Amidst the backdrop of pale yellow, pastel orange, celadon and lavender Charleston single houses and traditional buildings, it’s not too hard to find a few places that look a little different. You just have to look to get the reward of elegant, modern architecture hidden in plain sight.
We’re not talking about the rabbit hutches or big clumsy chunks of office buildings and apartments that are more at home in Atlanta, Charlotte, Kansas City or Denver. Those things are popping up like bad rashes.
We’re talking about solid modern and contemporary takes on Charleston buildings. These places seem to fit in among the traditional structures that draw tourists and still pack the peninsula 250 years after the first English settlers arrived.
Thom Penney, a now-retired local devotee of contemporary design, says good, fresh architecture in Charleston should be simple and elegant, not jarring.
“Great designs push the cause of good architecture forward, but not in an arrogant, heavy-handed, thumb your nose at the public way,” said Penney, who is chairman emeritus of the large Charleston design firm LS3P (he’s one of the Ps).
“Really good works, in my opinion, make you smile — either outwardly or mentally — as to how innovative and beautiful (yes a necessary ingredient) the result of the collaboration between owner, architect, builder and community reflects.”
Charleston native Ray Huff, former director of the Clemson Design Center, used the word “elegant” several times during a recent drive around the peninsula to describe his take on several modern buildings that work among Charleston’s traditional styles.
One example — and one that you might not initially consider — is the gym that houses a pool and some classrooms on the Citadel campus. It’s called Deas Hall, a building designed by award-winning architect W.G. Clark and built in 1976. If you look closely, you can see a modern reflection of the double staircase that’s on Charleston City Hall. Clark took elements of Charleston traditional architecture, like the double exterior staircase at Charleston City Hall, and incorporated it into a gym.
“It’s thoughtful, carefully executed and elegant,” Huff said. “It’s connective to the context [at the Citadel] without ruining it.”
Penney also likes Deas Hall as a solid form of contemporary design.
“It was a very simple concept,” he said. “Clark took on a history of Spanish Moorish replica architecture [at the Citadel] and he was able to get it. It stood the test of time.”
That sense of buildings that last — the timeliness of a design that works now and will work in 50 years — is key to what makes something work, Penney added.
And part of that is how a designer incorporates a site’s sense of place and history.
“Good modern architecture has a lot to say about the context, site and history of that place. It may look out of place in the fields of Kansas.”
Some architects don’t like the term “modern” architecture because what’s considered modern — “newer” materials like concrete or steel — have been around for 100 years. They often prefer the word “contemporary,” even though there also is an alphabet soup of facets of modernism, such as mid-century modern, post-modern, minimalist, brutalist, deconstructivism and even Art Deco.
For Charleston architect Kevan Hoertdoerfer, high-quality modern architecture isn’t tied to a specific style, like gothic arches are tied to English churches or gabled roofs are as common as seashells in colonial houses.
“In a nutshell, modern architecture is released from historical baggage — originally it rejected anything historical — and ornamentation,” Hoertdoerfer said. “It embraces the use of technology, strives to have form follow function, and [stresses] that quality of life should benefit from a better, modern design.”
Bottom line: Good modern or contemporary design is a creation that is akin to a good painting. It’s got something fresh and original and isn’t a derivative copy of the countless big boxes that now double as boring apartment complexes that will look withered and worn in 20 years.
- Black House (Kevin Hoertdoefer Architects). Located on Grove Street
“It’s a simple, reductive focus.” —Ray Huff
2. Deas Hall (W.G. Clark) .Located on The Citadel campus
“It’s thoughtful, carefully executed and elegant.” —Ray Huff
3. Holy Trinity Hellenic Center (Liollio Architecture, Bello Garris Architects). Located on Race Street
“Appropriate massing and boldness while evoking energy and activity.” —Kevin Hoertdoefer
4. Old Bank of America (Jeffrey Rosenblum) . Located on Calhoun Street
“Utilitarian simplicity in its expression of structure and form, which follows function.” —Kevin Hoertdoefer
5. Charleston Water System (LS3P). Located on St. Philip Street
“I tried making it resemble a single house — not so much literally, but close to literally.” —Thom Penney
6. SKY House (Kevin Hoertdoefer Architects). Located off of King Street
“A dual personality, responding to the specifics of the site and the aura of the sky.” —Kevin Hoertdoefer Architects
7. S.C. Aquarium (W.G. Clark) . Located at Aquarium Wharf
“Very well-designed as a one-off building.” —Thom Penney
8. International African American Museum (Pei Cobb Freed & Partners). Located on Concord Street
“The scale and massing are restrained. A simple material palette and just a damn elegant building.” —Kevin Hoertdoefer
9. Williams Terrace Senior Living (David Baker Architects in association with McMillan Pazdan Smith) . Located on Laurens Street
“It’s trying to show that it’s a modern building and, at the same time, not be forceful about it.” —Thom Penney
10. Glass House (e.e. fava architects) . Located on Murray Boulevard
“I see a simple pavilion and a garden. It’s respectful and is designed to the view.” —Ray Huff
MORE: A convert to modernism
Charleston architect Thom Penney vividly remembers getting a complaint years ago from a Charleston woman about the then-new modern headquarters of the Charleston Water System on St. Philip Street.
“How dare the city let you design such a large municipal building out of wood siding!” the woman complained. “I am going to call Mayor Riley!”
Penney remembers slightly grinning and explaining how the building was made of “eight-inch thick white precast panels that weren’t going anywhere. I explained that we took great care to make the building suggest, not mimic, white-lapped wood siding found on so many neighboring buildings.
“I explained the concept of the building representing a row of Charleston single houses with piazzas separated by side yards to fit into the neighborhood without letting an office building overpower its neighbors.”
The caller then hesitated and said,“I love it! I was afraid a wood-siding office building would not last and be high maintenance. I will call the mayor and tell him I love it!”
Looking back 40 years later, Penney says he still loves the building and the caller’s “supreme compliment.”
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