GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN: “Architect to Watch — Arielle Schechter on How Japan Inspires Her Design Philosophy”

This architect builds for the North Carolina climate and for clients who crave sustainability.

By Jessica Mordaco

Light is the most important factor in architect Arielle Schechter’s design philosophy. Much of her design inspiration comes from Japanese architects who use screens and overhangs to block the sun while creating a seamless translucence from outdoors to indoors—that, and modernist design that connects inside spaces to nature. Schechter became interested in her craft at a young age, growing up with a famous mid-century architect as a father. “I always thought I’d work for him but, when he died, I had a lot of things I wanted to say in architecture,” she says. “I totally believe there’s no point in designing anything, much less a green building unless you’re going to make it wonderful for the people who live in it, too.”  READ MORE

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ARCHITECTS + ARTISANS: “Six Winners in the Matsumoto Competition”

By Micheal Welton (Photo by Tzu Chen)

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer place.

The top two winners in the 2020 Matsumoto Prize competition – for both juried and people’s choice awards – are sited on one of Carolina’s most sought-after beaches…

…Second place in the juried competition went to Arielle C. Schechter’s Haw River House. “‘It’s just enough house for the site,’ was one of the comments,” he says. Third place went to Haymond House, by Tonic Design’s Vinny Petrarca and Katherine Hogan… READ MORE

 

AECCafe.com: “Haw River Net Zero Passive House in Chatham County, North Carolina by Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA”

by Sanjay Gangal | photos by Tzu Chen Photography

The clients, an artist and an attorney, asked for a “very sustainable yet super-modern” house for their blended family, which is generously populated with children and beloved dogs. And they wanted the type of house that Arielle Condoret Schechter is known for: modern, Net Zero, Passive house-rated with clean lines and clear volumes and open, uncluttered interior spaces filled with sunlight, panoramic views, and easy access to the outdoors.

• Architect: Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA
• Project: Haw River Net Zero Passive House
• Location: Chatham County, North Carolina
• Photography: Tzu Chen Photography
• Owners: Kate Paradis and Scott Zimmerman
• Completed: 2019
• Software used: ARCHICAD by Graphisoft    READ MORE

 

DWELL: “Mason-Grabell ‘Beech’ House”

PHOTOS BY IMAN WOODS

Anne and Bruce, the clients for this project, had recently relocated to Chapel Hill from Florida. They considered themselves “climate refugees” who no longer wanted to live through the yearly hurricanes they were experiencing in Florida. They selected Arielle Schechter for her modernist style, then agree to ramp up the design “Net Zero Ready” in accordance with her commitment to sustainability. READ MORE 

Modern, Customized Micropolis® House Joins 2018 Green Home Tour

Architect Arielle Schechter welcomes tour-goers to “Happy Family.”

The Serdar house, designed by Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA

 The 2018 Spring Green Home Tour, sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange, and Chatham counties (HBADOC), will offer participants a rare opportunity to tour a customized Micropolis House®, one of the modern, sustainable, customizable homes in a collection of small house plans designed by Chapel Hill architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA. Originally the Micropolis® “Happy Family” house, this version will be open for public touring during the first two weekends in May (5-6 and 12-13), from noon to 5 pm. Schechter will be there part of the time to answer questions.

The homeowners are Cheryl and Ken Serdar, transplants from Texas, who told Schechter they wanted a “very modern, almost industrial house,” the architect said. They also needed one more bedroom than the plan offered for two reasons: (1) Cheryl Serdar is a jewelry designer and plans to work from home, so the extra room will be her studio; and (2) most banks require a third bedroom for loans (an issue that’s proving problematic for Schechter’s tiny Micropolis® plans. To date, she’s usually had to add one bedroom for future homeowners to obtain bank loans).

Homeowner and jewelry designer Cheryl Serdar on the construction site.

Like their architect, the Serdars are animal lovers who include cats in their household. For the cats’ pleasure, there is a “cat staircase” that leads up to a 12-foot-high platform “where the feline members of the family can go to observe their minions below,” she said.

Another customized deviation from the original plan is the spa-like master bathroom. Schechter designed it to explore ideas of what a luxurious bathroom can be. “Which ties in with my assertion that smaller houses let you put your money toward better quality in materials and details rather than more square feet,” she said.

Schechter names her Micropolis House® for certain inspirations they give her.  She named this one “Happy Family” because the (original) two bedrooms are on opposite ends of the house with the “public” spaces in between. This floor plan provides family members with a central social area for being together and private places to which they can retreat, “creating the type of spatial variety essential for a happy family,” she said.

Speaking of happy families, the Serdars have two words for their new home: “Love it!”

Click here for more information on the HBADOC’s free, self-guided 2018 Green Home Tour.

Click here for more information on Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA.

Click here for more information the Micropolis® House Plans.

CHAPEL HILL NEWS: “New take on American cabin style home”

By Sally Keeney

This modernist cabin, designed by architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, will begin rising out of the woods in Orange County near its Durham border in spring 2018. (Click on the link below to see PDFs of the entire article.)

American Cabin_1

Works in Progress: Chapel Hill Architect Arielle Schechter, AIA, Announces Three New Residential Projects

 

 

RENDERING: PRIVACY FOR TWO

December 11, 2017 (Chapel Hill, NC) — Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, Architect, a full-service architecture firm based in Chapel Hill, NC, has announced three new residential projects, each with remarkably different aspirations.

Big House for a Big Family: Arielle Schechter, principal and founder, describes one of her newest clients as a “big, loving, blended family with kids and more kids on the way.” The family needs a generously sized modern house “for the rest of their lives,” she said, with plenty of space for the family as it is today and as it will be in the future as it expands with spouses and grandchildren.

One response will be a huge playroom to allow for ping pong, pool, and foosball “at any hour of the day or night.” The playroom will connect directly to the house and to the outdoors, allowing access to a future swimming pool. “This house is all about togetherness and family fun,” Schechter noted.

Privacy for Two: A husband and wife anxious to escape what they call a “soul-deadening” cookie-cutter residential development, have hired Schechter to plan and design a very private new home that will let them “just disappear into the woods,” she said. The “woods” she refers to are in Chatham County.

According to the architect, they are a modest couple and want a modern but simple, unpretentious, age-in-place design that let them live out their lives together in peace, away from the restrictions of a housing development.

One of Schechter’s inspirations was her clients’ request for “a sheltered place to sit outside and watch the rain.” In response, she has designed a deeply cantilevered roof where they can sit outside and enjoy the rain without getting wet.

A Doctor in the House: Schechter’s third new project is a modern residence for a doctor who teaches and practices at Duke University, his wife, and their son. The family moved to Durham from New York City. Their primary objective is a family home for three that maintains the parents’ connection to their young son.

One design decision directly related to that concept: a second-floor bridge that “floats” over an open, double-height living room. The bridge connects the master suite to their son’s suite, both of which are on the second floor. The lower level will feature the public spaces – living, dining, kitchen areas — and guest rooms that can double as an office or den.

For more information on Arielle Schechter and to see her built work as well as other “On The Boards” projects, visit www.acsarchitect.com.

 

On The Boards: Arielle Condoret Schechter Designs A Modern Family Destination

Modernist architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, has a host of projects underway these days. Among the residential work taking shape in her home studio and office, high atop Stillhouse Bluff in Chapel Hill, is a Modern Cabin out in rural Orange County, North Carolina.

A couple from San Francisco commissioned Schechter to design their Modern Cabin where one of their sons will live for a few years until they permanently relocate to North Carolina.

The couple asked the architect for a “sort of rustic but more modern cabin” that would become their permanent home as well as a family get-together destination optimized for comfortable visits with their two children.

Unlike stereotypical cabins, Schechter’s design expresses its modernity in materials, space, and architectural vocabulary. Abundant glazing will welcome sunlight and panoramic views of the wooded setting into the house. Under flat rooflines, the open floor plan will provide a natural, unfettered journey through the house and outside onto balconies and porches.

Like any well-designed cabin, traditional or modern, the structure will be efficient and durable. Schechter expects construction to begin this spring.

For more information on the architect and to see her built work as well as other “On The Boards” projects, visit www.acsarchitect.com.

“The Professor’s House” in Chapel Hill To Be Open for Public Touring in September.

Designed by Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, this small, modern, age-in-place house will be featured on the Fall 2017 Modapalooza Tour.

“The Professor’s House,” a small, sustainable, age-in-place house overlooking Morgan Creek in Chapel Hill, has been selected for the Fall 2017 Modapalooza Tour on Saturday, September 16, sponsored by North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH).

Chapel Hill architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, designed the house for a retired professor of Native American Studies. A widow now, she wanted to downsize from her 3200-square-foot house and live with her dog in a modern, age-in-place house in a quiet, wooded neighborhood in Chapel Hill, NC.

A bridge from the guest parking area to the front door avoids the use of stairs.

She contacted Schechter because she’d heard about the Micropolis Houses®, a collection of modern “tiny house” plans Schechter designed that range from 150 to 1500 square feet and can be customized to meet specific buyers’ needs and preferences. In this case, the professor wanted to add a third bedroom/office and an extra bath to the Micropolis® plan she chose.

“A small house meant she could have things like a swimming pool, a Japanese soaking tub, and choose nicer elements for her money,” Schechter noted.

The final design is nearly half the size of the professor’s previous house. Yet at only a little more than 1600 heated square feet– almost 1000 square feet less than the average American house, which is now 2500 square feet — it packs in all of the professor’s spatial needs in an open, fluid floor plan with age-in-place functionality. Schechter calls it a “Custom-opolis.”

The Professor’s House is one of seven houses designed by award-winning architects on this year’s Modapalooza Tour, including projects by Frank Harmon, Phil Szostak, Tina Govan, Jason Hart, and in situ studio. (For all the details about the tour, visit http://www.ncmodernist.org/palooza17.htm.)

The Professor’s House is also in the running for a 2017 George Matsumoto Prize, which recognizes excellence in North Carolina modernist residential design sponsored by NCMH. Winners are selected by both a professional jury and public voting. (Public voting at https://ncmhcompetitions.squarespace.com/ ends July 20.)

For more information on The Professor’s House and architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, visit www.acsarchitect.com.

Photos by Iman Woods

ELUXE MAGAZINE: “Eco Architecture Homes & Tech | NET GAIN: 5 ZERO ENERGY HOMES YOU’LL WISH YOU LIVED IN”

Murphy-Dunn Net Zero House

http://eluxemagazine.com/homestech/zero-energy-homes/