315 Thayer Street at Brown University

September 18th, 2012

In this design/build collaboration with Gilbane Building Company, LLB Architects renovated 23,900 sf of the existing masonry building at 315 Thayer Street. The four–story apartment building was converted to suite–style dormitory units made up of 59 single bedrooms while maintaining the historic character of the original architecture. The residential units are composed of twelve suites of varying sizes on the first, second, and third floors and two suites and seven single rooms on the fourth floor.

The interior was reconfigured while maintaining load-bearing walls to the greatest extent possible, minimizing the cost of construction. Interior work also included updated egress stairways, a new elevator, new lobby area, kitchen and common space in the basement, along with upgrade mechanical and laundry rooms. The exterior courtyard was upgraded to accommodate an accessible entrance and site improvements in landscape and lighting. The project received a LEED Gold rating from the USGBC.

Photography by Warren Jagger Photography

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Walpole Public Library

August 1st, 2012

In the historic context of New England, the Walpole Public Library is a rare new building sited adjacent to the town hall and historic Blackburn Hall and just steps away from downtown. LLB Architects had been working with the Walpole community since 2007 when we were asked to re-envision and improve upon the previous library design, accepted for a construction grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. After a long, twenty-year process and funding approval by a slim margin, the community of Walpole can be proud of their new library.

The design of the new 32,000 sf building uses traditional architectural textures, colors, and fundamentals of traditional architecture to respond to the New England context. The library program is organized around four masses encased in fiber cement panels which anchor the building’s entries. In between them, generous circulation paths, a sculptural staircase, and skylights create a feeling of openness and lightness. The difference in treatment and fenestration on each side of the library appropriately responds to its site orientation and the environmental effects on them.

On the interior, service desks for circulation, reference, and the children’s area are centrally located for the highest visibility and security with the minimum number of staff. There are areas dedicated for young children, which includes a program room for community events; young adults, with computers and comfortable seating for lounging; and patrons looking for new books and media, or reference materials, or any of the 110,000 items (and counting) in the library’s collection. One of the areas in the library that has grown in popularity is the quiet study rooms, designed with floor to ceiling glass, which allow for a sense of privacy and territory, but a sense of security as well.

The building received LEED Gold certification and makes use of both passive sustainable strategies as well as active strategies. The incorporation of a green roof over the one-story wing creates a better insulated space for the program area. Natural light floods the interior spaces through the surrounding glazing and skylights and reduces the need for artificial lighting. The use of a photovoltaic panel system has assisted in generating over 5% of the building’s utility features onsite, as well reducing the baseline energy use by nearly 25%. A rain garden at the entry of the building creates a small stream of rainwater from the roof to feed native plantings and remain within onsite in a retention pond. To further promote sustainable design, significant efforts were made to use both local and high-recycled content materials.

The library’s past location was built in 1903 thanks to a grant from Andrew Carnegie, land donation by Walpole natives, and town money. Like then, Walpole’s new library, with a project budget of $11.2 million, has been made possible by various contributions including a generous grant from the MBLC, charitable donations from the community, and optimism from the taxpayers of Walpole. Since its dedication in April 2012, the Walpole Public Library has seen circulation levels dramatically increase and continues to welcome patrons offering endearing compliments.

Photography by Bruce T. Martin Photography

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Lincoln School Master Plan

June 25th, 2012

LLB Architects is well-acquainted with the Lincoln School campus, having completed a limited feasibility study for the School in 2005. In 2016, LLB led a master planning process during which we asked: What does a leading school for girls look like? For Lincoln, it is a place “where tradition meets innovation.” The school’s location is one of its best advantages but also one of its greatest challenges.

Our team reviewed Lincoln School’s Strategic Plan and previous Master Plans, existing building plans, spaces, and infrastructure. We conducted a comprehensive facility conditions assessment to provide order-of-magnitude cost analysis on the state of Lincoln’s buildings and grounds, combined with quantitative data extracted from newly created 3D models. We held multiple meetings with the steering committee, stakeholders, faculty departments, Buildings and Grounds, and the steering committee to identify and itemize program requirements and issues. In addition, we engaged many Lincoln School constituents through the use of online surveying to rapidly identify shared opinions of Lincoln School’s strengths and weaknesses.

The findings presented in this planning study were a culmination of the team’s multifaceted research, interviews, analysis, creative thinking, and consensus-building.

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Investment Office at Brown University

June 5th, 2012

The Brown University Investment Office manages over $2 billion of the university’s funds which include endowments. They recommend policies and strategies, as well as hire and monitor external investment managers. Programming for their new office fit-out at 121 South Main Street in Providence included three conferences rooms, thirteen private offices, shared work spaces, reception area, support spaces, and a comprehensive file storage system. The design solution integrates a sensitive balance of transparency and openness with privacy and security.

Photography by Kathleen A. Bartels

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Hinge House

November 23rd, 2011

This 1-acre parcel is in a planned subdivision with a requisite builder and a minimum square footage of 5,000 square feet and 3-car garage. The client resisted the pressure to tweak a “plan house” and instead engaged LLB Architects to design a modern vision that they would grow into with their young family.

The site had already been cleared for a traditional two-story house proposed for the site. Re-siting options were limited given significant ledge, the pre-planned utilities and driveway, and the relatively small parcel.
The typical single family residential program also included a client request for a round room as a feature and focal point of the house. This element became the inspiration for the hinge point to separate and crack open the house into public and private halves. Each half is rotated 15 degrees from the main axis. The public half,
containing the kitchen, informal dining, dining and living rooms, inflects toward the Southeast and the morning light. The single story affords the opportunity for a sloped interior ceiling and clerestory windows, expressive of the form and structure. The private wing contains three bedrooms on the first floor and the master suite on
the second floor. The opening between the two wings becomes the entrance.

Materials were another challenge and opportunity for expressing the design. The client requested durable, low maintenance materials such as stone, metal, and glass. This led to the use of commercial materials such as storefront glazing systems, aluminum-clad windows, and Alpolic metal panels. The house is clad in three kinds of
limestone – flamed, honed, and a rough stacked stone wall at the entrance. The use of wood was limited to the entry door, the underside of the eaves, and one wood wall.

The entrance is demarcated by the wood wall and the stone wall, again clearly expressing the genesis of the design while giving materiality and purpose to the formal gestures. The materials carry into the interior of the entry and beyond as “solid” elements that further define the space within.

Photography by Warren Jagger Photography

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North Scituate Public Library

October 17th, 2011

In this classic New England village setting, the North Scituate Public Library holds the memories of all the residents of North Scituate who have used it since 1925. The modest 1,600 sf addition and renovation to the original building retain the beauty of the library’s historical charm while bringing it into the 21st century to support the growing population.

The exterior prominently features the archive room which is clad in slate panels to portray the importance of the collection within. Another feature of the project is the addition of a large meeting room which will not only serve as a gathering place for events for the community but also as an art gallery where local artists can display their work. Large windows on each side of the library allow the community to look in and provide framed views of the village center from inside. A centrally-located circulation desk and a new books and media at the entrance provide a flexible space for visitors to encounter and interact with each other.

The library worked with local organizations and individuals to create new garden areas which enhance the beauty of the village, including the rain garden, designed to blend seamlessly into the traditional New England landscape. Through a careful renovation of the existing space and a modest but thoughtful addition, the library will continue to be a vital resource for the town for decades to come.

Photography by Aaron Usher III Photography

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The Design Exchange

July 8th, 2011

Located at the epicenter of the Exchange Street Historic District, the four-story brick building on Exchange Street was part of the Rhode Island Cardboard Company complex constructed in 1880. The project represents one of the last pieces of the puzzle in rehabilitating this neighborhood, paying homage to the city’s industrial past yet embodying its future as an arts hub. The building, dubbed The Design Exchange for its focus on attracting creative enterprises, was the perfect opportunity to practice what the firm preaches – sustainability and commitment to the renewal of the urban fabric.

With 5,000 square foot floor plates and 8-foot column grids, the building is a natural fit for an open, collaborative studio environment. The strategy was to stack the elevator, central stair, and restrooms vertically in the center of the building, leaving the entire perimeter open and flexible. Frameless glass walls define the conference room and private offices, but the remaining desk spaces are modular and moveable.

The cantilevered steel canopy passes through the glass entrance and folds into the lobby stair, one of the only exterior gestures in this otherwise restrained restoration that signals the building’s modern transformation as state-of-the-art professional office space.

LLB Architects acted as owner/developer and architect for the building, which received state and federal historic tax credits. We controlled and generated proforma/cash flow/operating budgets, obtained financing, submitted for tax credits, arranged for brokering of tax credits, and managed the contracting of construction.

Learn more about the Design Exchange and this new thriving design community on its website atthedx.com.

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St. Jude Parish

January 5th, 2011

Photography by Aaron Usher III Photography

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Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West

August 14th, 2010

Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West is a professional law practice with offices across the east coast. LLB Architects was hired to envision an expansion of the offices into the retrofitted American Locomotive Complex in Providence, RI. Working closely with the Director of Administration, several options were explored while the original modest 2,200 square foot expansion evolved into almost 9,000 sf including a new reception area, conference and “war” rooms, partners’ offices and a 2,700 sf finished area that was initially intended to be leased to a separate tenant but will soon be absorbed into the rapidly expanding full service law firm.

Working within the existing design criteria and context of the mill complex, LLB was able to create an efficient and dynamic space that connects both sides and both ends of the building with a central glass reception area that allows for separate access to the temporary tenant space without distraction from main lobby presence of the Firm. In an effort to be as sustainable as possible, reused items were relocated and adaptively reused and redesigned to create a new feel for the company.

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Center for Teaching and Learning at Bryant University

May 13th, 2010

The Center for Teaching and Learning at Bryant University is part of a larger project to masterplan and renovate the Unistructure building. The suite includes classrooms and open environments for the school’s Academic Center of Excellence (ACE) and several other specialized learning programs. The idea was to create different types of spaces to accommodate the range of tutoring services that the center offers, whether private one-on-one tutoring, or collaborative sessions, or lecture environments.  

Photography by Aaron Usher III Photography

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