ARCHITECTURE & URBAN DESIGN
LEERS WEINZAPFEL ASSOCIATES
CONTENTS Firm Introduction Projects Mass Timber John W. Olver Design Building UMass Amherst Adohi Hall Fayetteville, AR Innovation Center Revere, MA Woodland Wonders Preschool Auburn, AL
Cultural & Innovative Museum of Medical History & Innovation Mass General Hospital, Boston, MA Center for Engineering, Innovation and Sciences Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA Farkas Hall Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
FIRM INTRODUCTION LEERS WEINZAPFEL ASSOCIATES Established in 1982, Boston-based Leers Weinzapfel Associates is a practice recognized for its exceptional quality of design for the public realm in complex urban and campus contexts. The group’s special strength is a “mission impossible” ability to meet extraordinarily difficult building challenges with uncommon design clarity, elegance, and refinement. From the beginning, our work has been intentionally public in nature and attitude. We are committed to providing meaningful spaces for human interaction and to promoting social wellbeing. Our goal is to create bold and refined architecture for the educational realm. Work of the firm encompasses a diversity of project types, from technically demanding infrastructure installations and advanced learning and living environments for educational institutions, to prominent civic buildings and economical community recreation centers. Underlying each design concept is a clear commitment to the wise use of resources and a sustainable future. Leers Weinzapfel is an adopter of the AIA 2030 Commitment that evaluates the impact design decisions have on a project’s energy performance with the goal to reach net zero design by 2030. In 2007, the American Institute of Architects honored us with the Firm Award, the highest distinction the AIA bestows on an architecture practice, the first and only woman-owned firm to be so honored. Since 2015 ARCHITECT Magazine included the firm on its annual list of Top 50 architecture firms in the country.
75 Kneeland Street Boston MA 02111 27 Employees 15 Licenced Architects 7 LEED Acredited Professionals Massachusetts Certified WBE
OUR CORE VALUES
Invested in a sustainable future
We are adopters of the AIA 2030 Commitment to reach net zero design by 2030 with a clear dedication underlying each design concept to the wise use of resources and resilient future. UMass Amherst Design Building
Focused on the human experience We are dedicated to architecture which supports social well-being and connects people to people and people to place.
Grounded in context We practice site driven design weaving together building and landscape, building and urban fabric.
Salem State Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Devoted to the art of building
We delight in both traditional craft and digital technology, touching the senses through material, detail, and light.
West End House Boys & Girls Club Allston, MA
UMass Amherst Design Building
Wentworth Institute of Technology Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences
Inspired by a tailor-made process
We create a made- to- measure project vision unique to each purpose and place.
University of Pennsylvania Gateway Complex
JOHN W. OLVER DESIGN BUILDING UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA
Bringing together the previously dispersed departments of Landscape Architecture, Architecture and Building Construction Technology programs, the Design Building, is a dynamic space of exchange, collaboration, and experiment, celebrating a shared commitment to sustainability. To create a center space of collaboration, studios, faculty offices and classrooms surround a skylit Commons for gathering and presentations. The building also forms a green roof terrace, shared by the studios and faculty and an experimental space for the landscape department. The slope of the site creates a tall four-story façade on the west facing the mall, and the rising structure invites the community into the building and reveals the activities within. The east side of the building faces a series of smaller historic buildings along Stockbridge Way, and its three story façade fits comfortably into this context. A highly innovative engineered timber structure makes this an example for the sustainable use of wood and builds on the leading edge research of the Building Construction Technology program. The building is also a highly visible demonstration of sustainable design practice. It’s the first and largest cross laminated timber (CLT) academic building in the US. The envelope is highly-efficient, with dedicated mechanical equipments zoned for maximum efficiency, with radiant flooring and chilled beams for energy savings. Calculated expanse of glazing and skylights provide maximum daylight to the building’s interior to significantly reduce artificial lighting energy. Storm water management concept directs roof runoff via sculptural scupper to a “spring source” at the top of the site and filters the water via series of successive bio-swales and timber dams to the lower end of the site and eventually back to the Connecticut River. LEED Gold Certified.
PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / 52,000 net program area 87,000 gsf STATUS /
Completed January 2017 AWARDS / Cote Award 2020 AIA New England Merit Award 2019 DNA Design Awards Paris, Honorable Mention 2019 BSA Sustainable Design Honor Award 2018 BSA Interiors Award 2018 Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award 2018 Chicago Athenaeum, Green Good Design Award 2018 Wall Street Journal Best Architecture of 2017 World Architects Building of the Year 2017 World Architecture News, Sustainable Buildings 2018 World Architecture News, Wood Award Finalist 2017 BSA, Honor Award 2017 The Plan Award - Finalist 2018 Wood Design & Buildings Magazine Award 2018
PUBLICATIONS / Construction Specifier 06/01/20 World Architecture News 06/01/20 Building Design + Construction 05/26/20, 4/2017 The Architect’s Newspaper 05/26/20, 5/2016 Flipboard 05/26/20 Fast Company 05/26/20 USA Today 05/24/20 High Profile 05/22/20 AIA, 2020 COTE® Top Ten Awards 05/21/20 AIA, 2020 COTE® Top Ten Awards Overview 05/21/20 Architect Magazine 05/21/20, 5/2017, 5/2016 Archinect News 05/21/20 Architectural Record 05/21/20 Facility Executive 05/21/20 UMass Magazine 1/16/2020 WoodWorks Midatlantic, 2019 Metropolis, 1/2018 Wall Street Journal Best of Architecture, 12/2017
B A | Student studio space B | Exploded structural axonometric C | Informal student study area
C
C
A | Exterior Dusk B | Entry Plaza C | Entry Gathering Area
ADOHI HALL
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
As a new campus gateway, the Stadium Drive Residence halls will create a new Residential College with emphasis on a creative Live-Learn environment within a relaxed, informal, tree-lined landscape that reconceptualizes University Housing. Located at the southern edge of the campus, the Stadium Drive Residence Halls will create a vibrant new destination with retail dining, classrooms, makerspaces, performance spaces, communal spaces, administrative offices, and faculty housing, along with a mix of semi-suites and pods totaling 700 beds, intended primarily for sophomore students. A series of interconnected buildings arranged in a sinuous, serpentine configuration, set within a forested landscape, provide variety of communal outdoor spaces that offer a sustainable way of re-imagining campus housing in contrast to the traditional housing on the campus quad. Other important sustainability initiatives include a significant reduction of the project’s carbon footprint, by incorporating Advanced Timber Technologies, utilizing Cross Laminated Timber Panels and glulam beams and columns for the building’s structure. In addition, the project aspires to be Net-Zero Energy with inclusion of renewable energies, high performance envelope and mechanical systems, as well as basic building design which incorporates principles of proper solar orientation and fenestration. The project is part of a larger precinct Master Plan, also envisioned by Leers Weinzapfel, looking at this entire southeastern boundary of the campus as a potential site for future housing, parking, and network of pedestrian campus pathways to accommodate future growth of the University.
PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / 200,000SF STATUS /
Completed Fall 2019
AWARDS / AIA St Louis Design Honor Award, 2020 AIA Gulf States Region Merit Award 2020 AN’s Best of Design, Residential – Mixed Use, 2020 Wood Design & Building Honor Award, 2020 WoodWorks Multi-Family Wood Design Award, 2020 The Plan Award – Shortlisted, Housing 2020 The Plan Award - Finalist, A Bold Demonstration of Sustainability, 2020 The WAN Awards – Shortlisted, 2020 The Golden Pin Awards – Shortlisted, 2020 PUBLICATIONS / World Architecture News 6/1/20 BD+C 12/6/19 University to Business, 12/3/19 Archinect, 12/2/19 Fast Company, 11/27/19 The Architects NewsPaper 11/25/19
A
B
A | Performance Space B | Maker Space C | Main Cabin
C
A
B
D
A| B| C| D| C
Cabin in the Woods Concept Arkansas Ozarks Exterior View Concept Diagram
INNOVATION CENTER Revere, Massachusetts
Located near Revere Beach, a historic place of recreation for Boston area residents, the Center takes inspiration from beach pavilions with a signature curved roof evoking a sail or gentle wave. The mixed-use building includes ground floor retail planned as a café, restaurant, market and boutiques facing Beachmont Square and the new Beachmont plaza. A flexible community space is joined on the north side of the building by an entry lobby and innovation space connected to the two floors of open-office collaboration space above. Each face of the building is activated by program. The striking timber structure with curved glulam beams and cross-laminated timber panels will be the Boston area’s largest mass timber building when completed in 2023. The building will take advantage of the prefabricated, precise modular assembly of mass timber to create a cost-effective and materiallyefficient structure with a bold statement. The Center’s LEED GOLD certification will highlight the development’s commitment to sustainability, incorporating highly efficient envelope and mechanical systems and promoting occupant wellness.
PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / Approximately 65,000 sf STATUS / Est. Completion 2023
AWARDS / Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Awards Honorable Mention Unbuilt - Interior 2020
C
D
E
C | Innovation Center D | Plaza View at Night E | Mass Timber Structure
Section Perspective
WOODLAND WONDERS PRESCHOOL Auburn, Alabama
Nestled within the 120-acre tract of the Kreher Preserve, the new preschool facility promotes wonder and exploration of the natural world and cultivates a sense of stewardship toward our community and environment. Imagined as an extension of the network of trails throughout the preserve, the preschool is organized along a central “learning trail” spine. Light-filled classroom spaces alternate with a series of open and covered porches that open out into the natural woodlands beyond. The butterfly roof structure and operable windows allow for ample daylight and natural ventilation in appropriate seasons to increase sustainable, lower energy operation of the building. Biophilic design principles reinforce the connection to nature, with exposed local yellow pine throughout, and direct outdoor views in all spaces. Consistent with the mission of the Kreher Nature Preserve, all stormwater will be managed naturally on site. Potable water use is significantly reduced through grey water management, with rainwater collected from the butterfly roofs and used for flushing toilets. Constructed from timber harvested on-site, the preschool celebrates the potential of wood – aesthetically, economically, and environmentally. The preschool will incorporate cross laminated timber (CLT) produced in Alabama with Alabama loblolly pine as a demonstration of this new, sustainable building product with great potential for Alabama’s forestry-based industries. Exposed natural wood ceilings, walls, floors and open decks make sustainable forestry a tangible part of the school experience. The building will be supported on wood piles, avoiding the use of concrete and further minimizing the embodied carbon of the project.
PROJECT TYPE / New Construction STATUS / Est. Completion 2021
Entry Porch Diagram of Phases
A B
A | South Porch B | Exploded Program Axon C | Preschool Classroom
C
MUSEUM OF MEDICAL HISTORY & INNOVATION Mass General Hospital, Boston, MA
Providing a welcoming and highly visible front door to the MGH downtown Boston campus, the new Museum of Medical History and Innovation showcases a 200year history of medical innovation and the hospital’s place in the community. Although the hospital campus occupies more than 15 acres in the city, it previously had no “address” on a principal street. Built on a tiny sliver site, the building’s gleaming copper and glass façade spans a city block, identifying the main entrance to the hospital with a large presence. A series of spaces, each with its own identity, are stacked to make a tall threestory volume in its highly visible location. A double height entry lobby gives a generous and welcoming scale to the building, and its monumental stair joins first and second floors. The fully glazed ground floor exhibition space draw visitors in and engages the building with the public and the neighborhood. The first floor exhibition area is highly flexible, with an open-grid ceiling that provides adjustable lighting, power and data with fire suppression and supply air above the grid. The floor contains power and data boxes in a regular pattern to allow a changing arrangement of exhibits. The second floor houses a flexible meeting, assembly, and reception space for hospital seminars and events overlooking the entry and gallery below. A gridded ceiling and floor boxes lend flexibility to the second floor conference and exhibition space while English sycamore wall paneling provides a gracious environment for conferences. An oriel window offers glimpses of the activity of street and sidewalk and can also house aspects of changing exhibits as needed. The pergola covered roof garden provides a contemplative space for the Hospital, patients, visitors and neighbors, and dramatic views over downtown Boston and Beacon Hill.
PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / 8,000 sf STATUS /
AWARDS / Boston Preservation Alliance / Preservation Achievement Award for Construction in Harmony with Boston’s Built Environment 2012 AIA New England Honor Award 2013 DNA Design Awards Paris, Honorable Mention 2019
Completed 2012 PUBLICATIONS / Boston Globe 10/19/2013 BBC News 2/2013 Healthcare Design 11/16/2012 Contract Magazine 10/2012 Harvard Magazine 12/2012 Architectural Record 08/16/2012 ArchDaily 06/21/2012 Architecture Week 05/23/2012
A
A | Ground floor exhibits of research in medical technology are open to passers-by B | A roof garden overlooks the city C | The second floor hosts seminars, receptions, and monthly lecture series
B
C
At night, the museum is a glowing beacon at the gateway of the hospital campus
“This is a tiny building. It’s almost like a shiny badge pinned on the big, mostly gray MGH complex. But in the hands of inventive architects, it succeeds in its goal of grabbing your attention, inciting your curiosity, and inviting you to learn more about MGH. The copper makes Russell feel special, as if it’s been gift-wrapped. There must, you feel, be something precious inside.” - Robert Campbell, The Boston Globe
CENTER FOR ENGINEERING, INNOVATION & SCIENCES Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
The Center for Engineering, Innovation, & Sciences connects campus and city, and foster exchange, collaboration, and experimentation, while providing state of the art laboratories and maker spaces. The Project is designed to meet the next evolution in the collegiate study of several engineering disciplines by providing modern academic space for Wentworth’s existing student body and to enhance the campus experience in a new “state-of-the-art” building. At 4 stories in height with approximately 75,000 gross square feet, the building will accommodate Wentworth’s engineering and innovation programs. The ground floor centered around the lobby is highly transparent and displays activities of the building, engaging the public’s interest. The main lobby has a gallery display and is designed to accommodate multiple functions for receptions to evening events that bring together the university, local business and the community. The building is intended to be a visible demonstration of sustainable design and will incorporate enhanced metering for both University use and student demonstration. The building will exceed the City of Boston’s requirements of sustainability with a highly-efficient thermal envelope, and mechanical equipment designed for maximum efficiency including low-flow fume hoods. The building is designed to be LEED Silver Certifiable under LEED v.4.
PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / 75,000 gsf STATUS /
Completed January 2019
AWARDS / ENR New England’s 2019 Best Projects AIA New England Design Citation 2019 IFMA Boston Awards of Excellence 2019 AGCMA Build New England Awards Program 2019 Digital DNA Awards Honorable Mention 2019 PUBLICATIONS / College Planning and Management, 9/2019 World Architecture News Pupil Please Designs, 9/2019 BD+CU New Skin and Bones, 8/2019 NEREJ, 8/2019 Building Enclosure, 5/20/2019 Building Design + Construction, 5/7/2019 High-Profile, 5/1/2019 Boston Business Journal, 11/15/2018 WBUR, 7/17/2018 Boston Business Journal, 3/27/17
C
A A
D
B
B
A | Campus Gateway C | Accelerate Space B | Accelerate Space
C
A
A | Exterior Detail B | Exploded Building Axon C | Building Section
B
C
FARKAS HALL
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
This undergraduate theatre complex transforms the former Hasty Pudding Club. The new performing arts center is home to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Harvard Crocodillos and the Radcliffe Pitches, and campus wide dramatic and music groups. The original front of the 1887 brick structure was restored, while the rear twothirds of the building was razed to make space for the new theater, black box/ rehearsal room, and support spaces. The 272-seat proscenium-style theater is entered at the lobby level and steps down a full floor to the stage. Glimpsed from the street through an alley, the transparent lobby zone of the new building invites passersby into an intriguing modern theater beyond the historic facade. The professional-level performance space is specifically designed around teaching the craft of theater. The full floor decent affords great sightlines from the intimate audience chamber and side gallery. The control booth and follow spot locations are elevated above the audience and pulled close to the stage. Catwalk, sidewall and stage positions provide excellent lighting angles. 48 line sets, a full orchestra lift, trap door, wings and ample stage allow for dramatic theatrical presentations. 384 available circuits provide full control of both stage and house lighting. A prop shop, dressing rooms, storage, staging areas and other support spaces are located on two floors below the theater with a daylighted rehearsal space with grid and theatrical lighting package tucked in above.
PROJECT TYPE / Rennovation & Addition SIZE / 35,000 sf STATUS / Completed 2007
AWARDS / BSA Merit Award, 2010 Cambridge Historical Commission, Preservation Award, 2008 Assoc. General Contractors, Aon Build America Award Building and Construction Magazine, Reconstruction Award, Gold Level PUBLICATIONS / Harvard Magazine, 1/2008 Boston Sunday Globe, 10/14/2007 Building, Design & Const. Magazine, Awards Issue, 10/2007 Harvard Arts Spectrum, Fall 2007 Auditoria, 10/2005 Architectural Record, 3/2003
H
HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPH
A | Main Theater B | Transformed Lobby
B
A | Exterior at Dusk B | Transformed Exterior
BEFORE A
LEERS WEINZAPFEL ASSOCIATES 75 Kneeland Street, 3rd Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02111 tel 617 423 5711 www.lwa-architects.com