Accolades for Modern Addition, Renovation of Traditional House

Kenneth Hobgood Architects Wins 2012 AIA Triangle Design Award

Collins house interior.

May 4, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – Award-winning architect Kenneth Hobgood, FAIA, recently added another accolade to his resume when his firm’s modern renovation of, and addition to, a traditional residence in Raleigh received a 2012 AIA Triangle Merit Award.

AIA Triangle is the Triangle region section of the American Institute of Architects’ North Carolina chapter. The organization presented its 2012 design awards on April 19.

The award-winning project is on a wooded and sloping lot in an established neighborhood inside the Raleigh beltline. Originally a “spec” house built in the 1960s, it featured typical symmetrical fenestration and small, unorganized interior spaces, especially after a series of small additions to the rear.

“It did not take full advantage of the very unique architectural opportunities provided by this rare site,” said Robert Thomas, AIA, a principal at Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects. “The living spaces were located at the back of the lot, with an orientation to the side yard. The front of the house contained a huge walk-in closet and two small bedrooms up, and a large bathroom with two bedrooms below.”

The clients wanted an open, modern living space, the high property costs near the center of city made a complete teardown impossible.

“The challenge was to preserve enough of the existing house to make the project viable, while providing an entirely new image and spatial quality for the house,” Thomas said.

The firm’s scheme preserved the more singular and iconic gabled roof volume, removed all of the interior partitions, and completely reorganized the programmatic components to shift the focus of the house.

The new floor plan features an on-grade access to a new terrace at the rear, while pushing all of the common/public space to the front of the house to take advantage of the views. Rather than an alignment and orientation to the narrow side yards, the plan now stretches along a line perpendicular to the length of the lot and provides two unique experiences of the site: one on grade to the rear and one that floats above, and projects above, the top of the hill at the front.

Materials used include platform framing with standard steel pipe columns and laminated veneer lumber at the front, existing brick, Hardi® siding with aluminum reveals, aluminum storefront framing, translucent polycarbonate panels, wood floors, gypsum board, and white oak millwork.

Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects is particularly well known for its modern, minimalist residential designs that have won multiple design awards since Kenneth Hobgood founded the firm in 1992. For more information, visit www.kennethhobgood.com.

For more information on AIA Triangle, go to www.aiatriangle.org.

Paul Hobgood To Co-Conduct Architecture Skills Workshop at CAM

Raleigh architect to help introduce drawing and modeling techniques to high school students.

March 22, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – Paul Hobgood, a design architect at the award-winning firm Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects in Raleigh, will help teach high school students the basics behind architectural drawing and model building during a special workshop to be held at the Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) in downtown Raleigh on Saturday, April 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Hobgood, a graduate of the N.C. State University College of Design with a Master of Architecture degree, will co-teach the Architecture Skills Workshop with Rebecca Necessary, a project designer at Vines Architecture and an undergraduate studio instructor at the College of Design.

Hobgood and Necessary will first teach the students, grades nine through 12, the fundamentals of architecture drawing and modeling. Then the students will utilize the tools and techniques they’ve learned to complete two skills-based projects.
“It’s a great opportunity for high school students to challenge themselves creatively and hopefully gain the confidence to pursue a career in design,” Hobgood said. “I think it’s an ideal first step and I hope people will take advantage of it.
Advance registration is required to attend the workshop, which will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis. Registration fee is $50. For more information and to download the registration form, go to camraleigh.org and click on “programs,” then “high school,” then “workshops and open studios.” 

 

Paul Hobgood was a finalist for the Kamphoefner Honor Fellowship, an annual award that recognizes the College’s outstanding Master of Architecture student. He has worked at Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects since 2004, serving as a design architect on a number of the firm’s innovative, modern, award-winning projects, including the Beanie + Cecil retail store, the Lee Jones house, and the Aldridge house. He was also one of the lead designers on the firm’s submission to the NC AIA headquarters building design competition. For more information on Kenneth Hobgood Architects, visit www.kennethhobgood.com.

 

“Appetite 4 Architecture” Dinner Features Special Guest Kenneth Hobgood, FAIA

Sponsored by Triangle Modernist Houses.

Kenneth Hobgood, FAIA

February 10, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – Kenneth Hobgood, FAIA, founder and principal of the award-winning firm Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects in Raleigh, will be a featured guest at Triangle Modernist Houses’ “Appetite4Architecture” dinner on Tuesday, February 21, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in 18 Seaboard restaurant in Raleigh.

Now in its third year, “Appetite4Architecture” dinners are sponsored by Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), an award-winning, non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and promoting Modernist residential design. The purpose of the dinners is to give the general public a chance to dine with, and talk with, some of the Triangle area’s finest architects in a relaxed, informal setting.

Kenneth Hobgood is well known for modern, minimal, and timeless architecture of all types, especially houses. His work has been exhibited in Japan, Germany, Italy, England, and the US and featured in national journals and books such as Architectural Digest, the Wall Street Journal, Architectural Record, Arch Daily.com, and The New American House by James Trulove, Among his best known, award-winning residential designs are:

• The Gravely Khachatoorian House in Chapel Hill, which was featured in Architectural Digest.
• The Bugg House in Durham, which was featured in the Wall Street Journal.
• The house at 100 Hermitage Road in Charlotte, which was featured in Architectural Record.
• And the Paletz Moi House in the Durham, which was featured in the Raleigh News & Observer.

Hobgood’s firm recently completed a 22,000-square-foot, four-level, all-glass house in Kuwait City, Kuwait, that received a design award from the North Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA NC) in 2007 in the “unbuilt” category.

Kenneth Hobgood has been a visiting critic at Auburn University, Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, and the University of Kentucky, and an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University since 1988. In 1997, he received the NC State University College of Design’s Kamphoefner Prize for “consistent integrity and devotion to modern architecture.”

Joining Hobgood for the February 21 “A4A” dinner are Erin Sterling Lewis, AIA, of In Situ Studio in Raleigh, and Brian Shawcroft, AIA, a fellow recipient of the Kamphoefner Prize.

The TMH “A4A” dinners are all held at 18 Seaboard, 18 Seaboard Avenue, No. 100, Raleigh, NC 27604. The dinners include three courses from a preselected menu (vegetarian options are available) plus coffee, water, tea, tax, and gratuity. Price per person is $53. Tickets are available at http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/a4a. Payments are nonrefundable except for event cancellation. All proceeds benefit TMH’s ongoing documentation, preservation, and house tours programs. For more information on TMH call George Smart, 919-740-8407 or visit http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

For more information on Kenneth Hobgood, visit www.kennethhobgood.com.

Paul Hobgood Joins Triangle Modernist Houses’ Advisory Council

To assist the non-profit with its ongoing mission.

November 30, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) – Paul Hobgood, a design associate in the award-winning architectural firm Kenneth E Hobgood Architects in Raleigh, has been selected to serve on Triangle Modernist Houses’ 2012 Advisory Council.

Paul Hobgood

TMH is a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 to preserve and promote Modernist architecture in the Triangle. The award-winning website is now the largest educational and historical archive for Modernist residential design in America.

Selected from a cross-section of the design community, Advisory Council members support and improve TMH’s programming, including popular house tours, architecture movies, trips, presentations, and many other events.

Paul Hobgood graduated from North Carolina State University’s College of Design in 2008 with a Masters in Architecture. He was a finalist for the Kamphoefner Honor Fellowship, an annual award that recognizes the College’s outstanding Master of Architecture student. He has worked at Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects since 2004, and has served as a design architect on a number of the firm’s modern, award-winning projects since then.

“I’m excited about serving on the Advisory Council for two reasons,” Hobgood said. “One, it’s an opportunity to further enhance a resource – TMH — that spotlights the Triangle’s rich history as it pertains to modernist homes and architects, since I’ve spent most of my life in and around modernist architecture. Two, I have a genuine sense of pride when it comes to the Triangle. I’m also intrigued by the broad spectrum of interests and specialties that comprise this year’s Advisory Council. It should make for a spirited debate/process.”

The 16-member Advisory Council meets twice a year at the modern Durham home of TMH founder and board chair George Smart.

“The Advisory Council is part focus group, part brain trust,” said Smart. “The members’ experience and insights into design and preservation have helped us create so many popular events over the years that our website is now up to 40,000-plus views a month. I’m looking forward to the innovations that will no doubt come from the 2010 Advisory Council.”

For more information on TMH, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

For more information on Paul Hobgood and Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects, visit www.kennethhobgood.com.

Kenneth Hobgood Architects Wins AIA NC Design Award for Modern “Tower”

Future residence is a secluded retreat within an established neighborhood. 

Architectural model of the award-winning Jones Residence II

September 14, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) – An as-yet-unbuilt residential “tower” designed by Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects in Raleigh has received a Merit Award from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA NC).

The winning design, “Jones Residence II,” is one of two concepts the firm has proposed for the same client and site. Located on a steep, heavily wooded site just inside the beltline in Raleigh, North Carolina, this concept is an 1800-square-foot home that balances the client’s’ desire to be part of a well-established neighborhood while yet feel as if they’re in a secluded retreat.

“The client is a young cancer researcher at Duke University,” said the firm’s principal, Kenneth Hobgood, FAIA. “The house is a retreat from the rigors and pressures of a life in medical research.”

This firm is well known for modern, progressive, minimalist design, and the Jones Residence II is no exception. The design of the house “represents a simple diagram,” Hobgood explained. “A simple cube is separated into three equal segments with a shift in the central segment.”

The house becomes, then, a three-level tower that minimizes disruption to the site. In fact, it’s footprint covers only 1.25 percent of the site and would result in the loss of only two trees.

While all three levels are simple square plans, the middle level has been shifted forward, allowing dramatic views of the site and creating outdoor balconies. This level, clad completely in glass, contains the entrance, living room, dining room and office. The main entrance is reached via a bridge that spans from a parking terrace to the living/dining level.

The lowest level includes two guest bedrooms, the upper level houses the master bedroom suite, and a continuous stair connects all three levels. So the day-to-day living in the house occurs on the two upper levels.

The design team for Jones Residence II consisted of Kenneth Hobgood, Paul Hobgood, and Patrick Hobgood.

Tom Pfeiffer, FAIA, and Craig Dykers, AIA, served as chairman of the 2011 AIA NC Design Awards jury. (Pfeifer designed the new NC Museum of Art.) Other notable architects from the New York area, where the jury met, served as jurors. The awards were presented during the AIA NC Annual Conference held this past weekend in Raleigh, NC.

For more information on Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects, visit www.kennethhobgood.com.

Kenneth Hobgood Architects Renovates, Enlarges A Classic Fifties Modern House

Sensitive phased project respects the architectural integrity of the

original residence.

Rendering: cantilevered office on Hansen addition

July 13, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) – Kenneth E. Hobgood Architects in Raleigh recently completed the renovation phase of an exemplary, mid-century modern house in Durham and is about to begin construction on phase two: a 1200-square-foot addition that will honor, without imitating, the original house.

When new owners and Duke University professors Mimi and Mark Hansen hired the firm to renovate and enlarge the 2337-square-foot house that architect Kenneth Scott, AIA, designed for Binford and John Carr in 1958, the design team immediately recognized the challenges they faced.

“We knew it was going to be difficult because of our respect for the original house,” said project architect Bob Thomas, AIA, a principal in the firm. “This was a renovation, not a restoration, so it needed to accommodate a family of five, including three young children, and lifestyle changes from the Fifties to today. So we had to strike a balance between opening up the space yet transforming the interior respectfully.”

As for the addition: “It was challenging, and interesting, to add onto a house we

CG rendering of the addition and cantilevered office at night.

respect so much without mimicking, or repeating, what’s there,” said Kenneth Hobgood, FAIA, principal. “We knew the idea had to come from the existing house, in terms of materials, scale and siting. We also knew we had to be very careful since the new owners hope to have the house designated as an historic property.”

According to Thomas, the renovation involved preserving the fundamentals of the mid-century house – the carport and enclosed courtyard entry, the floor plan organization, the cruciform footprint, and the planar language of the house (interior spaces are defined by brick planes) — while enlarging the kitchen and bringing the house up to current building codes.

By relocating a staircase in the middle of the house that once led to the basement, the firm made the kitchen not only larger but literally the center of the house. This also allowed them to remove walls that made the kitchen an enclosed room and visually connect to it the rest of the living spaces as is more typical of modern residential design.

“Where we did intervene, we made it more of a true modern house,” Thomas noted.

The living room, a glass-fronted space that overlooks the rebuilt deck outside under the house’s deep roof overhangs, was touched very lightly, he said. “Other than cosmetic upgrades, the living room is perfect the way it is. We couldn’t do anything to make it better.”

The original house is organized so that living spaces are on the northern side of the east-west axis/circulation hall with bedrooms on the southern, street-facing side. A hallway/gallery leading to the bedrooms features a glass wall overlooking the courtyard.

The addition will continue this organizational plan, including a glass-fronted gallery. This gallery, however, will also be a 25-foot-long bridge between the old house and the new addition, following the original east-west axis and circulation pattern.

“We talked the owners into buying a portion of the lot next door so that we could leave some distance between the original house and the addition,” Thomas said. “The bridge keeps us from having to mimic the old house because it’s separate from the original, not grafted onto it. It takes its cues in plan and materials, for the most part, from Kenneth Scott’s design. Yet it will provide visual and physical clarity between the old and new.”

Along with the bridge, the addition will include a master bedroom suite, a guest room and another basement, as well as Mark Hansen’s 36-foot-long, 8-foot, 8-inches wide office that will be cantilevered off the addition’s northern elevation.

“The office is the only true departure from the planes and materials of the original,” Thomas said. “It will be a separate object that will float above the landscape in a cantilevered box, framed in dark, anodized metal that will form ‘blinders’ on the east and west, except for one slender, floor-to-ceiling window. The northern wall will be all glass with Mark’s desk built into it. The southern wall will be covered in bookshelves to accommodate Mark’s vast collection of books.”

Thomas expects the addition to take about a year to complete.

Bayleaf Buildings of Raleigh is serving as contractor for the project. Kaydos-Daniels is the structural engineer.

For more information on Kenneth Hobgood Architects, visit www.kennethhobgood.com.

Kenneth Hobgood Architects Anticipates Completion of Glass Villa in Kuwait

The residence will be a showcase of modern design, special engineering and meticulous construction.

June 24, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) — Construction is nearing completion on Villa Al Bahar, a modern, 22,000-square-foot, four-level glass house in Kuwait City, Kuwait, designed by Kenneth Hobgood Architects of Raleigh, NC.

Villa Al Bahar under construction (south wall).

Designing and building a glass and steel villa that can handle the heat and glare in Kuwait has been challenging, the firm admits.

The client, businessman Adnan Al Bahar, discovered Kenneth Hobgood Architects during one of his summer stays in Durham, NC. Impressed by the many modernist houses Kenneth Hobgood has designed, he hired him after one meeting and challenged the firm to create an elegant, modern, state-of-the-art, glass villa for his family. Budget was not an issue. The villa needed to include very generous, and completely separate, spaces for formal entertaining, for the family’s private living space, and for the servants’ living quarters. He also wanted a large garage and workshop for his automobile collection.  And the villa had to be fully accessible.

“That’s very unusual in Kuwait,” said senior associate architect Alan Tin, AIA, who has worked closely with Hobgood on this project and visited the site often. “Accessibility is not as important there as it is here.”

The site is flat, extremely sandy, and in an exclusive neighborhood of gridded plats

Model of the future Villa Al Bahar by Kenneth Hobgood Architects.

where most villas are built in the center of property. Ignoring that precedent, Villa Al Bahar is comprised of a central glass, steel, and concrete mass with glass wings that wrap around and overlook a central courtyard. “Public” spaces are on the ground level. The family’s private living spaces are on the second level. Women servants will live on the third level and the men servants’ will occupy generous quarters below grade near a huge garage and workshop.

Some of the villa’s other special features are:

• A series of glass planes and tubes custom designed by structural engineer Tim Macfarlane of London to function as veils to filter light.
• A custom-designed stainless steel structural system.
• Operable wooden louvers to allow an abundance of natural light yet accommodate the family’s need for privacy, modesty, and separation.
• A grand staircase comprised of three-inch-thick, cantilevered glass risers.
• An 800-pound glass front door with electro-magnetic lock.
• Full automation via control panels, and all mechanical systems include back-up systems.

The primary interior materials are marble, fine wood, and raw concrete. All casework has been custom designed and crafted.

“Adnan Al Bahar is an incredible man,” Kenneth Hobgood said. “He has been so involved in this project in the best sense of the word, and his comments have been extremely insightful. We’ve admired his obvious respect for his servants and the entire construction crew. We’re determined to make sure this house is as perfect as humanly possible for him.”

For more information on Villa Al Bahar and other projects by Kenneth Hobgood Architects, visit www.kennethhobgood.com.