Lerner | Ladds + Bartels

Bolton Library’s Grand Opening

kisidoro — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:58:26 +0000

The Bolton Public Library welcomed the public at its grand reopening on Saturday, February 6. R. Drayton Fair, principal of the firm, was there for the ribbon cutting ceremony and expressed how rewarding it was to design the library. He commented for Coulter Press saying, “People have been very complementary about it. That’s the most rewarding, and the most relief. You don’t want to do a building this visible and have people not like it… It was a wonderful opportunity to spruce up the original building after about a century of use.”

Read more about the grand opening with comments from Library Director Kelly Collins and Building committee Co-Chairmen Pam Czekanski and Roland Ochsenbein:

Bolton library reopens this weekend By Ken Cleveland

Bolton fetes its new library space By Lynne Klaft

Bolton Public Library opens by Barbara Parente

ALA Midwinter Meeting 2010

kisidoro — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:06:37 +0000

We’re back from the ALA Midwinter Meeting and we were so excited to meet so many great people. The turn out was incredible and we met people not only from New England, but from all over the country. At our booth, we featured one of our latest project, the Walpole Public Library. Last year, we completed a feasibility study for Walpole and we’re currently in design development. The Bolton Public Library is finishing up construction and is scheduled to open on February 6. Check out some of our recently completed libraries, the Watertown Free Library and Maynard Public Library in the featured section of our portfolio.

The conference was a huge success and we’re considering a spot at the annual conference in DC. Be on the lookout.

Congratulations St. Jude’s

kisidoro — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:33:12 +0000

St. Jude Church in Lincoln, RI recently held a rededication mass on December 17. After closing for several months, the church underwent major renovation led by Lerner Ladds + Bartels and Mill City Construction. Many areas of the church were renovated including new interior woodwork and pews, a new marble sanctuary, and a new acoustics system. Several long-time parishioners were extremely pleased with the new church saying, “This is a new beginning,” and “It’s absolutely gorgeous, so full of life.” The historic mass also had special significance for the presiding Bishop Thomas J. Tobin who was ordained in the church 30 years ago.

Read the full article and see photos of the rededication mass at The Rhode Island Catholic.

New Photos of Miller/Carr

kisidoro — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:08:51 +0000

New photos of the Miller/Carr Residence were recently taken by John Horner Photography. Project manager and senior associate Suzanne diSalvo was on-site with Horner to pick the best shots. See more photos and read about the project at Miller/Carr Residence.

Miller/Carr Residence

kisidoro — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:03:06 +0000

Situated on a sloping and forested 3 acre secluded lot, the Miller/Carr Residence is sited to preserve the trees and rocks that the client adventured through as a child. The form of the house creates distinctive spaces at the entry, the garden of native vegetation, and the outdoor patio with open connection to the living space inside.

The program is arranged within two intersecting bars with juxtaposing form and materiality, a complement to the personalities of the husband and wife clients. The two story traditional bar with gable ends is clad in Alaskan yellow cedar and contains the private areas of the home. The one story contemporary bar features metal corrugated siding and contains the public areas of the home in an open floor plan. At their crossing, the kitchen is the hearth of the home where the family gathers each night to eat and celebrate in each other’s company.

Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles

nbijlani — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:35:57 +0000

The three-story, 69,000 sf building, located in the Pastore Government Center of Cranston, had been in continuous use as an office facility for the State’s Department of Human Services since its construction in 1970. During that time several building systems had been repaired and upgraded, including the recent replacement of exterior glazing. Conversion of the building to serve the DMV required a multi-faceted plan to maximize efficiency, quality, and safety.
A large part of programming involved meticulous study of the various functions of the DMV, organized and presented to the State in a comprehensive programming document for cost and space analysis. Programming designs required the ability to process a large quantity of public patrons, accounted for via enhanced entrances able to accommodate large numbers of patrons and staff. The large lobby and atrium opens up to a custom-designed 12’ wide monumental stair of architectural grade steel and art glass. A series of linear zones provides logical, legible separation of activity, complemented with an integral way-finding system at all intersections which creates controlled circulation patterns. A two-sided elliptical license and registration service counter promotes the even distribution of patrons and provides heightened control of views and privacy. The design is sensitive to accessibility by eliminating ramps, instead utilizing gently-sloped walkways and universally-designed service counter heights. This focus on creating organizational strategies carried into furniture layouts, desk design, and circulation patterns, intended to eliminate confusion and crowding while streamlining the process for everyone.
Maintaining a clear view to the natural day lighting of the atrium brings much-welcomed light into the core of the building, with potential glare from the curtain wall mitigated through the use of vertical exterior sun-shading devices, which act as super signage for the highway. Excavation of former below-grade space and the introduction of windows further open the building to daylight.Custom lighting reiterates the grid-like organization of the building, with recessed lighting that highlights the linear zones of circulation, and pendants and bollards that demarcate movement and waiting areas. State of the art energy efficient systems, enhanced security consistent with the latest National Homeland Security regulations, and all-inclusive renovation of building systems complete this thorough adaptive reuse project.

Rhode Island Foundation Art Gallery

nbijlani — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:10:42 +0000

One of the missions of the Rhode Island Foundation has been to showcase and support local artists, but in their previous home they lacked a proper venue. Therefore, the second major design objective of this two-part project for Lerner | Ladds + Bartels was to carve an art gallery out of a number of smaller rooms including the cafeteria and kitchen. The corridor leading to the main gallery, intended to exhibit black and white photography, received a brick-colored paint with a silver ceiling, while the main gallery walls remained classic white. To celebrate the 15-foot high windows while skirting in-place mechanical systems,
the architect designed a curved ceiling, painted metallic silver, which drapes within the otherwise purely rectangular space. Moveable folding panels are
designed to allow additional exhibit space within the gallery and a flexible layout.
Frameless glass walls divide the space into functional rooms while allowing clear dialogue between the gallery and adjoining conference rooms.

St. James Commons

nbijlani — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:47:19 +0000

After many years of disrepair, fire and water damage Lerner | Ladds + Bartels, Inc. teamed up with Peoples Redevelopment Corporation to help revitalize these two long forgotten houses back to their original days of grandeur. These two, 3-story 3-family houses required a complete interior and exterior renovation to be modeled after the neighboring historic James H. Hagan house of 1891. Along with the numerous repairs, Peoples Redevelopment Corporation requested the houses to be moved from their existing foundations down three city blocks, through a busy section of Providence, to their new resting place. This is all part of a larger neighborhood revitalization program that has been undertaken by Peoples Redevelopment Corporation and the City of Providence.
Through multiple coordination meetings with L | L + B, the house movers, the contractor and all City of Providence utility companies, each house was raised, moved and settled in under 2 weeks. The move itself arose quite stir in the neighborhood with many of the families coming out to witness the houses rolling through the main street. The complete refurbishment of the houses is now in progress.

Acton Town Hall

nbijlani — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:37:15 +0000

The historic Town Hall in Acton, Massachusetts was built in 1862 in the Italianate style, a 2 ½ story gable form facing the historic Common. A commanding façade, the 3-bay main face is highlighted by a decorative entrance porch, Palladian-style window and two stage cupola with a concave pyramidal roof topped by a weathervane. The original slate roof had served the building well for almost 145 years when the Town made the decision to replace it. Working with the Town facilities department, Lerner | Ladds + Bartels created measured drawings and construction details to faithfully replace the roofing material with new slate. In a later project, L | L + B was hired to create documents for preservation painting work. These projects shall help to maintain this historic structure for the next 150 years. to maintain this historic structure for the next 150 years.

Providence Community Action Housing

nbijlani — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:46:47 +0000

Five new duplex affordable housing units were designed for ProCAP (Providence Community Action Program) on a wooded hilly terrain, with ledge outcroppings, in an undeveloped area of Providence. The parcel was made up of 14 undersized lots that were merged into five lots with a new road incorporated in the project to service the proposed housing. The housing was built under the section 811 housing program. Each building consists of 2 units. The unit size varies from 1 to 3 bedrooms, and 5 units are designated as handicapped accessible. Each housing unit was designed with its own entry and identity to convey the concept of “home-like” living.