{"id":24635,"date":"2020-09-03T14:42:59","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T18:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/?p=24635"},"modified":"2026-04-09T23:54:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:54:41","slug":"triangle-modern-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/2020\/09\/03\/triangle-modern-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Triangle Modern Architecture Features College of Design’s Influence on Local Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Review by Michael Welton, Architects and Artisans<\/a><\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n

It took five years but it felt like 25, says architect, planner, and author Victoria Ballard Bell.<\/p>\n\n\n

That\u2019s because her new book \u2013 \u201cTriangle Modern Architecture<\/a>\u201d \u2013 is about as thorough a tome on the topic as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n

She takes us back to the beginning \u2013 to the Bauhaus and Josef Albers and Black Mountain College in Asheville \u2013 then out for a spin with Henry Kamphoefner and his hand-picked coterie of cutting-edge modernists at N.C. State\u2019s School of Design in Raleigh during the 1950s.<\/p>\n\n\n

There\u2019s Matthew Nowicki, Eduardo Catalano, George Matsumoto, Milton Small and James Fitzgibbon, for starters.<\/p>\n\n

Bell traces the origins of the NC State University School (now College) of Design and the school\u2019s lasting influence on the region\u2019s remarkable architectural culture. The book links several generations of architects\u2014most of whom were born outside of the Triangle region\u2014to an overarching set of material, compositional, and place-based design principles.”<\/strong><\/p>

– David Hill, FAIA, Head of the School of Architecture<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

They could have been for finishers too \u2013 except for the exceptional talent that followed them in the \u201860s and \u201970s. They were all architects who not only taught at the School of Design \u2013 they were required to build as well. And they did precisely that \u2013 leaving behind a legacy of about 800 modern residences in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n

Bell has inventoried the work of the best of them in the first half of this 252-page volume. In the second half are the architects who continued to explore the principles of Carolina modernism \u2013 many of them still practicing today.<\/p>\n\n\n

Among these later generations: Harwell Hamilton Harris, Frank Harmon, Phil Freelon, Kenneth Hobgood, Phil Szostak, Louis Cherry and in situ studio .<\/p>\n\n\n

Bell has gifted us a book that\u2019s aimed not at her peers, but at the general public. It\u2019s easy to read and understand. It doesn\u2019t miss much when it comes to history. And its drawings and photographs tell a story all by themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we first moved here in 2005, I heard snippets about architects and Kamphoefner,\u201d she says. \u201cI wondered: \u2018Why has someone not written a book?\u2019 Nobody\u2019s told the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Now she\u2019s done it \u2013 and done it extremely well.<\/p>\n\n\n

Review by Michael Welton, Architects and Artisans<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

About the Author <\/h2>\n\n\n
\"Victoria<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Victoria Ballard Bell is a licensed architect and author who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has just competed third publication, Triangle Modern Architects (Oro Press) that documents the connection this region has to American\u2019s Modernist roots from the 1930\u2019s to current day modern designers.<\/p>\n\n\n

Her first book, Materials for Design a book published by Princeton Architectural Press, is about the integral use of materials in the design process, released in Fall of 2006. The publication was supported through an AIA\/AAF Fellowship and a grant from the Graham Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. In 2012 she published Volume 2 of Materials for Design.<\/p>\n\n\n

Victoria has two masters\u2019 degrees from the University of Virginia in architecture and urban planning. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi medal which recognizes \u201cleadership, scholarship, and service in students\u201d. She was awarded the three-year Frederick P. Rose Architectural Fellowship that provided the framework for her to design built a job-training center in one of the poorest communities in our nation, in rural Alabama. The center was completed through a US Rural Housing and Economic Development grant which Victoria received.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n

Review by Michael Welton, Architects and Artisans<\/a><\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n

It took five years but it felt like 25, says architect, planner, and author Victoria Ballard Bell.<\/p>\n\n\n

That\u2019s because her new book \u2013 \u201cTriangle Modern Architecture<\/a>\u201d \u2013 is about as thorough a tome on the topic as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n

She takes us back to the beginning \u2013 to the Bauhaus and Josef Albers and Black Mountain College in Asheville \u2013 then out for a spin with Henry Kamphoefner and his hand-picked coterie of cutting-edge modernists at N.C. State\u2019s School of Design in Raleigh during the 1950s.<\/p>\n\n\n

There\u2019s Matthew Nowicki, Eduardo Catalano, George Matsumoto, Milton Small and James Fitzgibbon, for starters.<\/p>\n\n\n

Bell traces the origins of the NC State University School (now College) of Design and the school\u2019s lasting influence on the region\u2019s remarkable architectural culture. The book links several generations of architects\u2014most of whom were born outside of the Triangle region\u2014to an overarching set of material, compositional, and place-based design principles.\"<\/strong><\/p>

- David Hill, FAIA, Head of the School of Architecture<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

They could have been for finishers too \u2013 except for the exceptional talent that followed them in the \u201860s and \u201970s. They were all architects who not only taught at the School of Design \u2013 they were required to build as well. And they did precisely that \u2013 leaving behind a legacy of about 800 modern residences in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n

Bell has inventoried the work of the best of them in the first half of this 252-page volume. In the second half are the architects who continued to explore the principles of Carolina modernism \u2013 many of them still practicing today.<\/p>\n\n\n

Among these later generations: Harwell Hamilton Harris, Frank Harmon, Phil Freelon, Kenneth Hobgood, Phil Szostak, Louis Cherry and in situ studio .<\/p>\n\n\n

Bell has gifted us a book that\u2019s aimed not at her peers, but at the general public. It\u2019s easy to read and understand. It doesn\u2019t miss much when it comes to history. And its drawings and photographs tell a story all by themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we first moved here in 2005, I heard snippets about architects and Kamphoefner,\u201d she says. \u201cI wondered: \u2018Why has someone not written a book?\u2019 Nobody\u2019s told the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Now she\u2019s done it \u2013 and done it extremely well.<\/p>\n\n\n

Review by Michael Welton, Architects and Artisans<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

About the Author <\/h2>\n\n\n
\"Victoria<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Victoria Ballard Bell is a licensed architect and author who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has just competed third publication, Triangle Modern Architects (Oro Press) that documents the connection this region has to American\u2019s Modernist roots from the 1930\u2019s to current day modern designers.<\/p>\n\n\n

Her first book, Materials for Design a book published by Princeton Architectural Press, is about the integral use of materials in the design process, released in Fall of 2006. The publication was supported through an AIA\/AAF Fellowship and a grant from the Graham Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. In 2012 she published Volume 2 of Materials for Design.<\/p>\n\n\n

Victoria has two masters\u2019 degrees from the University of Virginia in architecture and urban planning. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi medal which recognizes \u201cleadership, scholarship, and service in students\u201d. She was awarded the three-year Frederick P. Rose Architectural Fellowship that provided the framework for her to design built a job-training center in one of the poorest communities in our nation, in rural Alabama. The center was completed through a US Rural Housing and Economic Development grant which Victoria received.<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victoria Ballard Bell’s new book features a comprehesive look at modern architecture in the Triangle, including many alumni and faculty from the College of Design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":24638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"displayCategoryID\":54,\"caption\":\"\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[34,13],"class_list":["post-24635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-external-recognition","category-newswire","tag-_from-newswire-collection-277","tag-architecture"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24635"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28274,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24635\/revisions\/28274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}