Slow Food & A Small Footprint: Charleston Architect Serves Up “Green” Options
March 30, 2009 at 3:19 pm | In church architecture, environmentalism, green architecture, historic preservation | Leave a CommentTags: Charleston low country, Slow Food
Whitney Powers, AIA
March 30, 2009 (CHARLESTON, SC) – Want to eat and live well in harmony with the natural environment? “Green” architect Whitney Powers, AIA, of Studio A, Inc, in Charleston served up solutions for reducing your home’s carbon footprint during Slow Food Charleston’s “Spring Pot Luck” dinner held Sunday, March 29, at the Circular Congregational Church in downtown Charleston.
Powers was the featured speaker for an event that celebrates “the pleasures of our bountiful Low Country spring produce.” Participants bring culinary dishes to share that are made of fresh, locally available food.
One of the city’s primary leaders in sustainable design, Whitney Powers used the new “green” Sunday School addition at the historic church on Meeting Street to point out principles of sustainable architecture – principles that can apply to anyone’s home.
A modern building within the historic church campus, the Sunday School building features certified woods (ensuring that the wood comes from a responsibly managed forest); salvaged, recycled and locally available materials; a geothermal heating and cooling system; rainwater collection cisterns; low water usage plumbing; natural ventilation and day-lighting; a deep roof overhang to protect the southern exposure and save energy; a vegetated roof; a constant indoor/outdoor connection via porches and exterior circulations paths; and overall durable construction.
“The various examples implemented in the addition can be departures for what we might consider for our own homes,” she said.
Powers worked with fellow “green” architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, of Raleigh, North Carolina, on the addition to downtown Charleston’s oldest church and the renovation of Lance Hall. She has also designed a variety of other sustainable structures throughout her career, including a residence on Johns Island in Charleston that features all of the same “green” principles as the Sunday School facility.
Besides more professional awards she’s received over the years for her work, Powers commitment to sustainable design saw her crowned as a “green goddess” in Skirt! Magazine last fall. Her work has also been featured in numerous magazines and on HGTV. For more information, visit www.studioa-architecture.com.
“Slow Food” is a global, grassroots movement whose members promote “a world in which all people can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it, and good for the planet.” To learn more, visit www.slowfoodusa.org.
There is no cost to attend Slow Food Charleston’s dinners but guests are encouraged to bring a dish to share with the group. For more info contact caroleaddlestone@mindspring.com or call her at 843-225-4307.
Center City Church Commissions “Green” Architect Frank Harmon For New Master Plan
December 14, 2007 at 7:54 pm | In church architecture, green architecture | Leave a CommentTags: architecture, chuch design, downtown Raleigh, Frank Harmon, green architecture, North Carolina, Raleigh, sustainable design
December 14, 2007 (RALEIGH, NC) – First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh has commissioned Frank Harmon Architect to design a master plan for the entire church campus, which is located on the corner of Morgan and Salisbury streets in the downtown district, on the southeast corner of Capitol Square.
According to Frank Harmon, FAIA, his firm is working on a plan that will unite the different elements of the campus, provide open green space within the campus, introduce principles of environmentally sustainability, and improve the property’s accessibility, which features a five-foot grade change.
If the congregation approves Harmon’s plan, it will also involve replacing the current two-story educational building with a three-story structure (including basement), The new building will feature such “green” elements as a vegetated roof, an abundance of natural light and ventilation through atria and window placement, a geothermal heating/cooling system (or ground source heat pumps), and rainwater collection cisterns. Materials used will be locally available and, wherever possible, recycled.
The sanctuary also will be renovated to uncover original detailing that a previous remodeling obscured.
First Presbyterian Church was founded in 1861 and met in a small brick building on the same corner in downtown Raleigh until a sanctuary was erected in 1900. That sanctuary was remodeled in 1956. The current educational facility was built in 2001.
Frank Harmon Architect is an award-winning firm based in Raleigh. The firm recently completed a thoroughly “green” addition to the oldest church in Charleston, SC, the Circular Congregational Church on Meeting Street, which was praised at the Duke Endowment’s October conference “Trends in Modern Church Architecture: The Artistry and Greening of Our Churches.”
For more information on Frank Harmon, visit http://www.frankharmon.com.
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