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The pavilion is an outdoor classroom and component of the North Carolina Museum of Art's Sculpture Park. The structure is wrapped in varying widths of horizontal, perforated metal bands, which offer experiences that change with the seasons, the light, and the vantage point of the viewer The pavilion's metallic "skin" reflects its natural surroundings by taking on the colors of the grass and sky or, at times, completely disappearing into a moire pattern of light and shadow.

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The Tonic Design team selected metal, both steel and aluminum, for three primary reasons. Structurally, steel allows the building to resist lateral forces through the use of moment connections, thus avoiding cross bracing and keeping the interior space as visually open as possible, Secondly, the perforated metallic skin, reflective, opaque and transparent, allows breezes to flow through the space while creating a composition of changing light and shadow. Finally, metal is a recycled content material and could one day be recycled and reused.

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The pavilion's construction system is a kit of parts. As a result, Tonic Construction could prefabricate as many components as possible in the shop and then assemble them in the field, much like Tinkertoys®. This system minimized field construction and maximized efficiency and accuracy. The project was completed within three months of site work.

+ Project facts

North Carolina Museum of Art Sculpture Park Pavilion
Raleigh, NC

Architect: Tonic Design
Builder: Tonic Construction | www.tonic-design.com
Photographer: Jim West, Jim West Productions

+ All images and drawings courtesy Tonic Design

Courtesy Tonic Design

The modern 3500-square-foot house was designed and built for art collectors John and Molly Chiles. It was constructed on the bones of an old modern, steel-framed and wood-paneled house overlooking Crabtree Creek in Raleigh, NC, that was abandoned in the 1960s.The original house was in terrible shape: Its wood walls and floors, camouflaged by kudzu and ivy, had rotted. Yet the "bones" were still strong in concept, and the couple saw through the clutter. They were confidant that the neglected remains could form the basis for a dramatic new house that would pay homage to mid-20th century modern design.

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In form and plan, the new house provides both open perches and quiet retreats on its wooded hill site. Rusted steel panels, white painted steel beams, wood, aluminum, and glass frame views of the landscape and the clients' extensive art collection. The main level's modern, open floor plan creates loft-like spaces in which low walls, area rugs, and mid-century modern furnishings loosely define boundaries between living room, dining room, office, kitchen, and breakfast area. This plan encourages movement through the various spaces and levels of the house.

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The roof garden combines elements that serve, both in form and reason, to counter the clearly defined steel structure and to evoke feelings of height and expansion. Because her house is sited halfway down a hillside and nestled in a stand of old-growth beech trees, Molly Chiles envisioned the roof deck as a large-scale “table on top of the house” where friends could gather for social occasions in a space with views across the treetops to the distant horizon.

Courtesy Tonic Design

As a design/build firm, Tonic worked with a structural engineer and steel crafters to fabricate a striking spiral staircase that connects the main living level to the roof deck. Clipped onto the side of the house, the outdoor stair’s helical form stands in contrast to the grid-like steel structure.

A gently curving driveway offers ever-changing vantage points to view the house’s exuberant form. A steel and ipe wood bridge spans a private walled garden and connects the drive to the front door.

In 2006, the Chiles residence received an Honor Award from the North Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

+ Project facts

Chiles Residence
Raleigh, NC

Architect: Tonic Design
Contractor: Tonic Construction | http://www.tonic-design.com
Structural engineer: Richard Kaydos-Daniels
Steel craft: McConnel Studios, Raleigh, NC
Photographer: Jim West, Raleigh, NC

+ About Tonic Design + Tonic Construction

As two separate but interacting companies, Tonic Design and Tonic Construction work toward executing sensitive modern design solutions that make a difference in their clients' lives and contribute to the architectural fabric of their buildings' communities. Owned and operated by Vinny Petrarca and Katherine Hogan, Tonic has the flexibility to take on the role of architect or general contractor, or to collaborate together as an award-winning design-build firm.

+ All images courtesy Tonic Design