Frank Harmon Architect PA Receives STARworks Commission

RALEIGH, N.C. - Aug. 14, 2013 - PRLog -- Frank Harmon Architect PA, a multi-award-winning firm based in Raleigh, has received the commission to continue work on transforming an 80-year-old textile mill in Star, NC, into the STARworks Center for Creative Enterprise, an arts and crafts incubation center for artists, craftspeople, and crafts-related businesses.

The firm began working on the STARworks project several years ago. After producing the project’s architectural feasibility study and master plan, Harmon’s firm renovated 40,000 square feet of the project’s total 184,000 square feet. That space now houses a glassmaking studio, a clay fabrication studio, a ceramics supply house, a geothermal and renewable energy contractor, and a community farm that is raising organic meats and vegetables.

“Our intent has always been to provide spacious and well-lighted studio workspaces while maintaining as much of the historic texture of the old textile mill as possible,” said Frank Harmon, FAIA, founder and principal of the firm.

Harmon’s new commission involves uncovering the original features and architectural integrity of the ca. 1900 two-story school building on the property. This brick building served as an agricultural and mechanical trade school until 1950. When the Russell family bought the property, they began adding buildings for textile manufacturing. When textile operations ceased in the late 1990s, STARworks, a non-profit agency devoted to growing and developing creative enterprises, acquired the mill.

The STARworks project is part of a larger, seven-county Yadkin-Pee Dee Lake Project. When completed, it will include a gallery, outdoor entertainment pavilion, indoor performing arts center, classroom spaces, a restaurant, business offices, and arts and crafts studios ranging in size from 1500 to 5000 square feet.

“The owners hope the facility will encourage artists and craftspeople to remain in the community,” Harmon said. For more information on STARworks, visit www.starworksnc.org.

Frank Harmon Architect PA is well known for its modern, sustainable, and regionally appropriate designs for environmental and arts-oriented education and support facilities. Among the firm’s arts facilities are the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove and the Penland School of Arts And Crafts’ Iron Studio in Penland. For more information on the firm, visitwww.frankharmon.com.

About Frank Harmon Architect PA:

Frank Harmon Architect PA, an award-winning architectural firm, is nationally recognized as a leader in modern, innovative, sustainable, and regionally appropriate design. The firm is especially known for its environmental education projects. In 2012 Harmon’s firm ranked 17^th in Architecture magazine’s Top 50 Firms in the nation. In 2010, Frank Harmon was included inResidential Architect magazine’s “RA 50: The short list of architects we love.”  For more information: http://www.frankharmon.com.