Enjoy this short story about one of our favorite pastoral modern homes here in the region designed by Samsel Architects. Cheers to everyone involved!
Category Archives: Architects
The Hammock House | Samsel Architects
Posted in Architects, Homes, Modern, Modern Makers
Tagged #asheville, #LiveAsYou, #makeyourmodern, architecture, asheville, contemporary, design, home, house, modern, samsel
AIA Small Project Awards for 2019
It’s a lovely adventure to get lost down the rabbit hole of these small projects. We found the simplicity and detailing intriguing and refreshing for today. Enjoy!
BIG’s tiny cabin in Upstate New York, a prayer room in Arizona and an outdoor toilet with gabion walls are among the 12 winners of this year’s AIA Small Projects Awards. Announced today, the annual American Institute of Architects Small Projects Awards recognises small and low-budget projects completed in the USA over the past year. Read on here for an inspiring overview of each Small Project Awards 2019 winner from the AIA courtesy of dezeen online.
Posted in Architects, Modern Makers
Tagged #LiveAsYou, #makeyourmoder, aia, architecture, awards, contemporary, design, Homes, houses, modern, small
Happy Birthday | Frank Lloyd Wright
In honor of one of our most celebrated architects I thought it would worthwhile to re-share this fascinating interview of the man himself. He would have been 150 years today. Happy Birthday!
1953 Frank Lloyd Wright interview by Mike Wallace | I scoured the internet for something of interest to watch last night. It is not always very fruitful, but this time I found something “fantastic” — at least from my viewpoint. If you’ve never seen this before I’m happy to share this treasure with you today. His belief in individualism and his views on the lack of intellectualism and “mobocracy” hit home today. I won’t say more, but simply encourage you to spend 50 minutes to watch this interview with a true visionary who is, obviously, very comfortable in his own skin. Enjoy the segment here . Cheers!
Posted in Architects
Tagged architect, architecture, asheville, contemporary, design, frank lloyd wright, home, house, modern
Koolhaus in NYC
Enjoy this brief video of Rem Koolhaus discussing one of his thoughtful projects in New York. Cheers!
Posted in Architects, Modern Makers, Uncategorized
Tagged architecture, asheville, contemporary, design, dwell, home, house, modern, Real Estate, residential
Congrats to Asheville’s Samsel Architects
AIA North Carolina’s 2016 Firm of the Year | We want to congratulate all our friends at Samsel Architects for winning Firm of the Year this year from AIA North Carolina. Thanks for the design integrity you bring to the mountains and our community. Cheers from us!
Posted in Architects, Modern Makers
Tagged aia, architecture, asheville, contemporary, design, home, house, modern, samsel
AIA Design Award Entries
Hi Folks! You can now see all the entries to WNC’s AIA Design Awards this year. Go here for the video overview.The outdoor awards is this upcoming Thursday evening and is $25 for General Admission which includes beer, wine and catering by Corner Kitchen. The 30 minute awards portion will be presented via a cool multi-media projection. Come and enjoy this outdoor ceremony at the City County Plaza. For tickets and information go here. Come and join us Modern Mixer crowd. Cheers!
Posted in Architects, Asheville Modern Events, Modern Architecture and Interiors
Tagged aia, architecture, asheville, contemporary, design, home, house, mid-century, modern, Real Estate, residentail
Architect Mark Allison
Article from February 2009 | Architect Mark Allison is a native of Asheville. He left Asheville after high school to study at UNC Charlotte. He followed that with studies in Denmark and then finished with his degree from the Pratt Institute. Eventually, he moved to Atlanta where he spent several years working for the Epsten Group. The Epsten Group was one of the first design groups in Atlanta practicing sustainable principles and LEED certifications with their projects. In 1997 he returned to Asheville where he worked for both PBC&L Architects and Samsel Architects. One year ago, after completing a home for him
and his family, he opened his own design office.
Mark’s office is in his new home, which is located in one of my favorite mid-century neighborhoods off of Town Mountain Rd. The home was constructed on a steep slope opposite many 1960’s contemporary homes. While creating a 3300 sqft modern home for today his design is sensitive to the context of his neighbors all while balancing with the steep slope of his 1.5 acre site.
Mark’s use of sustainable materials was evident through much of his home along with incorporating some passive solar exposure. The steep slope of the site allowed the incorporation of a deep basement into the foundation. Mark made use of a pre-cast concrete system to allow for larger openings and more a natural light. The basement does not feel like a basement.
One of the mechanical items I knew little about was the Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV). Mark tried to explain it to me, but it went in one ear and out the other while admiring the house. Doing an online search I found the dictionary explanation in unreadable technical jargon. Still not getting it I found this video that will helped. Take a moment to watch.
Previous to visiting Mark’s office and home I looked at his website. I noticed two projects I wanted to discuss with him.
One of the two projects is a concept for a commercial building along Merrimon Ave. Mark has a great deal of experience developing commercial projects. In Mark’s words, “This building for a retail or office tenant creates a pedestrian oasis against heavy automobile traffic on Merrimon Avenue. A south-facing courtyard shielded from the street by an armature of precast concrete and glass block wall creates a multifunction courtyard. One passes from here to an inner court between an existing building and the new. The design reinforces the emerging pedestrian character of this new urban edge. The challenge was to create an economical, energy efficient shell that is true to its concept, affords flexibility to its future tenants.” I could immediately recognize and appreciate the attempts Mark was making to address both the automobile and the pedestrian. The simplicity, scale and continuous portion of the architectural marquee creates a billboard to help identify it from an automobile. At the same time the way the pedestrian level falls back becomes welcoming to those on foot. For me they are simple, clean gestures that get the job done while addressing issues that many new buildings along Merrimon don’t.
The other project I noticed is a home he is creating for a family in Asheville. He is designing a 1500q/ft., sustainable house that will house 3 generations under one roof. The house utilizes passive solar design principles and is tailored to its gently sloping site. Shared terraces and courtyards join both the public and private wings. I appreciated what he and his clients were working to achieve and believe that they were creating something we will see more of in the future which is a smaller home with the flexibility to house more generations, accommodate a professional office all while working to be energy efficient.
Looking at Mark’s projects you notice that he works closely in blending the program of each project with the context of the specific site. He works back and forth with all the different issues involved in designing a building until there is a natural balance of all the pieces while always including his individual, creative vision as part of the process and result.
(text by Troy Winterrowd, Mark’s house photos by John Fletcher of the Citizen Times)
Posted in Architects, Homes, Mid-Century, Modern, Modern Architecture and Interiors, Modern Makers, Sustainable
Tagged aia, architect, architecture, asheville, contemporary, design, home, house, mark allison, mid-century, modern, Real Estate
Architect Spotlight
Giuseppe Terragni {1904-1943} While researching for various talks on Modernism at Black Mountain College we became familiar with this Italian architect Giuseppe Terragni. He was an Italian architect who worked primarily under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and pioneered the Italian modern movement under the rubric of Rationalism. His most famous work is the Casa del Fascio built in Como, northern Italy, which was begun in 1932 and completed in 1936; it was built in accordance with the International Style of architecture and frescoed by abstract artist Mario Radice. Some of his European counterparts were Le Corbusier and Marcel Breuer. We love his clean lines and compositions of shadow and light. Please find more samples of his work on our Pinterest page here. Cheers!
Posted in Architects, Modern Architecture and Interiors, Modern Makers
Tagged architecture, asheville, black mountain college, buildings, design, home, house, modern
Sunday Morning Modern







Posted in Architects, Homes, Modern, Modern Architecture and Interiors
Tagged architect, asheville, box, contemporary, design, dwell, home, house, modern, Real Estate, sparc design
Modern Monday | From the Archives
SIX ASSOCIATES | 1095 Hendersonville Road
I find myself driving to South Asheville a lot lately. Soon we will have multiple listings in the area and just put in a contract for some buyers down in the thick of it. On Friday I had to stop and pay homage to the SIX ASSOCIATES and see the building from where many of our architectural designs came from. Six Associates began in 1942 as an Asheville architectural firm established by a group of western North Carolina architects: William Waldo Dodge, Jr., Henry Irvin Gaines, Anthony Lord, William Stewart Rogers, Erle G. Stillwell, and Charles Waddell. Their swanky, mid-century office was built in 1965 at 1095 Hendersonville Road. The building still exists today as an office complex housing a variety of businesses.
Posted in Architects, Modern Architecture and Interiors
Tagged aia, architect, architecture, asheville, contemporary, design, for sale, home, house, mid-century, modern, Real Estate, six associates
Asheville | Mid-Century Modern Flashback
North Asheville Branch Library
Here are some fun pics taken in 1959 capturing Asheville’s North Library designed by SIX Associates.
To check out more on SIX Associates visit our Pinterest page on the firm.
Posted in Architects, Commercial, Modern Architecture and Interiors
Tagged architect, architecture, asheville, building, design, mid-century, modern, six associates
Welcome Home | Maria and Jakub
Kelly and I are happy to have Maria and Jakub back in town and ready to start practicing architecture here again. Maria, Jakub and family have been traveling the globe for two years and recently landed back. We wanted to take the opportunity to re-introduce them to our growing Modern Asheville audience so I’m going to republish a past article I wrote with Maria a few years back. Enjoy it and cheers to them!
Defining a Modern Asheville Aesthetic – published 1/2/2014
I recently sat down with architect Maria Rusafova at her home in West Asheville. She is the first architect to respond to my formal request to define the qualities of a Western North Carolina modern design. However, the original idea and inspiration came from lengthy discussions with my friend and architect Brandon Pass. No doubt I will be discussing this with him soon.
Maria and her husband have been in Asheville since 2000 following her graduating from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Her brother lived here and – well — who can resist? Asheville worked given that Maria states she is drawn to modern, site sensitive and environmentally conscious designs. She, also, loves the creative challenge of designing around tight budgets. How often do we hear that? Given the rich results of her own home and the client project she just finished in 5 Points neighborhood she definitely knows how to wrangle a lot – from minimal means. As you know, that always speaks to us at Modern Asheville.
Before I delve further into my discussion with Maria, let me remind you that my goal is not to define what modern is to WNC in black and white, but to note some common influences. Most of us, without being able to describe it, can intuitively feel when a modern building works within its context and doesn’t. The natural and organic design integrity creates a harmony that is almost timeless. In opposition, I’ve seen some out-of-state builders propose stucco and aluminum homes that capture a trendy modern aesthetic that is neither contextual nor timeless.
Back to Maria.
Geographically, Maria, as most architects, has rarely seen a flat site here. Most are sloped and challenging. However, the challenges can offer useful layering of functions and separations from public to private or living to utilitarian.
Materials – there are many natural materials readily available here from stone, wood and metal that reflect our local geography and help to create a continuum with the natural world.
When it comes to vernacular influences Maria is infatuated with both barn structures of our rural landscape and some of the simple, narrow and upright homes of our historic neighborhoods. There is calmness in breaking down a residential structure to a simple polygon, as opposed to, a myriad of roof lines. Again, less is more. There is richness and freedom in something that is easy to identify.
Culturally, people are moving here for sense of community. A home no longer defines ones life, but something that steps back to offer the freedom to live other aspects of your life in a broader sense. So, freedom from financial constraints and maintenance are important to living the life we all want here — perhaps an extra dinner at the Admiral or time to hike the Blue Ridge with friends?
For me, Maria blends her understanding of context with her European sense of simplicity and efficiency. It is an appropriate blend that allows her to capture the nuances of locality while bringing a lightness to living appropriate for today. One can see this in the plans for her own home.
Maria was recently chosen by one of our real estate clients to help sensibly steward the updating needed to their original Bert King home. We will explore more on that and one of her other upcoming projects soon.
In the meantime explore more of their work here. Cheers!
Posted in Architects, Homes, Modern, Modern Architecture and Interiors, Modern Makers
Tagged architecture, asheville, design, Homes, house, maria rusafova, modern, mountains, Real Estate, realtor