Day and Night: pod architecture + design to display work in NCSU exhibition

Demonstrating the perception of space from day to night.

Exhibition board: Connie & Ted’s restaurant by day (top) and night (bottom).

How structure is perceived from day to night is the theme of the presentation that pod architecture + design (pod a+d) in Carrboro is contributing to the upcoming N.C. State University School of Architecture Alumni Exhibition. The exhibition will be on display in the Brooks Hall Gallery on the NCSU campus during the School’s accreditation review in mid-February.

Lusail City, Qatar, experiential graphics project by day (top) and night (bottom).

Juxtaposing a photograph of each project taken in bright daylight with a photo captured against a darkened sky, pod a+d’s presentation includes an adaptive re-use project in Louisville, KY, an educational facility in Goshen, IN, an iconic restaurant in West Hollywood, CA, and a large-scale experiential graphics project in Qatar.

Pod a+d is a hybrid firm owned and operated by design principals Douglas V. Pierson, AIA, LEED AP, BD+C, and Youn Choi, an environmental graphics designer. The couple relocated their firm from Los Angeles to North Carolina in 2016.

“Doug and I always consider the day and nightlife of a design because the perception of the space changes as the light changes – from day to night and from natural to electric lighting,” Choi explained. “We also consider when the use of the space will be the liveliest. Perhaps the users are more productive during the day when the sun is shining. Some rejuvenate in the evening as the sun goes down. This is an integrated, repeating process that we always consider.”

According to David Hill, head of the School of Architecture, NCSU College of Design, “This will be an important show of work that will be seen by visitors from the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), faculty, students, and other visitors. Perhaps this exhibition will allow the school to reconnect with a great number of alumni throughout the world.”

For more information on the upcoming exhibition, email david_hill@ncsu.edu.

For more information on pod architecture + design, visit www.podand.com.

 

LA Transplant Joins NCSU College of Design

Doug Pierson, AIA

Doug Pierson, AIA, to teach third-year architecture design studio.

Architect Douglas Pierson, AIA, LEED AP, BD+C, principal and co-founder of the award-winning firm pod architecture + design in Carrboro, NC, will begin teaching a third-year design studio this month for the Department of Architecture, North Carolina State University, College of Design. He will be joined by fellow third-year instructors Matthew Griffith of In Situ and Don Kranbuehl of Clark Nexen.

Originally from Washington, DC, Pierson attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., and the Lettres program at the Université Paul Valéry in Montpelier, France, before earning his Masters in Architecture degree at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

Pierson spent the early years of his career with architecture firms in Europe and Australia before joining Hodgetts and Fung Design Associates in Culver City, CA. His next move was to Frank Gehry’s Los Angeles office Gehry Partners LLP before he and his partner/wife, Youn Choi, launched pod a+d in LA. Choi is an accomplished environmental graphics designer.

In 2016, the couple moved their family and firm to Carrboro, where they pursue modern, progressive academic, commercial, civic, cultural, and residential projects. Among their completed projects are such award-winning, nationally acclaimed buildings as Connie & Ted’s restaurant in West Hollywood, CA, and The Green Building, the first LEED Platinum building in downtown Louisville, KY. Their work has been featured in numerous newspaper, journals, and magazines.

The third-year design studio introduces Doug Pierson to the faculty and students at the NCSU College of Design.

For more information on Pierson and pod a+d, visit www.podand.com.