travelingwith your dog, theAppalachian cottage is dog-friendly and canaccommodatetwo couples, theonly unit withthat advantage.Two-dayrentals arerequired onthe week-ends and adiscount isoffered forweeklong

rentals. Holidays and sum-mertime generally tend tobook early with weeklongrentals.

The Cottages at The Cottages at

No need to leave for breakfast: Each cabin stocks a supplyof brown eggs, local honey, and fresh-baked bread.

Cottages at Springhouse Farm219 Haynes Road Marion, N.C. 28752 toll free: (877) 738-9798(828) 738-9798www.springhousefarm.com