CAMPUS OFFICES The Campus Offices project explores how a building can exist as both historic and modern concurrently. Through context-inspired materiality and juxtaposition of form, material, and texture, the project carefully establishes relationships between multiple contexts: campus/downtown, existing/new, traditional/modern, individual/group. The renovation and new addition reassert the building’s historic prominence as one of the oldest extant buildings on the town common while making a clear statement that this is a modern building, designed for modern performance and use.
Above: Church building, 1880s (left) and c. 1940 (right). Top of page: East elevation and public plaza.
Competition Number: 60
PROGRAM
Space for three non-academic departments and one academic department. The academic department is a consortia effort, serving five colleges in the area.
Because users would be moving to a new building on the edge of downtown, a primary goal was to create a sense of connection with campus. The existing building’s place on the town common warranted that it maintain a clear connection to the downtown.
Maintain existing vehicular circulation around all four sides of the building.
The client desired a modern intervention of the existing building, rather than historic restoration. Similarly, the addition should be sensitive to context, without imitating historic styles.
SITE CONDITIONS Very little detailing from the original building remained. The sanctuary’s original 12’ high windows (see historic photos on cover) had been replaced with pairs of doublehungs when a third floor was inserted into the sanctuary in the 1960s; the arch that stood behind the pulpit had been hacked away to make room for a staircase; and there were few traces of any original woodwork. Over the years, many elements had been added to the exterior. Bay windows, porches, and window unit air conditioners obscured the original building’s stark New England massing from the north, south, and east, while a CMU addition hid the west side of the building. The only remaining historic elements were the most fundamental: brick, stone, and roof/gable finishes. By removing the accretion, the remaining features of the building could be on display. Its original shape emerged from behind porches and bay windows, and the original double-height window openings—always visible but obscured by awkward infill—were revealed. From campus, views of and access to the building were blocked by dense shrubs and a row of parking (bottom row).
Competition Number: 60
CAMPUS MEETS DOWNTOWN As the threshold between campus and downtown, the site connects two distinct contexts. The college community can access campus departments via the south entrance. A new, narrow driving lane (without previous parking spots) maintains vehicular access while allowing the campus lawn to extend further toward the building, as it had prior to 1960. Along the street (east), a widened plaza welcomes the public with benches, and plantings. The many visitors to the academic department can access it directly through the east entry whether arriving by car, bike, bus, or on-foot.
The site plan maintains vehicular circulation around the building on all sides and creates campus and public entry points.
View from town common: The terracotta cladding of the new addition to the west and existing brick buildings to the north act as a backdrop against which the historic church building is set. Competition Number: 60
With parking and shrubs removed, the renovated building and addition cap the end of the campus lawn.
The street entry (above) serves an intercollegiate department that hosts visitors from five area colleges. Its street-facing entry engages with the town sidewalk, benches, nearby parking, and the bus stop. Campus entry (above, left) occurs on the south, in the recessed slot between the historic building and the new addition that face the campus lawn. A canopy (far left) floats between the two buildings, emphasizing the interstitial point of entry.
Competition Number: 60
PLAN AND PROGRAM Each department suite is organized around a central common area, allowing private offices to have access to windows. Glazed interior partitions allow for borrowed light in the common areas. On each level, a lobby separates the historic building from the addition, becoming a space between old and new.
ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT INVESTMENTS
Utility spaces, including bathrooms and kitchenettes, are located along the north, facing the urban alley. GROUND FLOOR (INVESTMENTS & ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT)
SECOND FLOOR (HUMAN RESOURCES)
THIRD FLOOR (PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
PRIVATE OFFICES AND WORK STATIONS COMMON AREAS AND COLLABORATIVE SPACES MEP/FP CHASES RESTROOMS, KITCHENS VERTICAL CIRCULATION
Competition Number: 60
MATERIALITY + CONTEXT Using materials inspired by the surrounding context, the new addition quietly references the existing building while establishing its own identity. With its contrasting color, it becomes a backdrop against which the original building is displayed. These new materials—terracotta panels, anodized aluminum, and metal panel siding—suggest the historic qualities of adjacent buildings via color, texture, proportion, and shadow. LEFT AND MIDDLE: Adjacent brick buildings with contrasting trim and windows. RIGHT: Anodized aluminum windows/trims and terracotta panel rainscreen. Anodized aluminum changes color as the sunlight changes, shifting from white to dark gray.
Anodized aluminum curtain wall was used in the new and old buildings, both for consistent energy performance and to stitch the buildings together visually. Competition Number: 60
MATERIALITY + CONTEXT
Articulated Parapet
Cornice Trims
Terracotta Panel “Running Bond�
Painted Brick
Terracotta Panel Base
Granite Base
SOUTH ELEVATION, PARTIAL
At ground level, terracotta window returns evoke load-bearing masonry. Above, delicate aluminum jamb-liners reveal the terracotta as veneer.
Historic granite base with curtain wall Competition Number: 60
VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST: Private offices, common spaces, and utility spaces are marked by exterior cladding.
Left and Middle: Adjacent building finishes along urban alley. Right: The addition’s metal siding is durable, resembles the proportions of nearby brick coursing, and has clapboard-like shadow lines. VIEW OF NORTH ALLEY FROM NORTHWEST
Competition Number: 60
ENERGY: NEW + EXISTING The project is both one of the newest and one of the oldest buildings on campus. As a result, the addition and its almost 200 year old predecessor presented opportunities and challenges when designing for energy efficiency. The project was developed as if it were two distinct buildings with two strategies for insulating and air sealing (right).
R-54 ROOF R-60 ROOF
WINDOWS Kawneer 1600-UT curtain wall is fitted with energy-efficient 1 3/4� thick glass, consisting of two tempered glass panels and two inner heat mirror layers (bottom of page, middle).
R-13.5 WALLS
MECHANICAL SYSTEMS Ventilation is provided by two energy efficient, dedicated outside air units with energy recovery heat exchangers,
R-30 WALLS
The building heating system is powered by two condensing boilers (efficiency rating of 94.6%). In warmer months, occupants are kept cool by the building’s chilled water system which utilizes a chiller which exceeds code-defined efficiencies. Heating and cooling systems are circulated throughout the building using high efficiency variable speed pumping. Low velocity duct systems were utilized to reduce fan energy and sound transmission. Because of tight existing floor-to-floor heights, fan coil units were selected to reduce the space needed for ductwork. Concrete plank construction in the addition created additional mech space.
R-10 SLAB
R-20 WALLS (BELOW GRADE)
R-10 SLAB
On the new addition (left), rigid foam insulation was located on the exterior face of the CMU walls. On the historic building (right), closedcell foam insulation was applied to the existing brick at a thickness that accounted for the dew point location within the brick walls.
LIGHTING LED lighting was utilized to limit energy consumption to below 1 watt per square foot. Lighting controls provide vacancy and occupancy sensors to limit operational hours. Competition Number: 60
ENTRY LEVEL LOBBY: Inside, the lobby of each floor is a light-filled space between old and new. The historic granite is visible on the west face of the historic building. A water fountain occupies a previous exterior door opening.
SECOND FLOOR LOBBY (above): Similar to the ground floor, the painted brick of the historic building is exposed, contrasting with the smooth cherry paneling that aligns with the coursing of the exterior terracotta rainscreen (left). Competition Number: 60
WORK: INDIVIDUAL + GROUP In office suites, common areas are bounded by glazed partitions that create visual connection between private offices and collaborative spaces. Acoustic assemblies, including multiple layers of laminated glass, allow for both openness and a sense of privacy.
TOP: Academic department waiting area (first floor) MIDDLE: Investments (first floor addition) BOTTOM: Human Resources (second floor) LEFT, TOP: Investments Office with glazed partition (first floor addition) LEFT, BOTTOM: Workstation in Public Affairs (third floor)
Competition Number: 60
ADAPTIVE REUSE + PRESERVATION Long before its 1960s conversion into retail and office space, the church was renovated by its congregation in the early 1900s. They aspired to a grand neoclassical renovation, but they ended up with more modest alterations, including a revamped sanctuary that featured a high -relief tin ceiling. While demolition of the interior was underway, it became clear that the tin still existed and could be saved. Its deep coffers, beams, and cast-iron center medallion became a striking part of the new open-plan workspace on the third floor (below).
LEFT: Ductwork and registers were sized to fit neatly into the proportions of the coffered tin ceiling panels. RIGHT: The central cast-iron medallion was left in-place to become a functioning part of the HVAC system as a return-air plenum.
Competition Number: 60