DURHAM, NC: Eight Modern homes will be open to tour-goers for Modapalooza NC, a program organized by USModernist®, America’s largest open resource for Modernist architecture. On September 14, 2024, Modernism enthusiasts will board luxury tour buses to visit new and renovated homes by women architects around Raleigh, Durham, and Hillsborough. Visitors will meet the architects and hear about their visions as they tour through the homes.
“We planned to offer a dynamic tour and found that the houses we wanted were all by women,” says George Smart, Hon. AIA, founder of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization that provides documentation for nearly every iconic Modernist house in America with the mission to educate the public to preserve Modernism. “Tour-goers will experience great modern design interpreted for today.”
Tickets are $179 each and include refreshments, lunch, tote bag, and wi-fi on the bus. Information and tickets: usmodernist.org.
Featured Home
Woodburn House, Raleigh, NC, designed by Open Studio. Photo courtesy of Open Studio
Woodburn House, Raleigh, is designed by Erin Sterling Lewis, FAIA, of Open Studio in Raleigh. Lewis received her architecture degree from University of Kentucky, and started Open Studio with Oz Ozburn, AIA, in 2020. Woodburn is a contemporary version of a ranch home in an H-shaped plan that allows the entire middle section to be glass and the private wings to hug a courtyard-like space with a pool, yard, and garden.
Mordecai House, Raleigh, NC, designed by Katherine Hogan, AIA. Photo: Tzu Chen; courtesy of Katherine Hogan Architects
Mordecai House, Raleigh, is designed by Katherine Hogan, AIA, of Katherine Hogan Architects in Raleigh. Hogan received her degree in architecture from Syracuse University and was a partner in a design/build company for 13 years prior to opening her namesake office in 2021. Constraints of site and budget spurred the design for the striking Mordecai house, which rises three stories yet maintains a neighborhood scale.
Morris House, Raleigh, NC, designed by Rebecca Necessary. Photo courtesy of Necessary Design
Morris House, Raleigh, is designed by Rebecca Necessary of Necessary Design in Raleigh. Necessary received her M.Arch from North Carolina State University after earning a BS in industrial drafting and design from Appalachian State University. She opened her namesake firm in 2015. A textural language of exterior and interior horizontals and verticals define the light-filled Morris House.
Graban/Pace House, Raleigh, NC, designed by Open Studio. Photo courtesy of Open Studio
Graban/Pace House, Raleigh, is designed by Erin Sterling Lewis, FAIA, of Open Studio in Raleigh. Lewis received her architecture degree from University of Kentucky, and started Open Studio with Oz Ozburn, AIA, in 2020. Graban/Pace house spans its entire small lot from side to side, while leaving enough room in the back for a pool and small open area for gardening and playing.
Modernist 3, Durham, NC, designed by Alicia Hylton-Daniel. Photo courtesy of Hylton Daniel design + construction
Modernist 3, Durham, is designed by Alicia Hylton-Daniel of Hylton Daniel design + construction in Durham. Hylton-Daniel is an interior designer and licensed contractor and opened her design/build firm with her husband Roger in 2017. The home is in an historic area, so the original low-level volume is maintained at the street level and a two-story modern addition rises in the back.
Binford House, Durham, NC, designed by Jessie Braverman. Photo courtesy of Braverman Design
Binford House, Durham, is designed by Jessie Braverman of Braverman Design in Raleigh. Braverman received her M.Arch from North Carolina State University, and opened her architecture and landscape architecture firm in 2020. The Binford renovation and addition resulted in a complete overhaul of the 50-year-old house into an open, modern multi-generation home that maximizes indoor/outdoor space.
Lerner-Campbell House, Durham, NC, designed by Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA. Photo courtesy of Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA
Lerner-Campbell House, Durham, is designed by Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, of her namesake firm in Chapel Hill. Schecter received her M.Arch from North Carolina State University after earning a bachelor in Music from Julliard. The most important element at the Lerner-Campbell house was connection to the outdoors, which was achieved through ample glass, high ceilings, and several outdoor rooms.
Dogtrot House, Hillsborough, NC, designed by Studio Becker Xu. Photo: Keith Isaacs; courtesy of Studio Becker Xu
Dogtrot House, Hillsborough, is designed by Sharon Xu of Studio Becker Xu in Chicago. Xu received her architecture degrees from MIT for undergraduate and Princeton for graduate school, which is where she met her partner Robert Becker and formed their firm in 2022. The Dogtrot House is an assemblage of individual forms and materials that reflect the ecological diversity of the site and immediate surroundings.
About USModernist
USModernist® is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization that provides documentation for nearly every iconic Modernist house in America with the mission to educate the public to preserve Modernism. USModernist Radio—hosted by the organization’s founder, George Smart, Hon. AIA, along with co-host Tom Guild—engages worldwide architects, historians, and architectural patrons in lively conversation. USModernist Library, the world’s largest open searchable digital collection of major US 20th-century architecture magazines, is a priceless resource containing more than 4 million downloadable pages from publications dating from 1890 to the present.
