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‘Native Places’ Encourages Readers To Appreciate The Design Around Them

Frank Harmon has made a career of designing buildings that reflect their owners and the landscape. In 2013, the architect started a blog to celebrate the beautiful and often humble designs he encountered. The process for the posts was rather simple: 

Harmon scratches out a simple drawing of a building or location he appreciates, runs watercolors on top, and pens a brief meditation of why the space is special to him. Those blog posts are now collected in the book “Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See” (ORO Editions/ 2018).

Host Frank Stasio speaks with Harmon about how the barns of North Carolina are a reflection of expert design and why he believes that everyone should pause to meditate on the architecture around them. Frank Harmon is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He will read from his book at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, tonight at 7 p.m. 

Laura Pellicer is a digital reporter with WUNC’s small but intrepid digital news team.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.