The American Institute of Architects NH Chapter (AIANH) honored nine projects from eight architectural firms at its 2015 Annual Excellence in Architecture Design Awards. These awards recognize architecture that exemplifies excellence in overall design, including aesthetics, clarity, creativity, appropriate functionality, sustainability, building performance and appropriateness with regard to fulfilling the client’s request.
The honorees were selected from a field of 28 submissions. Featured here are the non-residential project winners. For more information about the winning projects, visit www.aianh.org/content/design-awards.
Honor Award
Anderson Hall Performing Arts Center
at Brewster Academy, Wolfeboro
Architect: Scott Simons Architects, Portland, Maine
Contractor: Milestone Engineering
& Construction, Inc., Concord
This new addition and reconfigured plaza have transformed the formerly dark, crowded, and inwardly looking church and auditorium into an open performance space on the southeast end of Brewster Academy’s campus. The project included removing the existing entrance, lobby, church pew seating and stage, and the addition of 4,370 square feet of new space that houses the new lobby, set shop, classroom, elevator and stairs. The new entrance lobby is a 20-foot high, light-filled space surrounded by windows with views to the campus.
Jury Comments: “The interior spaces are successfully transformed from inward looking to outward looking with open and light-filled performance spaces. The new entrance lobby connects the composition to the academy’s campus.”
Rick and Duffy Monahon Award for Design Excellence in Architectural Restoration and Preservation
Colony Hall at the MacDowell Colony,
Peterborough
Architect: Sheldon Pennoyer Architects, Concord
Construction Manager: Bruss Construction Inc., Bradford
This winning project required renovating an aging community center and dining hall at the 100-year-old MacDowell Colony, a residential artist’s colony. A venerable building created from a recycled heavy-timber barn frame, it had suffered inevitable deterioration over time: poorly conceived additions that blocked incoming sunlight, a rudimentary kitchen, limited accessibility and a building envelope completely ill-equipped to meet the energy conservation goals of today. Now, strategically placed new additions provide high-quality, new construction along vulnerable northerly building exposures, while targeted demolition lets in southern light to areas previously cut off from solar gain. The architecture is carefully scaled, respectful of its New England heritage, but clearly a product of today, not an imitation of the past, with a priority on energy conservation.
Jury Comments: “The design jury recognizes the manner in which the existing Colony Hall was historically and sensitively renovated with skillful additions and careful demolitions all the while preserving the original character of the building.”
Merit Award
Bush Center & Ketchum Library at the University of New England, Biddeford, Maine
Architect: JSA Inc., Portsmouth
Contractor: Ouellet Associates, Brunswick, Maine and Allied Cook, Scarborough, Maine
Landscape Architect: Site Design Associates, Brunswick, Maine
Built in 1968, Ketchum Library at the University of New England’s Biddeford campus was a “period piece” of late modernist architecture. In designing the additions to the library, the architect was sympathetic to the scale and texture of Ketchum while providing a more visually accessible addition to the campus. The Bush Center’s three-story addition includes the Bush Legacy Library, cafe, a boardroom and the university president’s administrative suite.
Jury Comments: “The Bush Center received recognition for its sympathetic and contextual additions to the existing library, transforming an inward looking building into one that embraces views of the Saco River, landscape and University Campus. … A worthy design solution honoring George and Barbara Bush.”
Merit Award
IDEXX Synergy Center, Westbrook, Maine
Architect: Lavallee Brensinger Architects, Manchester
Construction Manager: PC Construction, Portland, Maine
Landscape Architect: Richardson & Associates, Saco, Maine
Interior Design: Stibler Associates, Manchester
The challenge on this project was to create an environment for IDEXX Laboratories that fosters collaboration and promotes a culture of employee wellness. The core of the 108,000-square-foot Synergy Center includes meeting spaces, a healthy-food court, wellness center and employee health services. The building has been awarded LEED Gold Certification and features sustainable elements throughout, including a green roof with patio for informal outdoor meetings overlooking the wooded preserve. Site landscaping features plants that require minimal maintenance and no irrigation. HVAC design, under-floor airflow delivery, automated system controls, environmental monitoring and the use of natural light cut operations costs significantly. Monitors throughout the building check carbon monoxide levels and adjust delivery of fresh outside air to exceed normal standards by 30 percent. More than 90 percent of occupants can see outdoors from their workspaces.
Jury Comments: “By their very nature, the medical manufacturing laboratories must meet strict restraints to meet cleanliness and the protection of intellectual property. This design solution creates an open new building and fills it with natural light and with the amenities to support the well being of all company employees.”
Honorable Mention
Meservey Hall at New Hampton School,
New Hampton
Architect: Samyn-D’Elia Architects, PA, Ashland
Contractor: Conneston Construction, Inc., Laconia
Landscape Architect: Pollock Land Planning, New Hampton
This project is a renovation and addition to historic Meservey Hall at New Hampton School. The Hall’s 1858 brick façade was left intact and a new interior structure and addition to the campus-facing side of the building was developed. The light-filled interior features a three-story sky-lit atrium, glass stairwells, and classrooms and meeting rooms with exterior and atrium-facing windows.
Jury Comments: “A masterful transformation of a traditional academic building constructed with an existing primary entrance facing the college campus lawn. The new design expands the academic program while skillfully creating a new access connecting the campus lawn and playing fields through the building.”
People’s Choice Award: Commercial
Smuttynose Brewing Company, Hampton
Architect: McHenry Architecture Portsmouth
Construction Manager: Harvey Construction Corp., Bedford
Landscape Architect: Terra Firma Landscape Architecture, Portsmouth
This LEED-certified facility greatly increases the efficiency and capacity at Smuttynose Brewery. The 14-acre property and former site of the historic Towle Farm was transformed into a state-of-the-art complex with space to expand as needed. That includes preserving the existing barn and relocating the Victorian era farmhouse to be renovated as a restaurant. The landscape design features rain gardens to help control storm water runoff and the restoration of the old apple orchard on the site.
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