Alex Wilson, the founder of BuildingGreen and executive editor of Environmental Building News, has written the first in what I believe will be a series of blog posts about resilient design.

He’s been on sabbatical for the last nine months, thinking deeply about this issue, and has a lot of smart things to say. Alex argues that we should be designing buildings and places to allow humans to survive increasingly intense storm events, global climate change, and energy and water insecurity. Green building (Alex’s area of expertise) plays a large part in that resilience.

Neighborhood and community design (our area of expertise) also plays a part. As gas prices increase and transportation becomes potentially unreliable, walkable communities will become more important. At the same time, we’re going to have to design our sites to survive more extreme floods, our buildings to withstand higher wind stresses and flood waters, and our infrastructure to survive uncertainty.

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, our firm has been working with a lot of folks who are rebuilding and wondering how to make their homes and businesses safe. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be talking about some of those techniques, and providing case studies of a few buildings that made it through the floods just fine.

(By the way, the picture to the right was taken by Alex on his bike ride through the West earlier this year. His blog archive about that trip is well worth reading.)

 

Long-awaited improvements to the waterfront parcel of land by Union Station are moving forward. The Town of Brattleboro Selectboard approved a bid by Zaluzny Excavating to perform the work needed at the site, which will start with the demolition of two buildings in December 2011.
The work to the site, designed and overseen by engineering firm Stevens & Associates, includes pedestrian and parking improvements on the east side of the railroad tracks. Two buildings will be removed to make way for open green space along the river. Depot Street will house 17 parking spaces for train riders, with space for possible expansion to 28 spaces. A vehicle turnaround will be added at the north end of the site, near the Merrill Gas building.

A paved sidewalk will run the length of the parking area, separated from the railroad tracks by a grassy area and a row of trees. Lighting will also be added. Where Depot Street meets Bridge Street, the sidewalk will open up into a small paved and planted bus stop, with a bus shelter designed and constructed by timber framer Monica MacNeille. These improvements will increase pedestrian safety and improve handicapped accessibility to the train station and the railroad crossing.

“This project will create green space on the only publicly accessible riverfront land in town,” said project manager and engineer Cory Frehsee of Stevens & Associates. “It will greatly improve the experience of train travelers entering Brattleboro, and will provide open space for residents.”

The project also includes brownfield corrective action measures designed and overseen by New England Envirostrategies of Concord, New Hampshire, and project management by the Windham Regional Commission. Construction will begin in December, and is scheduled to be completed by July 1, 2012. Funding for the project came from the Federal Transit Authority, the State of Vermont Agency of Transportation, the State of Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, CVPS, and the Town of Brattleboro.

 

Seven months after a fire destroyed much of the building, plans are moving forward to rebuild the historic Brooks House in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont. A feasibility study and conceptual design has been completed, and owner Jonathan Chase is currently exploring funding options for the project. He hopes construction can begin in 2012.The design and construction of a project of this size is a complex process, requiring architectural and engineering services and funding from multiple sources. Chase sees the fire as an opportunity to reimagine the building and its uses. “We have the opportunity to do this right and make the building everything it can be,” he said.

One of the goals of the design team is to restore historic elements of the Brooks House, including the storefront facades and a two-story porch on Main Street. The building’s ballroom, from its days as a hotel, would remain a large, open space in the conceptual design, and would be used as a coworking space for local entrepreneurs.

The conceptual design for the Brooks House also includes market-rate and high-end residential units, office space, and retail space. An addition to the first floor would improve circulation among the retail spaces, providing an indoor mall area. It would also provide indoor seating for a restaurant; outdoor seating would also be provided behind the building.

Stevens & Associates’ conceptual design also features a pedestrian mall behind the building in the Harmony parking lot. A portion of the land on which the parking lot sits belongs to Chase, as does the tunnel entrance to the lot from High Street under the Brooks House. The preliminary plan for the lot includes closing the tunnel to vehicular traffic, extending landscaping between the Brooks House and the one-story building on the other side of the parking lot (formerly a pizzeria), and providing outdoor seating for town residents and the restaurant located in the Brooks House.

“The Harmony Marketplace, as we’re calling it, would provide more green space for downtown,” said Bob Stevens of Stevens & Associates. “It would also provide a pedestrian-friendly area that would support the businesses around Harmony Lot and would give Brooks House residents an important amenity.”

Chase is working with Tom Appel of New England Management Company to develop funding sources for the project. As a historic building, the Brooks House is eligible for restoration tax credits on both federal and state levels. It is also eligible for the New Market Tax Credit program, which supports investment in downtowns.

Pulling together funding sources can take some time, says Chase. “This is a complex process,” he said. “There are a lot of elements to consider.” However, he hopes that a final design can be developed over the winter and construction can begin in the spring.

The conceptual design includes:

• Approximately 80,000 square feet of space
• 41 apartments, including studios and one-bedrooms
• 7 high-end apartments with loft space in the penthouse
• Artist apartments with studio space
• Office space, including a coworking space in the former ballroom
• 9 retail spaces with an indoor mall area
• 2 restaurants with indoor and outdoor seating
• 1 separate restaurant/retail (formerly the pizzeria)
• A fully rehabilitated bar downstairs (formerly the Mole’s Eye)
• A pedestrian mall area in the Harmony Parking Lot
• A new lobby that restores the historic lobby entrance on Main Street
• Handicapped accessibility throughout the building
• A two-story porch on Main Street; rehabilitation of storefronts, multiple private decks for residential units
• Green building features, including solar hot water, energy-efficient heating and cooling, and LEED certification as a goal

 

It’s official: Adam Hubbard, ASLA, is now a licensed landscape architect in the state of Vermont.

Adam has over 15 years of experience with landscape and site design as well as community development and urban planning. Prior to joining Stevens & Associates, Adam was the vice-president of a landscape design and contracting company in the Brattleboro area. His work in our office includes site design, master planning, environmental permitting, and landscape design.

His projects have included the Springfield Area Parent Child Center, the Hilltop Montessori School (shown at right), the Daly Shoe Building, and many others.
 

We are happy to announce that Cory Frehsee, one of our civil engineers, has joined Bob Stevens and Brud Sanderson as a partner in Stevens & Associates.

Cory joined the firm in 2005, and has been involved in many of our projects ever since. He’s filled the project manager role on several high-profile projects, including the Brattleboro Food Coop, the Union Station site redevelopment, and many others.

Cory, along with Bob, is also a LEED Accredited Professional, meaning he has a working knowledge of LEED, the country’s leading green building rating system. He values sustainability and green design, and works it into projects whenever and wherever he can.

As you can see, he also really likes being outside in the winter.