Located in a historic mid-century modern neighborhood, the original house had multiple additions. We keep the original house and demolish the addition built in the 1980s which was not functional. From that foundation a new open wing is built which has a direct connection to the exterior terrace and the large sycamore tree in the backyard.

The owners enjoy hosting large parties for friends and the existing kitchen was a pinch point in the house where no one would move past it which further restricted access to the living space. In the new design the pinch point is removed by flipping the functions of the house and reorienting it to the backyard.

The owners also wanted an accessory dwelling unit, which could serve multiple uses over time. Possibilities include their own children, aging parents, or even themselves aging in place.

This house keeps the foundation and footprint of an existing single story ranch. We add a second story for additional space and create a strong connection between the house and a native wildflower meadow and orchard.

The cladding is a modern version of a vernacular board and batten which turns it into an energy efficient and long lasting rainscreen wall. The gable roof twists slightly to direct the space from the primary bedroom to an upper exterior terrace carved from the volume of the extruded ranch footprint.

While at NADAAA

The Adams Branch of the Boston Public Library follows in the footsteps of the other BPL branches. The original building was 7,500 sf and no longer met the BPL’s requirements for branch Libraries.

The library has two faces one on Adams street presents the formal side of the library as one large gable at an institutional scale. The back side of the building reflects the smaller scale of the neighborhood and forms a series of smaller gables. Clad entirely in terracotta meant to be a permanent fixture in the Adams Street neighborhood of Dorchester.

The interior extends out from the central circulation desk allowing the librarians to have eyes on the entire library at once. Each wing contain an age group with the children’s, teen’s, and adult wings. The lower eight feet of the public space is clad in Baltic Birch plywood, with simple painted walls above.

The structure is hybrid with Steel columns supporting Wood Glulam beams. Stitched between the beams are plywood fins which reinforce the grain of the vaulted roof above and emphasize the rolling geometry to the transition from the single gable on Adams street to the many gables of the rear.

Team:

Principals: Nader Tehrani; Katherine Faulkner, AIA; Arthur Chang, AIA

Project Managers: Michael Schanbacher, AIA; Amin Tadj

Project Team: Ali Sherif; Hannah Wang; Lisa LaCharite; Nathan Vice; Tim Wong, AIA; Alex Diaz; Dustin Brugmann

Photos Copyright NADAAA Inc.

A Collaboration with Matter Design

Five Fields Play Structure has no purpose

And that is exactly how we intend for it to be. The project is a landscape for childish exploration. It shuns function and standard, in favor of liberation. The structure cultivates a child’s — and our own — imagination through play. It encourages inventiveness through its unfolding, discoverable spaces. The playscape is tailored to child size, but still accessible to adults. It prioritizes the child user, in order to both liberate and educate. It invites the older user to reminisce, and rediscover. The structure is a space for collective imagining and celebrating of all ages.

Five Fields Play Structure is positioned on land that is rich in history. The Five Fields neighborhood was designed and developed by The Architects Collaborative (TAC) in the early 1950s. TAC sought to foster community through creating shared, common land. Since its inception, the community has cared and respected the land as a whole. This land was conceived of as an experiment over sixty years ago. TAC’s experiment was a success — the upkeep and care of the common land unifies the community to this day. We seek to keep the spirit of communal innovation alive. Five Fields Play Structure is in this sense a monument to collective experimentation. It commends the exploratory spirit of the child, as nurtured by a whole community. As they say, it takes a village. We think it also takes a village to truly imagine, to truly play.

The thing is, the act of play is inherently indeterminate. Play cannot be reined in by a specific set of verbs. Play is liberation, but also irresolution. So how do you design for ambiguity, but also childish experimentation? We designed this structure with the hope to release users from specified, directive use. The expectation is that all users will inscribe their individual, creative means of expression through the space. The play structure harnesses the imagination and liberates the body within its wooden volumes.

Which brings us to the materiality, the sensorial aspects, of this playscape. A diverse body of elements engage the senses and augment each user’s experience. Just as each child learns differently in school, so this playscape offers diverse but equal means of engagement. Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic elements create distinct moments of use. The playscape is an unfolding of views, movements, and spaces. Levitating volumes overlap at certain points to create hidden thresholds. Smaller children crawl, while larger ones climb, as a varied means of reaching discoverable spaces. Colorful graphics suggest entries and moments of use, without being overtly prescriptive. Elements like doors and stairs exist, but not as expected. We wanted to render architecture as childish. Movement through the playscape culminates in dead ends. But to the child, they are vistas of discovery that look out onto the landscape.

We see the Five Fields Play Structure as a learning opportunity. We have a lot to learn from children, from our younger selves. By creating safe space for community play, we let imagination reign. The play structure is both nod to and continuation of TAC’s emphasis on community sharing. This is a space celebrating the collective imagination, as a shared experience. It seeks to reinforce the neighborhood’s relationship to the land and to each other. Continuing TAC’s heritage, the play structure is an experimental extension of pre-existing play equipment (which already include swings, slides, and a sandbox). This investigation in ambiguity and abstractness is not just a creative endeavor. It also serves to open the very playful imagination that it is designed for. The intent is to not ask what the structure does, but how it imagines new possibilities.

About Five Fields – Lexington, MA

The Architect’s Collaborative bought the Cutler Farm and developed it into 61 affordable houses in the 1950s. Following TAC’s previous model of Six Moon Hill, the development included a shared common land, which the neighborhood would then maintain. Using three different standard plans they sited the houses to follow the contours of the land while being aware of views from adjoining neighbors. In the ensuing 60 plus years the neighborhood has embraced its role as caretaker of the common land and the continued experimentation of design and community.

About MATTER DESIGN

Matter Design is an interdisciplinary design practice founded in 2008 by Brandon Clifford and Wes McGee. Their shared interest in design coupled with proficiency in the means and methods of production have led Clifford and McGee to collaborate on a range of experimental projects which break conventional disciplinary notions of scale. Matter Design was recently awarded the Design Biennial Boston award and the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers. In addition, the principals are currently faculty at the University of Michigan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

http://www.matterdesignstudio.com/

Team:

Principals: Michael Schanbacher, AIA ; Brandon Clifford (Matter Design)

Project Team: Dar Adams; Josh Apgar; Courtney Apgar; Michael Leviton; Daniel Marshall; Chris McGuiness; Dan Roseman

Kid Consultants: Ainsley Schanbacher; Judson Schanbacher; Mack Apgar; Liam Apgar; Sam Leviton; Bella Dubrovsky

The house began as a standard plan in the neighborhood and a garage and studio were subsequently added. The current owner wishes to add a master suite as well as an additional bedroom. In a post pandemic world the owner also works from home and currently works out of the dining room and an office will be added to the upper level.

The house built in 1952 has no insulation. The addition allows us to not only insulate the wall cavity but also add continuous insulation outboard of the existing sheathing. The entire house will be re-clad in thermally treated wood which will be allowed to silver naturally.

The addition was recently approved by the local historic commission.

More to come soon . . .

Situated in the TAC designed Five Fields neighborhood, the house had only one previous owner who hired TAC to custom design the home. We found the house in a state of disrepair and began a series of renovations that while bringing the house up to date, carefully considered the original intent of The Architect’s Collaborative and the spirit of mid-century modern architecture. The kitchen was only connected to the rest of the house by a single framed opening, our first move was to tear down the wall to open up the kitchen to the entirety of the living space.

The basement was underutilized with a large open space and fourth bedroom. The fourth bedroom was converted into and office while maintaining it’s status as a guest bedroom. The large space of the walkout basement was converted into a family and laundry room with a library wall along the corridor from the stairs.

This 2600 sf home is sited on Lake Murray in central South Carolina on land abutting the client’s childhood home. The site has been referred to as Windy Hill for generations, owing to the the cool breezes that lilt though the tall pines atop the small hill. The home takes full advantage of the view and proximity to the lake; a large expanse of windows in the living area frames the view up the lake. A generous deck and screened porch provides space to enjoy the outdoors, while a breezeway allows the air to filter through the porch area while also connecting the garage to the home. An upstairs deck off of a loft and office area provides more expansive views of the lake. It is a home that provides visual and physical connections between the public spaces; the upper and lower floors are connected through the double height living area. The open floor plan and first floor master suite allows the clients to age in place.

Team:

Principals: Michael Schanbacher, AIA; Kerri Frick. AIA

While at Schwartz Silver Architects

Connecticut College’s Shain library was built in 1973 at a time when Higher Education institutions around the country were building libraries as literal bunkers. The slit windows and moat surrounding the library disconnected it from the center of campus. Through a series of incisions in the existing facade which included both larger windows as well as the removal of precast panels at the front entrance, the library reclaimed it’s position as the center of campus. A portion of the moat was filled to allow direct access into the Camel Cafe, further enlivening the building inside and out.

Team:

Principals: Angela Ward Hyatt, AIA; Warren Schwartz, AIA

Project Manager: Michael Schanbacher, AIA

Project Team: John McCampbell; Nelson Liu

All images copyright Schwartz Silver Architects

This renovation and addition to a single family home in Arlington, Virginia, comprises a renovation of 1400sf and an addition of 1400sf. The clients needed more space for their growing family, but wanted to remain in the desirable city of Arlington. The home is a colonial built in the 1930’s and was a very tight 4 rooms over 4 rooms. The addition effectively doubles the footprint of the existing home adding a new basement, living area, and master suite. The addition allowed for the expansion of the small kitchen into the former dining room.  A side porch that was enclosed by a previous owner was brought up the same level as the first floor and converted into a powder room and mudroom. Construction was completed in August 2014.

Team:

Principals: Michael Schanbacher, AIA

Project Team: Kerri Frick, AIA

While at Schwartz/Silver Architects

The client purchased 60 acres of land with a small cabin from the previous owner with the intent of eventually building a larger weekend home on the property. We situated the house on the edge of steep hill that drops over 40 feet toward the pond. The house also straddles a hollow that is maintained as the house lifts off the ground. The northern sleeping section of the house is built of heavy stone, while the southerly living sections are clad in weathering steel. A long stair connects the upper main portion of the house with a lower roof and guest level, which eventually leads out to the pond.

Team:

Principal: Warren Schwartz, AIA

Project Manager: Michael Schanbacher, AIA

Landscape Architect: Gregg Bleam Landscape Architects

While at Schwartz/Silver Architects

Located in a brand new residential tower in Boston’s South End, this restaurant will be a new outpost for an existing restaurant. The clients wished to continue the brand with a large prominent pizza oven, and casual seating. The existing space contained a mezzanine which covered half of the main level creating a large contrast in height between the front and back half of the space. We wanted to heighten this contrast so where the height changes and you enter the bar the materials all turn darker. In the main dining space a rolling field of white dowels are hung to affect the dining experience, lower over the banquettes and higher over the communal table.

Team:

Principal: Warren Schwartz, AIA

Project Manager: Michael Schanbacher, AIA

Project Team: John McCampbell

While at Schwartz Silver Architects

The project includes the renovation of the existing tower in Jackson, Mississippi, as well as the addition of a security screening pavilion at the base, Because of the complex geometries of the structure, 3D computer modeling with tight tolerances was an absolute requirement. Adding to the complexity was the addition of a series of glass shingles which flow around the geometry maintaining the standard size of 19" X 50". To develop the glass clip and aluminum "ribbon and quill" system we worked very closely with Dewhurst MacFarlane and Partners in NYC (structural and glass/façade engineer) as well as A Zahner in Kansas City (fabrication).

Team:

Principal: Warren Schwartz, AIA

Project Managers: Peter Kleiner, AIA

Project Architect: Michael Schanbacher, AIA

Project Team: Nelson Liu; Kerri Frick, AIA; Zach Craun. AIA

All Images copyright Schwartz Silver Architects

While at Schwartz Silver Architects

As the final piece of the former Pembroke College renovation, Brown wanted to create a new student oriented space in the freshmen dorms surrounding the Pembroke Quad. Because the dorms were built in the first half of the 20th century they don’t contain the student gathering and study spaces that are built into contemporary dorms. Our project solves this problem by adding a new food service operation to what was a ballroom space used for the occasional formal event as well as renovates a space above the old ballroom into a study space.

We along with Brown Dining Services and our food service consultant added two serving stations, one having a pizza oven and the other with a three burner wok. The facility has proven to be wildly successful with the students who now have a dining facility in their dorm as well as a brand new study space.

Team:

Principals: Mark Schatz, AIA; Angela Ward Hyatt, FAIA

Project Managers: Michael Schanbacher, AIA

Project Team: Nelson Liu; Kristen Giannatasio, AIA

All images copyright Schwartz Silver Architects