To attract the best and brightest faculty and students, universities today are asking architects for buildings that not only serve their academic goals but also bring prestige to their campuses through innovative design.

In 2010, Emily Pilloton and Matthew Miller moved their nonprofit design enterprise, Project H, from San Francisco to Bertie County, North Carolina, to engage in a bold experiment in community development.

One of the country's “best” and “fastest-growing” cities (according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Forbes), Raleigh has a lot going on in and around its 144 square miles.

Alternately called “The Trapezoid House,” Cassilhaus comprises three trapezoidal volumes across a very steep and densely forested site with views of Duke University Forest and New Hope Creek.