After an evening aboard the USS North Carolina, the Raleigh architect took home AIA NC’s highest honor as well as four awards for his firm’s completed projects.

September 19, 2013 (Raleigh, NC) -- After what turned out to be a very big night for his small, Raleigh-based firm, architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, went home with the F. Carter Williams Gold Medal, the highest honor the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA NC) bestows on an architect, as well as four other prestigious awards for projects when the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA NC) presented its 2013 AIA NC Design and Chapter Awards recently onboard the USS North Carolina in Wilmington.

Named in memory of Raleigh architect F. Carter Williams, FAIA, AIA NC awards the Gold Media to an individual “in recognition of a distinguished career or extraordinary accomplishments as an architect.”

In his nomination letter for Harmon, fellow architect Jeffrey Lee, FAIA, principal of Clark Nexsen, stated:

“Across the architectural profession, Frank Harmon, FAIA, is the face of North Carolina architecture. Through his words, his deeds, and the work of his firm, he has brought to a national audience a glimpse of the unique character and architectural culture of his home state... Frank cares about how his buildings enhance the lives of those who use them. He cares about how they are crafted and detailed. He cares about how they tread softly upon their sites, and he cares deeply about the contribution his buildings make to the architectural legacy of North Carolina.”

After he received the medal, to a standing ovation, Harmon noted that his greatest influences throughout his career have been the late Harwell Hamilton Harris, FAIA, who taught him that “each building should be a portrait of its client, ” and his wife, the late landscape architect Judy Harmon, ASLA, who taught him that " the site is more important than the building, in fact the site is the building "

Harmon’s firm, Frank Harmon Architect PA, also received:

•       AIA NC’s COTE (Committee On The Environment) Award for the thoroughly “green” AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design in downtown Raleigh.

•       AIA NC’s Tower Award, which recognizes “well-designed projects...that exemplify historic preservation and adaptive reuse in renovation, restoration or rehabilitation of a historic structure” for First Presbyterian Church, also in downtown Raleigh.

•       An AIA NC Merit Design Award for the United Therapeutics Corporation field house in Durham.

•       And an AIA NC Honor Award from The Brick Industry Southeast Region for First Presbyterian Church. The Brick Award is intended “to honor and promote exemplary architectural design when clay brick is used as a predominant building material.”

AIA NC held its 2013 awards dinner and ceremony on the evening of September 14th. Hosted by AIA NC’s Wilmington section, the event took place on the open deck of the historic battleship USS North Carolina on the Cape Fear River. For more information on the AIA NC Awards, go to www.aianc.org and click on “Design and Chapter Awards.”

For more information on Frank Harmon and his firm, visit www.frankharmon.com.

About Frank Harmon, FAIA:

Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, NC, is a nationally recognized leader in modern, sustainable, and regionally appropriate design, and the 2013 recipient of the F. Carter Williams Gold Medal, the highest honor presented by the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Specializing in environmental education centers. Harmon’s work ranges from small sheds and studios to 70,000 SF corporate headquarters, and has been published in many national periodicals and books on the subject. In 2005 Residential Architect magazine named his firm “Top Firm Of The Year.” In 2010, Harmon was included in Residential Architect’s inaugural “RA 50: The Short List of Architects We Love.” In 2012, his firm was ranked 17th among the top 50 firms in the nation by Architect Magazine.  A Professor in Practice at NC State University’s College of Design, Harmon also authors “Native Places,” a blog in which he uses hand-drawn sketches and mini-essays to examine the relationship between nature and built structures. For more information: www.frankharmon.com.