Buckner Companies HQ in Graham

A new article in the Chapel Hill Herald regarding the Buckner Companies Headquarters in Graham left me puzzled. The article's title emphasizes the award that the Carrboro-based firm received but it never in fact even mentions the name of the award. The article itself is entirely based on the benefits the building has for Buckner Companies' owners and staff. However, and this may be where journalism differs from anthropology, the entire article is based on one interview done with the owner of the building, Doug Williams. Not one other individual is quoted throughout the entire article. That is astonishing to me! As an anthropologist, the thought of an article that is based on one interview alone being acceptable to my professors is totally unheard of, unless you are explicitly stating that it is, in fact, based on one interview (which this article does not).

With this in mind it is almost impossible for me to agree with Williams or not. If his staff in fact agree with his comments and the comments of the author of this article, that the building is "a haven for employees, a favorite gathering place for community groups, an alluring recruitment tool for prospective employees and a draw for client firms who now want to meet here while staying in Chapel Hill instead of bringing Buckner associates to their states" then this building seems to have, in fact, been designed for the user. However, in actuality there is no telling from the article whether this is truly the case or not, as none of those users have been interviewed or any of the members of the aforementioned groups.

If one is as curious as I am about why the building received the award, which is not discussed in this article, ArchDaily discusses some of the reasons why it might have received the award. From the Herald's article one would think that Buckner Companies received the one and only architecture award (which of course there is many). The award itself is discussed in another article, it is entitled Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association Environmental award and Buckner Companies is the first winner of the award along with another building for a NY company entitled Skanska USA Building, Inc.