Ellen Cassilly and Frank Konhaus

Ellen Cassilly, principal of Ellen Cassilly Architects, opened her architectural studio in 1998 in downtown Durham after an early career working with distinguished architects in Paris, Tokyo, Boston, and Raleigh. Ellen, and her firm, have been at ground zero for the downtown renaissance having designed such projects as the Durham Central Park pavilion-home of the popular Durham Farmers' Market, Fullsteam Brewery, The original Parker and Otis, Rogers' Alley, Grub, and the Durham Food Hall.

Ellen has taught design studios, sustainability seminars and summer design/build studios in the architecture department at NCSU over the last 30 years. In 2019, Ellen became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Frank Konhaus is the Director, co-founder, co-designer, and the “haus” of Cassilhaus. He is also the founding principal of KONTEK Systems, Inc., an Audio/Video system design and integration firm based in Durham, NC.

Frank is a graduate of Duke University and has done graduate work in Industrial Design at North Carolina State University. He has served as Executive Producer for two documentary film projects: Bending Space: Georges Rousse and the Durham Project and Bending Sticks: The Sculpture of Patrick Dougherty. Frank serves on the Collections Committee at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and was one of the founders of the Click! Photography Festival. He is a sometimes curator and always passionate collector of contemporary photography.

Cassilhaus: In 2006, Ellen and Frank co-directed The Georges Rousse project, the single largest and most successful public art project in the history of Durham. This experience was pivotal in the design of Cassihaus, their home and artist residency. Cassilhaus received full-page coverage in the New York Times and was also highlighted in Architectural Record.

After a five-year land search and a three-year design process, Cassilhaus was born as a dream home/art gallery/artist studio and residency in the woods between Durham and Chapel Hill, NC, and has grown into an exciting nexus for arts activity and community in the Triangle region. Cassilhaus hosts a diverse exhibition program and a multi-disciplinary residency program which brings extraordinary artists from our region and around the world to pollinate and stimulate our little corner of the art world. It is a singular piece of architecture, a lifelong arts project, and a love-filled partnership between Ellen and Frank. Take a 3D walk-through tour here.