Triangle Modernist Houses Founder Receives AIA Triangle Award

DURHAM, N.C. - April 29, 2013 - PRLog -- (Raleigh, NC) -- George Smart, founder and Executive Director of Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH), the non-profit organization that archives, preserves, and promotes Modernist residential architecture in North Carolina, has received the 2013 Isosceles Award from the American Institute of Architects Triangle Section (AIAT).

“This award is a recognition of a love affair with modern residential architecture,” said Michael Harwood, AIA, University Architect for NC State University, during the awards presentation. “George Smart has done so much to support, preserve, encourage, and celebrate modern architecture. Triangle Modernist Houses is a treasure trove of information about modern residential architecture and continues to look for new ways to expand that celebration.”

The purpose of the Isosceles Award is “to recognize individuals, institutions, associations, or companies outside the profession of architecture who, in collaboration with AIA Triangle members, have made significant contributions to the improvement of the built environment,” according to the AIAT website.

Smart’s contributions began six years ago when he started the website http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. His initial goal was to document the surprising number of existing Modernist houses in the Triangle area. Since then, the archive has expanded to cover the entire state, as well as national and international Modernist masters’ bodies of work. Today, the archive is the largest open digital archive for residential Modern in the United States.

Smart’s mission has become known by the many events he organizes that bring Modernist residential design and the public together.  Among those events are popular single- and multi-homes tours, an architecture movie series, summer-long networking events for anyone interested in and working in modern design, and the Matsumoto Prize (http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/prize.htm), an annual design awards program named for Modernist master George Matsumoto, FAIA.

Smart created the Prize to “encourage the public to appreciate architecture as an art form, and [to encourage] young architects to continue the Modernist movement in houses so important to North Carolina and the arts,” as stated on the TMH website.

“Thanks to the thousands of tour participants and hundreds of volunteers, TMH has grown into a thriving community that continues documenting, preserving, and promoting the state’s Modernist houses,” Smart said after receiving the Isosceles Award. “It is my privilege to honor the families who cherished, and the architects who designed, the houses our lively community loves. I accept this honor from AIA Triangle on behalf of everyone involved at TMH and look forward to continued collaboration with AIA Triangle.”

Architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, and over a dozen other well-known architects in the Triangle region, nominated Smart for the award, which was presented during AIAT’s April 18 awards dinner at the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library at NC State University.

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

For more information on George Smart and Triangle Modernist Houses, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.

About Triangle Modernist Houses:

Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) is a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2009 and dedicated to restoring and growing Modernist architecture in the Triangle. The award-winning website, now the largest educational and historical archive for Modernist residential design in America, continues to catalog, preserve, and advocate for North Carolina Modernism.  TMH also hosts popular Modernist house tours several times a year, giving the public access to the Triangle's most exciting residential architecture, past and present. These tours raise awareness and help preserve these "livable works of art" for future generations. For more information visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.