Ellen Cassilly Architect Newsletter • Summer 2016

ECA is voted "Best Architect in Durham County" by Indy Week!

We are pleased to announce that Ellen Cassilly Architect was voted "Best Architect in Durham County" in Indy Week's 2016 Best of the Triangle competition (for the second year in a row!). As always, we are grateful for your trust, support and enthusiasm. We are blessed with fabulous clients which is often the difference between a good project and a great project. There are many fine design professionals in the area and we are proud to have earned your vote and plan to continue working towards making our community beautiful. Thank you!

The ECA crew—Keith, Meredith, Ellen, Esther, and Niña—with our Indy Week award.

Meintjes-Berliner Studio

This curved-roof structure that we shared in our last newsletter is nearing its completion. We, and our clients, think it's fabulous. This is our first project with Riverbank Construction and we've really enjoyed working with them!

The studio awaiting the metal roof, paint, and screens for the screened porch (left), and an older picture of the studio, but a better look at the curved roof (right).

Sustainability Tests at the Skye-Norris Home

The Skye-Norris Home is also nearing its completion and we recently gathered for the blower door test, which was ably administered by Marshall Dunlap from BuildSense. The blower door test measures the air tightness of the structure, and locates any leakage sites. Ellen led students from the NCSU sustainability course on a site visit to observe the test. The house got a 0.35 score - low is good. A score for a typical house might be between 0.67 and 1.0. We'll have finished images in the fall newsletter.

Marshall Dunlap conducting the blower door test.

NCSU Architecture students learning about the test.

NCSU Design/Build Studio Project

Ellen's students at NCSU are currently working on a garden shed and outdoor classroom for the volunteer gardeners at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Keep an eye out for our fall newsletter which will feature the finished building and site. That's how fast it happens with a 13 week summer studio! This is the sixth year Ellen is team teaching with Randy Lanou, Erik Mehlman, Scott Metheny, and Joel Lubell and the class will be at the core of the Architecure program's new certificate in Public Interest Design.

Students' models for the NCMA outdoor shed and classroom.

Students' drawings for the final NCMA structure.

Installing the third of the four steel beams. Notice that the mother-of-all-glulams was installed last week. (Photo by Frank Konhaus)

Pie Pushers on Main Street

We are excited to be working with the Pie Pushers team and Gateway Building Company on a new physical location for this popular Durham food truck. It will be located above The Pinhook on Main Street in downtown Durham. We are just getting underway and a crane delivered materials on Sunday. Oh the joys of working in the center of downtown! Check out the super loading platform hanging from four cables.

A snapshot of the soon-to-be Pie Pushers.

A new meaning to "Special Delivery Pizza".

Love Renovation

Remember the Love Renovation from our last newsletter? The design was to expand the interior space to accommodate house concerts for this pianist/harpsichordist couple as well as their exquisite art collection. We also wanted to open the space to the new screened porch, terrace and garden. The transformation has completely changed how they live int house. AG Builders really sweated the details with us on this one - from the display lighting in the millwork to the retractable screens on the porch. We recently received these beautiful images and we couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out thanks to photographer Jonathan Danforth. This house was on the North Carolina Modernist Homes Spring Modapalooza tour, and we have our fingers crossed that it will be accepted into the Triangle AIA residential home tour October 8th.

IndyWeek HB2 Issue

We hope that you saw the HB2 issue of Indy Week. While we usually do not rely on advertisements, after recent events in the NC Legislature we decided to break our tradition and take out a full-page ad (with Kontek Systems). The full text follows below.

There is nothing “common sense” about NC House Bill 2 and it has nothing to do with the safety of North Carolinians. It is a cynical power grab designed to divide, disrespect, discriminate, and diminish all North Carolinians. It stifles local voices - particularly those of already-marginalized communities.

As Durham-based employers and long time members of this community, KONTEK Systems and Ellen Cassilly Architect stand together to demand full repeal of this hateful and ignorant legislation.

The reputation of North Carolina as a place we are proud to call home, raise our families, and do business has been tarnished - full repeal is the first step to moving us forward as a diverse community.

YOU CAN HELP.

Vote, write your elected representatives, and support these and other local organizations on the ground working every day to repeal HB2.

LGBTQ Center of Durham

Southerners on New Ground

Equality NC

Startups Against HB2

Have you noticed that our summer newsletter is bigger and better than before? That's thanks to Jessina Leonard, our new special projects coordinator. We are also grateful to have Nick Hilker with us as our summer architecture intern.

Wishing you all a wonderful summer,Ellen, Esther, Keith, Meredith, Nick, Jessina and Niña