The J. Walter Wilson Laboratory is located at the corner of Brown and Waterman Streets, across from the Faunce Arch, with the opportunity of being a gateway building to the campus. The original building, a 1960’s modern brick and limestone monolith, and the 1980’s brick pier addition with mirrored glazing, never engaged the campus despite its optimal location.

Recasting the former laboratory as a student resource building and vibrant communications hub required a multi-faceted approach. At the entrance, LLB Architects removed the bifurcated exterior brick stairs and shifted the entrance from the second floor to the first floor, cleared out many of the exterior masonry and concrete walls to allow light and views to enter the lower entry level, and removed the inelegant diagonal between the two towers. In its place, we extended the glass curtain wall up to form a “beacon-like” tower. This allows building inhabitants to visually connect with the campus around them. The campus community can in turn visually and physically connect with the new communications hub.

The 66,000 sf program for the J. Walter Wilson adaptive reuse project included relocating and consolidating eleven different administrative and student service departments from buildings scattered around campus to enable other capital projects to move forward; relocating campus mail services, with the associated service deliveries, volume of traffic, and security considerations; providing eight to twelve registrar classrooms; and coordinating with campus chiller project planned to occupy the top floor. A new entrance and legible circulation were not required parts of the program, but seemed essential to a successful solution.

Designed as a purpose-built laboratory building, with rigorous 10-foot structural grid, tilt-up concrete shear walls and labyrinthian circulation, the bunker-like architecture strongly resisted transformation to support its rebirth as a communications hub for the campus. The overriding charge to the team for this project was that, as an “enabling” project to allow other slated capital projects to move forward, the schedule was absolutely fixed. With the construction manager as the architect’s partner as a design/build team, they worked closely to ensure that budget and schedule were met along with the design objectives. Together the team developed detailed phasing to bring portions online, with the occupancy and full functionality of the building complete before classes started in September 2008.

Photography by Warren Jagger Photography

The expansion of the historic Wheaton House creates a new place and creates a place and identity for the Department of English, the largest academic department at Brown University, which had been scattered around the campus in various buildings. The site is a mixed residential and university neighborhood in Providence’s historic College Hill, adjacent to Brown University’s Main Green.

The primary design objective was to design a contextual response to the existing 9,000 sf Wheaton House while reestablishing Fones Alley as a defined urban space. The Samuel B. Wheaton House was built as a single-family residence in 1850 at the corner of Brown and Angell Streets. The 2.5 story brick Italianate structure was originally built for a wholesale grocer and later was populary named the Carr House when it became the home of Carr’s Catering, a well-known institution on the East Side. A new 29,000 sf addition on the Wheaton House integrates the large program sensitively into the campus and residentially-scaled neighborhood.

Lead-coated-copper clad connectors are recessed between sensitively-scaled brick pavilions to preserve the integrity of the original house. The thoughtful massing of the design reduces the scale of the project within a constricted site and neighborhood.

The building’s halves, housing the English Department and Creative Writing program, are conceptually bridged across Fones Alley by mirroring entry arcades and window bays. The two buildings fill in the formerly nondescript end of Fones Alley and reinstitute the mews-like character of the alley.

The largest interior room is the black-box theater for lectures and student productions. An upper gallery provides three-dimensional use of the space as well as a sound and light booth. Other theatre components include a “green” room, dressing rooms and storage. A total of 49 faculty offices and 18 teaching assistant offices are included in the building’s plan along with a “smart classroom” that utilizes the latest technology and flexible seating arrangements adaptable for traditional teaching methods.

In keeping with Gertrude Stein’s quotation on the building, “And then there is using everything,”… LLB achieved an integration of modern and historic elements into a harmonious whole.

Photography by Warren Jagger Photography

Xavier Academy Hall was originally built decades ago as a Catholic school on a site bordered by an industrial district and a university campus. Johnson & Wales University, the current owner, sought to revitalize the space, which was used minimally due to its existing condition. The University asked Lerner Ladds + Bartels to renovate the auditorium space in order to create a 500+ seating venue for university functions and gatherings, as well as a legitimate theater for student use. LLB redesigned the Hall’s exterior with a swooping ribbed metal awning evoking the bordering industrial area, with dramatic uplighting suggesting theatrical spotlights. The new lighting scheme also encourages evening activity, and redefines the building and auditorium as a focal point on campus.

The interior theater space received a full renovation, with the rake of the auditorium and balcony adjusted and seating layout reconfigured to ensure that each of the 553 seats has a good view of the stage. Paying close attention to acoustics, LLB designed a series of panels and screens to flank the stage, reflecting sound into the audience while concealing speakers and lighting and effectively expanding the proscenium enclosure to embrace the extended stage. Other features include a new state-of-the-art A/V system with distance-learning capabilities, a new HVAC system, increased ADA accessibility, and a new set of lavatories, making the theater a self-sufficient entity in the evening.

Photography by Warren Jagger Photography