Edwin Harris of EVOKE Studio Architecture | Durham Public Schools New Elementary School in Durham | Building Quality Schools
Courtesy of EVOKE Studio Architecture
Building Quality Schools
This week, I am joined by Edwin Harris, AIA, LEED AP, NOMA, Co-Founder and Design Principal at EVOKE Studio Architecture, a design firm based in Durham, North Carolina. Today we will discuss the new elementary school that his firm has been focusing on designing for Durham public schools. EVOKE Studio Architecture was selected to design this elementary school, with plans to explore the interwoven relationship between the natural and built environment.
As our needs begin changing, so do the buildings we occupy. With COVID and the pandemic, the outdoors has become a lot more important in terms of providing that flexibility and people feeling safer outdoors in terms of air quality. Edwin explains how his firm has been responding to the rapidly evolving needs of the country, including the extreme challenges in getting quality schools built and operating.
In today’s episode, Edwin shares how his personal life of growing up with his grandfather has informed the way he continues to design and build resilient buildings. Join us as we discuss these topics and much more, including how he plans to help build a school that is diverse, unique, inclusive and responsive to the needs of Americans.
“This project is really amazing. The site is interesting because Durham Raleigh Chapel Hill is really booming. It’s growing rapidly. And a lot of the land that was once prevalent in terms of it was really easy to build large one level schools throughout North Carolina, that’s no longer the case, particularly in the triangle area. And because of the population growth, Durham really needs additional schools. And so this is a 33 acre piece of land that’s fairly adjacent to downtown Durham. It is a green site, a Greenfield site because I think the last time it was really developed was probably in like the forties, there was a farm, it was a farmland in the forties. So what’s interesting about this is obviously because there’s so many subdivisions around it, it is kind of this pocket or this Oasis of a green untouched forest area. And so that’s something that DPS is very sensitive to and we were as well. You don’t want to take away a natural resource like that.”
Courtesy of EVOKE Studio Architecture
About Edwin Harris
Edwin Harris, AIA, LEED AP, NOMA, is the Co-Founder and Design Principal at EVOKE Studio Architecture, a design firm based in Durham, North Carolina. He is also a professor of architecture at NC State University. In the past decade, he has worked with several design firms, including Perkins+Will, The Freelon Group, Inc., and DudaPain Architects. He is also a role model for future designers and encourages them through design dialogues and lectures at NC State University.
Courtesy of EVOKE Studio Architecture
Episode Timestamps
2:06 – Why are you an architect?
5:02 – I believe there is an architect named Phil Freelon who's helped shape your career going forward. Could you tell us about him?
7:02 – Could you talk about the time that you spent working at Phil Freelon’s firm?
9:31 – How did you know that it was time to start your own firm?
12:05 – Tell us about the particular site for Durham Public Schools new elementary school. What makes it unique? What are the opportunities? What are some of the challenges?
15:35 – What were some of the ways that you try to incorporate a grade change without having to do a lot of work?
19:24 – What did the process of working with DPS actually entail?
22:00 – Tell me about how the early parts of your process worked before you actually started doing floor plans, elevations, and schematics?
25:59 – What are the construction issues that you have seen or you foresee will need to be mitigated, and how is the project team doing that?
35:44 – Walk us through the building as it will be when it's complete.
40:20 – Tell us a little bit more about what public schools in North Carolina look like.
44:55 – Give me a few ideas of things that you would change procedurally that could help have a really positive impact on the students of North Carolina.
Connect with Edwin Harris:
LinkedIn (Edwin Harris)
Instagram (EVOKE Studios Architecture)
LinkedIn (Freelon)
Freelon
Courtesy of EVOKE Studio Architecture
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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