Ellen Cassilly Architect Newsletter - Winter 2012

Bloedel Reserve Birch Garden Washington State 2011

Virtual Justice

Last fall we worked with KONTEK Systems to complete a remote high definition video conferencing project for North Carolina Central University Law School called TALIAS--Technology Assisted Legal Instruction and Services. The system enables low-income underserved communities to receive legal services from the main hub in Durham at NCCU. To date satellite locations have been established at four Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Elizabeth City State University, Winston-Salem State University, North Carolina A&T State University and Fayetteville State University. In addition, TALIAS offers legal undergraduate courses to better prepare undergraduates for law school. ECA designed the remote locations and worked with KONTEK to integrate the technology into custom designed millwork for each location.

Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden-Duke University

Our environmental education center project at Sarah Duke Gardens with LeChase Construction is almost finished. We used timbers from two old donated barns from Wilson County and recycled them into a storage barn, wrap around porch and trellis. There was a bit more rot than anticipated but the folks at Old Log Cabins found some new timbers for us and with a little bit of weather they'll look as good as old!

We have been commissioned for Phase II of the project--a sculptural entryway to the Brody garden--and hope to start construction this spring. Meredeth in our office created this rendering of the proposed structure.

Chute Residence

In addition to a whole house renovation, we are adding on to the Chute home in Hope Valley. We are excited that the house has been selected for the Triangle Modernists Houses’ (TMH) home tour this Spring. We have enjoyed partnering with Ryan Johnson of Revolution Homes and the Chutes on this wonderful project.

Appetite for Architecture - January 31st

Ellen will be taking part in another Appetite for Architecture brought to you by George Smart and the Triangle Modernists Houses’ (TMH) team. Ellen will be joined by Frank Harmon and Randy Lanou at the Seaboard Cafe. The last few years Ellen has hosted an A4A event at her home including all of the dinner preparation, so this will be delightful to be able to focus on discussing architecture rather than menu planning.

A Jury, a Panel, and an Award

Ellen participated in the jury of the Wood Design Award hosted by Frank Harmon, FAIA.

Ellen was on a panel for the Triangle chapter of the AIA for the Women in Architecture group. It was a forum on Entering and Winning Design Competitions.

The Leaf received the 2011 oustanding downtown project award from Downtown Durham Inc. Durham Central Park could not be more pleased with the great addition to the park which is the first phase of Wanderland, a natural play area and gathering spot for families. See both the Leaf and the Wanderland masterplan below.

Number of volunteer hours for 2011: 90+

We have donated our time to many worthwhile projects during 2011. Three of note are:

SEEDS - a fabulous not-for-profit group in East Durham that teaches children and youth about gardening, sustainability and heathy eating. Ellen organized a community design charrette for SEEDS last spring. In the next newsleter we will have an image of the new master plan we are developing for SEEDS.

Durham Central Park Leaf Project - Since Ellen is on the board at Durham Central Park she acted as the liason between the park and the students working on the Leaf.

UDI - UDI is a local community developement corporation doing great work to revitalize Durham. They are located at Little Five Points and two blocks from our office.



Hey all of you Durham fans, look what we saw painted on the side of a building in Portsmouth Washington!

This photo and our header photo from the Bloedel Reserve, also in Washington State are from Ellen's summer travel to the Pacific Northwest.

Blessings on you all and happy winter.