california-architects.com

In 1966 Harry Wolf set for himself the goal to create an architectural practice which would produce carefully detailed works of outstanding quality and consistent integrity. Today after five times receiving what the AIA characterizes as “ The Nation’s Highest Award for Architectural Excellence” and 30 or more other significant Regional and State AIA Awards. After nearly 300 projects, he continues his quest.

Ask Harry Wolf to describe his work and he may show you the photograph of a Japanese fisherman's robe, a museum piece from the 19th century.

“These robes are simply three layers of cotton, dyed the Indigo of the sea, and stitched together with coarse thread. The rows of stitching, vertical and horizontal in grids, serve the purpose of relieving stress and distributing it across the fabric. Where the wear is the greatest, in the seat, the shoulders and at the edges, the stitching pattern doubles or triples increasing the resistance to wear at these crucial locations. The result is rational, intelligent and beautiful.

The Japanese never thought to not make it beautifully, as distinct from making something beautiful; that is, the beauty arises out the intelligent and careful application of the craft to the necessities. Because it is unselfconscious, because it arises out of creatively meeting needs, it retains this sense of beauty over time. This is a great lesson and important to me.”

His practice has sought to synthesize the client’s needs with the necessaries of construction, with the valence of site and culture of place, to produce a seemingly effortless, understated elegance. Here is a search to realize a sense of rightness of result, of inevitability.

He views cost to be a major consideration. Weaned on projects where time and budget, not architecture, were the prime concerns of the clients, the office has nevertheless received International recognition for its design work. This has been achieved by a certain design ethic- the determination to define architecture through its essential elements and distill the truth of a building as a means to condense its poetic force, as a repository of energy to be transmitted to the “dwellers” of architecture.

Throughout his career, he has subscribed to an ecological approach to architecture in which conceives the impact of time as a positive component and innovative in its contribution to the re-qualification of the environment. Against his sensibility is the impulse to overpower nature with a spendthrift attitude towards resources- be they natural or economic.

A believer in restricted means, in working within confines, Harry Wolf’s respect for the “facts” has won him the confidence of many clients. It is because of this that he has been able to advance his long-held convictions about sustainablility and effectively influence the ethos that has driven a number of major building projects such as the ABN-AMRO headquarters in Amsterdam, NationsBank Tower in Tampa and the Disney Arrival Building in Anaheim.

The achievement of this is always thru the interaction of a team embracing the client in an uncharacteristically active way, with the finest engineering and technical consultants. The works are a team effort, first last and always and the interaction is alchemical, producing results impossible to preconceive, and great fun in the process!

AIA National Awards

1993 AIA NATIONAL HONOR AWARD, Nations Bank Florida Headquarters, Tampa, FL

1983 AIA NATIONAL HONOR AWARD, Mecklenburg Country Courthouse, Charlotte, NC

1980 AIA NATIONAL HONOR AWARD, Equitable Life Assurance Society, Charlotte, NC

1974 AIA NATIONAL HONOR AWARD, North Carolina National Bank, Park Road Branch, Charlotte, NC

1971 AIA NATIONAL HONOR AWARD, North Carolina National Bank, Beattie Ford Branch, Charlotte, NC


AIA Regional and State Awards

1995 LOS ANGELES CHAPTER AIA, Award, Shu Uemura Boutique, Los Angeles, CA

1992 LOS ANGELES CHAPTER AIA , Unbuilt Project Award, 747 South Flower Street Tower, Los Angeles, CA

1991 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION AIA, First Honor Award, NationsBank Florida Headquarters, Tampa, FL

1990 NEW YORK CHAPTER AIA, Distinguished Architecture Award, NationsBank Florida Headquarters Tampa, FL

1986 NEW YORK CHAPTER AIA, Unbuilt Project Award, IBM Vehicle Control Facility Purchase, NY

1986 NEW YORK CHAPTER AIA, Unbuilt Project Award, Housing, Philadelphia, PA

1986 NEW YORK CHAPTER AIA, Unbuilt Project Award, U.S. Department of State Staff Housing, Doha, Qatar

1986 NEW YORK CHAPTER AIA, Unbuilt Project Citation, Minneapolis State Capitol Area Plan, St. Paul, MN

1985 NEW YORK CHAPTER AIA, Unbuilt Project Honor Award, NationsBank Florida Headquarters, Tampa, FL

1985 NEW YORK CHAPTER AIA , Unbuilt Project Award, U.S. Embassy, ABU Dhabi, UAE

1985 NEW YORK CHAPTER AIA, Unbuilt Project Award, Fort Lauderdale Public Plaza, Fort Lauderdale, FL

1983 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Award Aplix Inc. Manufacturing Facility, Charlotte, NC

1982 SO. ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIA, Honor Award, Administration Building, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC

1980 SO. ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIA, Honor Award, SIS Radio, Inc. Charlotte, NC

1980 SO. ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIA, Honor Award, Colvard Building, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC

1980 SO. ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIA, Honor Award, The Williams Companies, Tulsa, OK

1979 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Honor Award, The Williams Companies, Tulsa, OK

1978 SO. ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIA, Merit Award, School of Design Addition, Raleigh, NC

1978 SO. ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIA, Merit Award, Equitable Life Assurance Society, Charlotte, NC

1978 SO. ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIA, Merit Award, Mecklenburg County Courthouse, Charlotte, NC

1978 NORTH CAROLINA AIA Merit Award, Equitable Life Assurance Society, Charlotte, NC

1976 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Honor Award, Patterson House, Hinesburg, VT

1976 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Merit Award Hornblower & Weeks-Hemphill, Noyes, Charlotte, NC

1976 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Merit Award, Tallasi Management Company, New York, NY

1974 BARTLETT AWARD, Presented by the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped and the AIA, North Carolina National Bank, Park Road Branch, Charlotte, NC

1973 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Award for Historic Preservation and Restoration, Latta Arcade, Charlotte, NC

1973 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Honor Award, North Carolina National Bank, Park Road Branch, Charlotte, NC

1973 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Merit Award, Latta Arcade Restoration and Architect's Office, Charlotte, NC

1971 BARTLETT AWARD, North Carolina National Bank Beatties, Ford Branch, Charlotte, NC

1970 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Honor Award, Mountain Residence, Western, NC

1970 NORTH CAROLINA AIA, Merit Award, Boat Locker Recreational Facility, Linville, NC


1968 SO. ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIA, Honor Award, Tent Structure, Linville, NC

1966 SO. ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIA, Honor Award, Vacation House, Linville, NC

2001 ARCHITECTURE, February

1999 DAN KILEY: AMERICA’S MASTER LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, London

1998 HISTORY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA CHAPTER OF THE A.I.A. 1913-1998, North Carolina

1998 THE ARCHITECTURE OF DIPLOMACY, Princeton

1996 DICTIONNAIRE DE L’ ARCHITECTURE DU XXÈME SIÈCLE, Paris, France

1996 KOREAN ARCHITECTS, Seoul, Korea

1995 MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: LIGHT CONSTRUCTION, New York

1994 CATALOGOS DE ARQUITECTURA CONTEMPORANEA: SPECIAL ISSUE, Barcelona

1993 PROCESS ARCHITECTURE, Tokyo

1993 ARCHITECTURE AND ENVIRONMENT, Japan

1993 WATERFRONTS: CITIES RECLAIM THEIR EDGE

1993 THE ARCHITECTURE OF HARRY WOLF/EDICIONES GG, Barcelona

1993 KOREAN ARCHITECTS, Seoul, Korea

1992 ARCHITECTURE CREE, September, Paris

1992 INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE DESIGN, Manchester

1992 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD, August

1992 MODERN ARCHITECTURE, A CRITICAL HISTORY / Frampton

1992 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD June

1991 100 CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTS/LACY

1991 DENATURED VISIONS, MOMA, New York

1991 DOMUS, March

1990 CONTROSPAZIO, ARCHITETTURA URBANISTICA, March, Rome

1990 ARCHITECTURA DE NUEVA YORK, Madrid

1990 NEW YORK ARCHITECTS, VOL 3

1990 ARCHITETTURE PER IL TERZO MILLENNIO, Fondazione Adriano Olivetti, Milan

1990 ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE, May

1990 CIVIL ENGINEERING, April

1990 CASABELLA, March, Milan

1990 OCULUS, New York

1990 COMPTON YEARBOOK, ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA

1989 NEW YORK ARCHITEKTUR, June, Frankfurt

1989 PROGRESSIVE ARCHITECTURE, February

1989 ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE, January

1988 NEW YORK ARCHITECTS, VOLUME 2

1987 ARCHITETTURE DI PIETRA, Verona

1987 CASABELLA, December, Milan

1987 JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION

1986 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD, February

1986 NEW YORK TIMES, February

1986 PROGRESSIVE ARCHITECTURE, February

1986 ELLE MAGAZINE, November

1985 A+U, ARCHITECTURE/URBANISM, August, Tokyo

1983 NORTH CAROLINA ARCHITECT, May

1983 PERSPECTA 20, Milan

1983 CASABELLA, April, Milan

1982 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD January

1980 GUIDE TO U.S. ARCHITECTURE: 1940 - 1980

1980 EXECUTIVE STYLE, HARRY C. WOLF, FAIA

1979 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD March

1979 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD May

1978 CONTRACT INTERIORS August

1978 NORTH CAROLINA ARCHITECT March - April

1976 NORTH CAROLINA ARCHITECT November

1976 NORTH CAROLINA ARCHITECT March

1975 NORTH CAROLINA ARCHITECT September

1975 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD March

1975 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD February

1974 NEW YORK TIMES June

1974 AIA JOURNAL May

1973 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD June

1973 NORTH CAROLINA ARCHITECT March

1972 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD January

1971 PROGRESSIVE ARCHITECTURE November

1971 AIA JOURNAL June

1971 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD May

1971 NEW YORK TIMES May

1971 NORTH CAROLINA ARCHITECT March

1970 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD May

1970 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD January

…more informations

Housing

UCSB San Clemente Apartments UCSB Santa barbara

PFGH Ahmanson Commercial Development Co Los Angeles, CA

AMB RES US Dept. State, F.B.O. Doha, QATAR

Housing/SF FOLGER Mr. & Mrs. Folger Charlotte, NC


Urban Planning

Stonecutters Bridge Hong Kong SAR Hong Kong

BEVERLY HILLS BRIDGE City of Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, CA

MINN State of Minnosota St. Paul, MN


Commercial

BKY Barkley Court Reporters Los Angeles, CA

WDI Walt Disney Imagineering Anahiem, CA

ABN AMRO ABN AMRO Bank Amsterdam, Netherlands

SHU UEMURA SHOP Shu Uemura Cosmetics Los Angeles, CA

Product Design CPQ Compaq Computer Corporation Houston, TX

CPQ Compaq Computer Corporation Houston, TX

WOLF ARCHITECTURE Wolf Architecture Los Angeles, CA

747 Ahmanson Commercial Development Co Los Angeles, CA

TOWER STUDIES Ahmanson Commercial Development Co Los Angeles, CA

170 FIFTH AVENUE/P5A 170 Fifth Avenue Restaurant Asso. New York, NY

ELAS Equitable Life Assurance Society Charlotte, NC

NCNB/TAMPA North Carolina National Bank (BankAmerica), Tampa, FL

BOK MOTOR BANK Bank of Oklahoma Tulsa, OK


Institutional

TOULOUSE Hotel du Department de Toulouse Toulouse, FRANCE

KANSAI Kansai Airport Ltd. Osaka, JAPAN

WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE COMPETITION City of New York New York, NY

FORT LAUDERDALE City of Fort Lauderdale, FL Fort Lauderdale, FL

ABU DHABI US Dept. State, F.B.O. Abu Dhabi, UAE

DOHA US Dept. State, F.B.O. Doha, QATAR

UNCC/ADMIN University of North Carolina Charlotte, NC.

HOJ/MCC Mecklenburg County Charlotte, NC

MHC/CCGD Catawba Center for Growth and Development,Rock Hill, SC

UNCC/OCB University of North Carolina Charlotte, NC

NCSU/RICKS North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC

MASONIC TEMPLE Loyal Order of Masons Charlotte, NC


Interior Design

GOLDSTEIN LOFT Dr. Goldstein New York, NY

LOOK & COMPANY Look & Company New York, NY

WOLF OFFICE MALIBU Wolf Architecture Malibu, CA

TWC The Williams Companies New York, NY


Industrial

APLIX Aplix Corperation Charlotte, NC