CLIENT
Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth

LOCATION
North Dartmouth, MA

STATUS
Completed

The exuberant spirit of this 1967 Brutalist masterpiece by Paul Rudolph, had been gradually eroded by successive minor reconfigurations. That said, walking through the first time was thrilling; a tour de force of raw concrete and craftsmanship.  

Renovating was a blast. The building breathes and once again spaces flow as they were intended. Interiors glow again with ‘Pop’ colors and new carefully planned lighting makes the concrete seem almost lovable.

PARTNER FIRM
designLAB architects

CONSULTANTS
Fitzemeyer & Tocci
Garcia, Galuska, DeSousa
Richmond So Engineers 
Sladen Feinstein
Syska Hennessy
Acentech
Richard Burck Associates
Nitsch Engineering

CONTRACTOR
Consigli Construction 

PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jonathan Hillyer
Peter Vanderwarker
Amber Wachtl

CLIENT
Buckingham Browne & Nichols, Middle School

LOCATION
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

This project came with wonderful ingredients; a stately nineteenth century mansion, two beautiful beech trees that shaded a southwest facing space, and a client who sought to wholly rebuild the heart of this school. They wanted us to recast these assets in new roles to increase usable space and achieve universal accessibility.

Working together, the school’s seven level changes became eddies of student gathering spaces overlooking a new entrance terrace shaded by the beeches.

“The layers of complexity to transform our historic building in a complex urban setting cannot be understated. Austin Architects listened to us carefully and worked diligently throughout to create a stunningly beautiful building that has been truly transformational for our community.”

Mary Dolbear, Middle School Director, Buckingham Browne & Nichols

CONSULTANTS
Building Engineering Resources
John Born Associates
Richard Burck Associates
Samiotes Consultants
Remmer Consulting
Schweppe Lighting Design

CONTRACTOR
Consigli Construction

PROJECT
Austin Architects, Office Renovation

CLIENT
Austin Architects

LOCATION
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

Doing a project for yourself is different, but we were lucky to have the opportunity. Originally the Fresh Pond Brickworks manager’s home, this Greek Revival house had seen better days.  We gutted much of the interior but preserved key pieces including some interesting beams and a landmark chimney.

The layout reflects a lot about us and how we work: a clean and simple interior juxtaposed against the historic exterior; an open studio upstairs, and meeting rooms and a large kitchen downstairs. Inside, we salvaged old lumber for reuse. Outside, we made a terrace using granite planks from the former I-93 rumble strip at Franconia Notch. The terrace provides parking but transforms quickly into a gathering space; it’s proven the perfect spot to roast chestnuts and enjoy mulled wine in front of outdoor movies, as part of the neighborhood holiday stroll.

CONSULTANTS
John Born Associates

CONTRACTOR
Bostonian Renovations

PHOTOGRAPHER
Amber Wachtl

CLIENT
Harvard Law School and Harvard Law Review

LOCATION
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

Gannett House seemed like it had always been the home of the Harvard Law Review when this renovation was completed. The exterior was wholly restored, largely unchanged, as were the main interior spaces which were carefully reworked to accommodate the production of the Review’s monthly publication. Yet the interior had been substantially rebuilt for the Review’s sole use, with all new building systems, finishes, bathrooms and two elevators to make the building fully accessible without changing exterior profiles. The project had a memorable closeout: hanging an incredible number of class photos, many with famous names among them.

CONSULTANTS
AHA Consulting Engineers
Simpson, Gumpertz and Heger
Hughes Associates
Remmer Consulting
Schweppe Lighting Design 
Richard Burck Associates
Samiotes Consultants

CONTRACTOR
Lake Contracting

PHOTOGRAPHER
Amber Wachtl

CLIENT
Alternatives

LOCATION
Whitinsville, MA

STATUS
Completed

Our client’s goals for Whitin Mill were audacious. Alternatives wanted to turn their 200 year old picturesque mill into a crossroads for the people they serve - persons with various developmental disabilities - and the surrounding community, about the arts.

Our design stemmed from a competition entry. The idea was to create a plaza, formed by historic and new buildings, but with a life of its own: markets, games, picnics, theater, bands, shows, art – all the sorts of structured and serendipitous events that make for connected communities.

Several years after our work was finished, we commissioned three young photographers to photograph ten summer events at Whitin Mill, clearly showing Alternatives’ vision in action.

CONSULTANTS
Building Engineering Resources
Foley Buhl Roberts
Beals and Thomas
Zapotec Energy

CONTRACTORS
Consigli Construction

PHOTOGRAPHER
Raj Das

AWARDS
Preservation Massachusetts Honor Award

CLIENT
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)

LOCATION
Arlington, MA

STATUS
In Progress

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation needed a simple, straightforward building that would showcase Massachusetts’ commitment to sustainability and modern technology. We tested options for renovating the existing 1970’s District 4 building in Arlington, MA, and quickly realized that constructing a completely new building would be more cost effective and efficient. The result was a new, three story building designed to be energy efficient, affordable, and to maintain the client’s desired balance between public visibility and accessibility and privacy and quietness.

The south edge of the site overlooks a well-trafficked section of Route 2 and the building is close enough to the highway to be seen by passing cars yet still able to maintain a sense of privacy in offices and meeting rooms. The building’s curtain-walled southern façade connects the building visually to its woodland surroundings and provides ample natural light into its interior.

The public functions are located along this southern glass façade, while private offices and labs are positioned towards the northern end of the building, away from the highway, and enclosed with masonry to allow for more controlled light. Open stairs between the community areas promote cross-departmental interaction, and the double height space on the second floor brings increased light into the center of the building. Privacy was further enhanced with a newly landscaped green space with trees to block highway views and shade the glass facade.

CONSULTANTS
SAR Engineering
Simpson Gumpertz and Heger
Green International
RDK Engineers
Zapotec Energy

CLIENT
Harvard Law School

LOCATION
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

AWARDS
2009 Preservation Massachusetts AwardCambridge Historic Commission Preservation Award

Renovating wood frame buildings has been a passion of ours since the firm was founded. We have completed 13 at Harvard of which six were moved to new locations. The most memorable were three large structures at the Law School – a two family, a single family, and a carriage house - which trundled down Mass Ave at first light on a Saturday morning in June, in front of a large crowd. The extent to which each was renovated varies, in large part related to the amount of historic fabric needing to be preserved. The uses vary too: from residential to office and vice versa.

This project received the 2009 City of Cambridge Preservation Award.

CONSULTANTS
Simpson Gumpertz and Heger
Building Engineering Resources 
SEA Consultants
Halvorson Design
Remmer Consulting

CONTRACTORS
Shawmut

PHOTOGRAPHER
Graham Ingallina

CLIENT
Rene Becker and Susan Regis

LOCATION 
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

This was our first restaurant. We envisioned a comfortable and beautiful place to eat in which guests could easily converse, too.   This led to a deeply slatted ceiling above which is an acoustic blanket. The Globe calls the resulting atmosphere ‘quite civilized’.

The interior is simple: white walls, a copper hood set in a proscenium framing a view into the kitchen, and a wide marble bar set in front of a large segmented mirror. As the Globe observed, it is a ‘fine place to enjoy a solo supper or sip one of the well-made cocktails’.

 

CONSULTANTS
BLW Engineering
John Born Associates
Schweppe Lighting Design

CONTRACTOR
Berkeley Building Company

PHOTOGRAPHER
Amber Wachtl

CLIENT
VIM Fitness

LOCATION
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

This unique, 12,000 sf fitness center is located in Central Square, Cambridge, and is the result of a radical transformation of an existing basement retail store into a striking sequence of spaces for cardio and weight-training, group exercise, lockers, bathrooms, and showers.

Unlike the brightly lit, industrial-feeling spaces of most conventional gyms, VIM uses low-level lighting and a palette of rich natural color and materials to create a crisp, calm, Zen-like environment. The spaces are simple and are arranged sequentially around a long path defined by a black, quartz-like stone wall that is punctuated with striking LED lighting and warm brown bamboo. The two studio spaces have clean lines that are emphasized by mirrored walls and given visual interest from the intricate exposed wood floor structure that creates the ceiling. The all-grey exercise equipment reinforces the sense of calmness in the interior, which springs to life with energetic clients in multi-colored workout clothing.

PARTNER FIRM
Boyes-Watson Architects

CONSULTANTS
Building Engineering Resources
John Born Associates
Schweppe Lighting Design

CONTRACTOR
AC General Contracting

PHOTOGRAPHER
Amber Wachtl

CLIENT
The Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church

LOCATION
Madison, MS

STATUS
In Progress

It was strange to find a chapel in Mississippi that was much like the churches I had grown up around in rural England. It, therefore, was quite natural to be asked to develop a campus plan with a college friend and architect in Mississippi. Planning was done in on site workshops, often outside among the periwinkle covered graveyards. In the resulting plan, new buildings frame a venerable grove of live oaks in which sits the original Chapel, a National Historic Landmark.

Like the Chapel, the new Sanctuary has a two-part chancel and nave plan, but much larger, with 400 seats. Alongside is a children’s chapel with bathrooms. Parishioners arrive through the oak grove or through a future columbarium that screens parking, but an old graveyard road gets you directly to the main door, for weddings and funerals. The interior is simple with a soaring wood roof and lancet windows resonant of the old except for wood paneling around the choir and west entry has earlier English antecedents.

*In partnership with Barlow Eddy Jenkins, Jackson, MS

CONSULTANTS
John Born Associates

CLIENT
Northfield Mount Hermon

LOCATION
Gill, Massachusetts

STATUS
Completed

The campus at Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) is picturesque and unusually big. We were asked to develop a master plan that improved NMH’s connective tissue.

Working with school leaders and trustees, we drew inspiration from the campus’ historic, physical, and social development—we were encouraged to think big.

The eventual plan proposed a phased transformation of buildings and landscape, through a mixture of demolition, renovation, and new construction.

CONSULTANT
Richard Burck Associates

CLIENT
Harvard Law School

LOCATION
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

Student rooms in the Gropius Dorms are surprisingly simple. Close to the center of the campus, they are small and mostly identical single rooms with long ribbon windows that make them feel almost expansive. After considering various potential reconfiguration options, the focus turned to a renovation to transform the interiors while keeping essential elements of the original. The renovation consisted largely of building systems, finishes and furniture which none-the-less transformed rooms, corridors and common spaces for the first time ever.

CONSULTANTS
Simpson, Gumpertz and Heger
AHA Consulting Engineers
Hughes Associates

CONTRACTORS
Kirkland Construction
Bond Brothers
Shawmut

PHOTOGRAPHER
Stephen Sheffield

CLIENT
Cornell University

LOCATION
Ithaca, NY

STATUS
Completed

One summer we built two quite different projects at Cornell: one added a performance space to a music centered dorm ‘Just about Music’. Another made a new unifying entrance in the middle of a sprawling old dorm Dickson Hall, that had separate men’s and women’s wings that framed a wonderful courtyard and a blank wall in between.

CONSULTANTS
Robson and Woese
Foley, Buhl, Roberts and Associates

CONTRACTOR
Garbade Construction

CLIENT
Waring School

LOCATION
Beverly, MA

STATUS
Completed

Waring is not a large high school, but its leadership wanted a big picture vision for the long term. Enchanting as a place, with characterful buildings, rocky high grounds and a river and stream running through, there was almost no land to add the larger building components of a growing school and retain its rural farm-like setting.

An energizing workshop with the entire student body provided valuable clues for the site and building strategies. Only one entirely new building is proposed which then enables successive adaptive renovations: the existing gym becomes the performing arts, the existing theater becomes visual arts, which enables the library to grow more in and around the converted carriage house and pig stys of the original farm!

“Your nuanced, careful study of our campus will serve as our roadmap for many years to come. The work was exceptional. You and your team sensitively crafted a vision that made every piece of our campus fall into place. Without this vision we could not have entered this phase with the confidence we now have.”

Leah McGavern, Buildings and Grounds Committee Chair, Waring School.

CONSULTANTS
Richard Burck Associates

CLIENT
Anderson Krieger

LOCATION
Boston, MA

STATUS
Completed

We helped fine tune Anderson Krieger’s Cambridge office two times before they decided to move downtown to the top floor of a mid-rise tower. The move, which was all new construction, gave the forty-five-person firm an opportunity to get their work environment right, a charge they took very seriously. Working with a small group representing all levels of the firm, every aspect of the planning, design, finishes and furnishings were vetted. The most memorable meeting concerned paint colors for accent walls in an office designated to test samples; with numerous paint pots it looked like an artist’s studio but eventually, the right decisions were made and the finished spaces have a subdued glow that is one of our favorite palettes.

CONSULTANTS
Cosentini Associates
Acentech (Acoustics & AV)

CONTRACTOR
Lee Kennedy Construction Co. 

PHOTOGRAPHER
Raj Das

CLIENT
Anderson Krieger

LOCATION
Boston, MA

STATUS
Completed

The Bunting Quad is comprised of four 19th century buildings, some of which were moved to the site in the mid-20th century to form a small courtyard – the Quad.

After conducting a study to assess potential reuse options for all buildings, Austin Architects was engaged to renovate the second largest to accommodate meeting rooms for the Radcliffe Institute on the main floor and, on the two upper levels, acquisitions and digital archiving functions for Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library. The renovation is a full gut with a substantial reinforcement of the wood frame structure and all new building systems. There is also a compact addition housing an elevator, new egress stairs and bathrooms. Last but not least, the renovation reestablishes the original street front entrance under its delightful tower which supports a new Radcliffe flag.

In parallel to building project, the design team developed a long term site plan for the Quad incorporating full accessibility to each building and an integrated landscape that unifies the identity of the Quad ensemble as a whole.

CONSULTANTS
Engineered Solutions, Inc.
John Born Associates
Richard Burck Associates
Bristol Engineering Advisors, Inc.

CONTRACTOR
Bond Brothers

PHOTOGRAPHER
Raj Das

CLIENT
Regis College

LOCATION
Weston, MA

STATUS
Post-Design

Originally this project was designed to provide minimal locker room and concession facilities for a new track and field complex. But, unfortunately, with the onset of the recession, construction was postponed just after the foundations were installed.

Almost ten years later the project was redesigned to accommodate a second floor with a single open reception space and balcony, but substantially within the same footprint. Designing a new but with existing foundations as a constraint was interesting, somewhat like a renovation; it forced collaboration with the client and contractor that made for a better building in the end.

CONSULTANTS
Building Engineering Resources
John Born Associates

CLIENT
Conservation Law Foundation

LOCATION
Boston, MA

STATUS
Completed

The Conservation Law Foundation owns two properties in downtown Boston that were joined together in two renovations (1992 and 2000). With new leadership in 2016, CLF asked us to look at the space from the bottom up to see how it could best serve their needs for the next generation.

The scope involves new finishes throughout, as well as new lighting and all electric HVAC that, in combination with sustainable power purchases, means that CLF runs fossil fuel free.

CONSULTANTS
Cosentini Associates
John Born Associates
Acentech Inc.
Schweppe Lighting Design, Inc.

OWNER’S REPRESENTATIVE
CSL Consulting

CONTRACTOR
Berkeley Building Co.

PHOTOGRAPHER
Raj Das

CLIENT
Harvard Law School

LOCATION
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

Considering the consolidation of the Library’s collection proved serendipitous. A feasibility study revealed the potential to consolidate administrative functions into closer proximity and an opportunity to provide more flexible spaces for individual student and group study within the Library. Phase 1 focused on improving visual and physical connections between library staff and students, enhancing the research process. Additionally, a variety of seating configurations were provided to align with singular-student quiet study needs.

CONSULTANTS
Acentech
AHA Consulting Engineers
Simpson, Gumpertz and Heger
Jensen Hughes
Schweppe Lighting Design, Inc. 

CONTRACTOR
Elaine Construction

PHOTOGRAPHY
Raj Das

CLIENT
Northfield Mount Hermon

LOCATION
Gill, MA

STATUS
On Hold

This project envisions a campus transformation on multiple levels.

Programmatically it expands a range of fitness, strength and conditioning programs that are mostly now in basement and circulation spaces. On a campus wide scale, the glassy addition wraps the opaque brick box of a 1950’s gym making an alluring destination across the main campus green.

The spaces inside are spare and simple, open to near and distant views of the surrounding campus and the valley landscapes. At the entrance, a large deck provides a unique setting for outdoor exercise appreciation.


CONSULTANTS
Richard Burck Associates
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Building Engineering Resources

CLIENT
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

LOCATION
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

Radcliffe, like most academic institutions, experiences a certain amount of churn as programs expand and contract, facilities age and priorities change. This plan involved meeting with all departments to review growth needs and then laid out a sequence of projects and moves for the Institute’s library, event spaces administrative and support spaces.

CLIENT
Buckingham, Browne and Nichols - Lower School

LOCATION
Cambridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

The idea of making a ‘big block’ room for toddlers made this a compelling project from the beginning. It was part of a dedicated group of teachers’ vision to make a suite of connected learning spaces for play, experimentation and discovery, inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach. By combining two classrooms, two offices and, most importantly, a corridor, we made a bright and airy space for children to gather then disperse to lots of interesting nooks and crannies, including, right in the center, an octagon full of big wooden blocks for imaginative play.

CONSULTANTS
Building Engineering Resources
John Born Associates

CONTRACTOR
White Builders

PHOTOGRAPHERS
Colleen Blaine
Stephen Sheffield

CLIENT
Our Lady of the Valley

LOCATION
Uxbridge, MA

STATUS
Completed

Our Lady of the Valley is a small independent school, grades K-8, which to date has been in one 1960’s brick building behind St. Mary’s Parish in Uxbridge. Growing in enrollment, the school needed a gym and two classrooms.

Our design set a new building apart from the existing building to form two outdoor courtyards, one framing a new entrance and the other incorporating an existing playground. This approach eliminates the need for upgrades to the existing building, allows uninterrupted use of the existing building during construction, and most importantly, enables the new building to have its own open and welcoming identity.

CONSULTANTS
Joe Casali Engineering, Inc.
John Born Associates

CONTRACTOR
Rubicon Builders

PHOTOGRAPHER
Raj Das

CLIENT
Waltham Boys & Girls Club

LOCATION
Waltham, MA

STATUS
Completed (fundraising in-progress)

Our clients are often our biggest inspiration. We were honored to assist Waltham B&G in assessing how to upgrade their facilities to further their mission of helping local youth meet their full potential. We worked to understand functional and programmatic deficiencies, clarifying spatial organization, improving accessibility, and suggesting additions that would allow improved flexibility of use into the future. The outcome included ‘benchmark’ and ‘aspirational’ level studies for our client to use in fundraising to support this key physical aspect of furthering their mission.

CONSULTANTS
Building Engineering Resources, Inc.
Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger