Season 4, episode 10
(Original air date 3/25/07)

Compare what kind of house you can get for $700,000 in six markets across the country. First, in Phoenix, a couple falls in love with each other and with a midcentury modern ranch. Next, a young family experiences a religious awakening of sorts at their property in rural Charlottesville, Va., and then an empty nest couple has a spooky secret to tell about their 1850s farmhouse in Stowe, Vermont. Last up is a quick a look at homes in Rhode Island, Minnesota and North Carolina.

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This fall, BRW held its first annual Fall Chili Cook Off. Each week, two people brought in a pot of chili alongside its required side dishes. The variety of chili was surprising! Chili pot-pies won the ‘Best Presentation’ award. Other chili dishes fighting for best flavor included Cincinnati chili, complete with spaghetti noodles; Beef & Beer, served on rice; white bean chili, with cilantro & green peppers; Pumpkin & Pork, with pumpkin creme; Vegetarian; and even Cajun chili, with mangoes and limes. The winner for best taste has yet to be determined… but we’ll keep you posted.

2011 City of Charlottesville Planning Commission
Annual Planning Award: Design Professional of the Year

On Wednesday, July 27, 2011, the construction of the High Street United Methodist Church, Franklin, VA, reached a milestone. The steeple was ready to be raised.

Set on a base 42 feet high and soaring to an overall height over 105 feet in the air, the prefabricated steeple, painstakingly designed and proportioned by Bruce Wardell and manufactured by Campbellsville Industries, is a new landmark for all of Southampton County and the crowning ornament to the new church.

To mark the occasion, the entire congregation gathered at the site to watch the events unfold. Arriving in 3 pieces, the steeple would be slowly and carefully set into place, each tier gently rotating in the air to be precisely positioned like a giant wedding cake.

After the final piece was secured, its new copper spire shining brightly in the sun, Pastor Susan Reeves and architect Bruce Wardell rode the 105 feet up into the air in the crane’s basket to ceremonially bless the steeple’s cross, a symbol of the congregation’s faith, set high above Franklin for all to see.

As the basket slowly lowered to the ground, the gathered crowd was met with a special surprise. From within the steeple, the pealing of the church’s historic bell rang out, a familiar sound now beaconing the congregation to its new home.

Things are moving ahead at a rapid clip at The Crossings at Fourth and Preston. BRW’s first single resident occupancy building project.

Since breaking ground in March 2011, work has been progressing smoothly with general contractor Martin Horn, Inc. leading the construction team. As winter approaches the
focus is on getting the building dried in. The membrane roof Is installed, fiberglass apartment windows are installed and exterior brick masonry work is moving ahead rapidly. Once the masonry openings are complete they can be measured for the store front windows and doors.

Meanwhile, the interior of the building is a bee hive of activity with HVAC, electrical, plumbing and insulation crews working toward gypsum board installation as the completion date of mid-February approaches.

The building has already established a presence at the corner of Fourth Street NW and Preston Avenue and will continue to do as the envelope of the building takes shape.

2011 Eldon Fields Wood Design Professional of the Year
City of Charlottesville

2011 Annual Planning Award – Outstanding Sustainable Development
City of Charlottesville
(for “The Crossings at 4th and Preston” Single Resident Occupancy Housing)

2008 Annual Planning Award – Outstanding Sustainable Development
City of Charlottesville
(for Arch’s Frozen Yogurt)

2006 Design Excellence Award for Historic Preservation
Central Virginia Chapter of Virginia Society AIA
(for Hospice House)

2006 Honor Award for Design Excellence
Central Virginia Chapter of Virginia Society AIA
(for Belmont Lofts)

2005 Honor Award for Design Excellence
Central Virginia Chapter of Virginia Society AIA
(for Grace Episcopal Parish Hall)

2005 Herman Key, Jr. Access to the Disabled Award
City of Charlottesville
(for Belmont Lofts)

2005 Preservation Award for Historic Building Rehabilitation
City of Charlottesville
(for Hospice House)

2004 Honor Award for Design Excellence
Central Virginia Chapter of Virginia Society Society AIA
(for St. Francis of Assisi Parish Hall)

2004 Certificate of Honor for Excellence in Architecture
Virginia Society AIA
(for St Francis of Assisi Parish Hall)

2003 Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence and Commitment to Community
Virginia Society AIA

2002 Merit Award for Design Excellence
Central Virginia Chapter of Virginia Society AIA
(for Market Street Parking Garage Facade Renovation)

2002 Annual Planning Award for Outstanding Plan of Development
City of Charlottesville
(for Belmont Lofts)

2001 Competition Winner: CSX Urban Housing and Brownfield Redevelopment
City of Charlottesville, Belmont Neighborhood Association
(in collaboration with Stonehaus Development Company)

2001 Competition Winner: The Covenant School New Upper Campus
The Covenant School
(in collaboration with Boney Architects – Raleigh, NC)

1999 Community Service Award
Central Virginia Chapter of Virginia Society AIA

1998 Excellence in Architecture
Central Virginia Chapter of Virginia Society AIA
(for Temple Beth Israel)

1996 Preservation Honor Award
Alliance for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities — Thomas Jefferson District
(for Temple Beth Israel)

1996 Excellence in Masonry Design — Ecclesiastical/Institutional Work
Virginia Masonry Council
(for Temple Beth Israel)

1994 Honor Award
Virginia Society AIA
(for ‘Tower for Two Boys’)

BRW Architects’ principal and founder, Bruce Wardell, spent the first four years of his career in the Kingdom of Tonga, in the southwest Pacific learning early the riches embedded in people’s stories. Today, Wardell describes his architectural firm’s work in much the same way. “We understand that each place in a client’s home carries a set of memories that may come from a trip, a past experience, a grandmother’s house, or a quality tied to a specific emotional or psychological story,” Wardell says. “When we design a house, we are designing something that evokes a series of memories, feelings and emotions of what it means to live at home. That can include the way you cook, how you entertain, or how what setting you enjoy when you read the newspaper on Sundays.”

Though BRW has completed work throughout the country, including Knoxville, TN, Mountain Iron, MN, and in New England, it concentrates its portfolio within a three-to-four-hour’s drive radius of its home base of Charlottesville, VA.

The Country Residence project exemplifies BRW’s expertise. The project added and renovated 2500 sf square feet to a 3,000-square-foot country home and included renovations to the existing house, which sits on 11 acres with breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. Their client was a couple where the husband is a former NFL football player and the wife is an equestrian — wanted more family space to accommodate their four children, their oldest child (9) and a set of triplets. They needed more family livable space and wanted to leverage the sites magnificent views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

BRW designed the living room to open onto a blue stone terrace with a screened dining room, providing an open vista onto the backyard, swimming pool and the mountains beyond. The firm also crafted an in-home office, play and exercise room, car barn, auto courtyard, and a living room large enough for the family to enjoy together. The existing house provided a vernacular ‘white clapboard’ farm house precedent for the new additions. Working with Kelly Trout, Mr Wardell created a series of pavilions and connections allowing the additions to create the appearance of having developed over an extended period of time. The new 3 car garage was envisioned as a barn and finished with gray stained board and batten siding distinguishing itself from the main ‘farmhouse’. This allowed the creation of an auto court between the house and the barn connected by a covered walkway open to the views of the Blue Ridge.

The living area was conceived as a pavilion placed toward the west, affording it panoramic views of the farm landscape and mountains beyond. In creating the interior design of the house the architects needed to keep in mind that the scale of the spaces needed to be comfortable for the couple, This was accomplished by creating a generously scaled space in the new living room, opening the room to the gallery beyond, and placing generously scaled windows where they allowed the space to visually expand to the landscape.

“I enjoy getting to know our clients and understanding how and why they want their homes to feel a particular way,” he says. “It’s the building of that relationship that helps us design houses tailored to the specific needs and concerns of each client.”

Returning students to the Brody Jewish Student Center at UVa were surprised to find a gleaming new addition that doubles the space of the existing student center.

The addition to the Brody Center allows for a broad range of activities from large gatherings in the multi-purpose room to intimate events in the chapel. Students will also find a completely refurbished lounge area, private study rooms and recreation space for table tennis and other activities.

The Brody Center has already established itself as a source of pride among the UVa Jewish student community as well as the university at large. This state of the art student center, although it almost killed the project manager, Charles Dickey, is a valuable resource for both the Jewish students and townspeople alike.