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Educational

Hamden Hall Performing Arts Facility Hamden, CT

This K-12 private school is located on a highly restrictive sloping site in a residential neighborhood. Our Mandate was to provide campus planning, and architectural services needed to unify the disparate existing buildings on the site to achieve a true campus environment with a campus core. Towards that end, we located the performing arts, science, and library buildings around a central courtyard adjacent to the major existing buildings.

 

The performing arts facility includes ground floor and mezzanine seating, a proscenium stage with fly loft, a green room, tech booth, and toilet facilities. Additionally, large performing arts classrooms, including music are located in the building.

Hamden Hall Science and Cafeteria Facility Hamden, CT

This K-12 private school is located on a highly restrictive, sloping site in a residential neighborhood. Our Mandate was to provide the campus master-planning and architectural services needed to unify the disparate existing buildings on the site to achieve a true campus environment with a campus core. Towards that end, we located the performing arts, science, and library buildings around a central courtyard adjacent to the major existing buildings.

 

The science and cafeteria building engages the sleeping site to provide a cafeteria on grade at the base of the slope and science facilities directly off of the school’s central courtyard halfway up the slope. The science facilities include full laboratory classrooms.

Hamden Hall Schiavone Library Hamden, CT

This K-12 private school is located on a highly restrictive, sloping site in a residential neighborhood. Our Mandate was to provide the campus master-planning and architectural services needed to unify the disparate existing buildings on the site to achieve a true campus environment with a campus core. Towards that end, we located the performing arts, science, and library buildings around a central courtyard adjacent to the major existing buildings. The library building leverages the potential of the steeply sloping site by placing its primary entrance on the central courtyard above and a covered drop-off and pick-up area below proximal to parking. The library includes stacks, media learning centers, and study areas.

St. Gabriel Middle School Stamford, CT

This middle school addition entails a new reception area and entrance foyer for the entire middle school, 5 classrooms, 1 art room, 1 music room, a multipurpose gymnasium cafeteria, boys and girls toilets, a warming kitchen, and ancillary support facilities. Our aesthetic approach is to speak to and complement, but not mimic the existing 1950’s middle school building. The existing facility lacks a true point of arrival: accordingly, we establish a new primary entrance at the juncture of the old and new wings.

 

The parti entails surrounding the larger, multipurpose room with classrooms in order to provide natural light and ventilation for classrooms at the periphery while providing ambient natural light at the multi-purpose room via a translucent panel clerestory surround. A new control point is created at the knuckle between the old and new buildings with views to the new entrance and existing corridor.

Killingly Middle School Killingly, CT

This 1,200 students 5-8 middle school was designed to provide a highly controllable and flexible mechanism to provide for unity and cohesion across the student population as well as separation between the grades as appropriate for scheduling and activity type. The figure-eight shape allows for efficient circulation and adjacencies towards that end in order to service homerooms, subject-based classrooms, and the more public function areas such as the two gymnasia, auditorium, and library.

 

The efficacy of this configuration has also allowed for effective simultaneous use by the community at large. For these reasons amongst others, the school was recognized by AS&U as a national middle school prototype. Two landscaped inner courtyards provide natural light and inspiration to the core of the building. Dramatic, multi-story spaces provide airiness and inspiration in areas such as the library. The project was delivered within highly stringent budget parameters. Accordingly, the finishes were left simple but elegant.

St. Patrick School Pre-K: New Facility Renovations to Existing Miami Beach, FL

Drawing a diverse student population from throughout the area, the St.Patrick Preschool needs more space for its Pre-k population. The program includes the refurbishment of the existing Pre-K building and the addition of an adjacent single-story classroom building. The design strategy has been to achieve the needed additional space and the refurbishment of existing within the Mediterranean revival architectural vocabulary of the school’s existing buildings, within a stringent budget and ordinance parameters. The goal is to enhance both the school and the neighborhood of which it is such an integral part.

 

The area of the site between the street, the existing gymnasium, and the existing pre-k building has been chosen for the new building. The new facility is to be one story for budgetary purposes and is proportioned to be both appropriate to the neighborhood and to fit in with the datums associated with the existing buildings on campus. Extensive site improvements are designed to enhance drop-off and pick-up circulation as well as to implement local traffic calming and enhance the quality of life in the neighborhood with the implementation of plantings, traffic circles, and T terminations.

Masterplan and Gymnasium Auditorium Building Highlands School Irving, TX

The Highlands School project entails a complete campus masterplan and the design of the new gymnasium. The gym is configured to also provide an auditorium with a fixed stage. Multiple play surface courts are provided with both curtain-based divisions, as well as a more global separation created by the central locker room area with weight training and wrestling above. In this manner, the expeditious use of single and multi-story space is employed both for maximizing square footage but is also used to create a system logic within the facility in order to create spatial definition and logic.

Dodd’s Hall, Lecture Hall, Classroom, and Gallery Building University of New Haven New Haven, CT

As the University’s flagship building, Dodd’s Hall establishes UNH”s campus core at a steeply sloping site in the center of the campus. The buildings seek to engage the site directly and dynamically to provide the grade differential at the interior for the lecture hall auditorium and provide views of Long Island sound from student lounges located at the ends of the building. The building operates as a gateway to the campus via passage at its middle from the busy boulevard at the lower end of the slope and the campus core at the upper end. In addition to the lecture and lounges, classroom and laboratory space is provided, including the forensic teaching laboratories for Dr. Henry Lee.

 

The gallery works as a transition space from the exterior through the building to the educational spaces within. In this manner, the building works both to provide educational facilities, as well as to engage the campus at large as a portal between the community and the campus and functions within the building.

New Dormitory Building, University of New Haven New Haven, CT

The dormitory forms a complement to Dodd’s Hall, engaging the steeply sloping site to take advantage of views towards Long Island Sound. Two-story lounges and other public areas that take advantage of sectional relationships within the building work to foster community by forming interstitial zones between floors and functions.

Masterplan and Prototype Classroom Buildings, Royal Palm Academy Naples, FL

The Legionaries of Christ maintain a highly specific mandate for literal transparency for all of their facilities. Originally, this was implemented in climates and cultures where outdoor circulation provided a simple means for open-air external circulation visible from all points on one side of a building. We worked with the client to produce a prototype applicable to South Florida in which the buildings are fully enclosed, and yet fully transparent from without and between spaces within the facilities.

Charles Ives Band-shell, Western Connecticut State University CSA Award Recipient Danbury, CT

A sloping site leading to a lake afforded the opportunity for an inspired solution for a much loved and used outdoor performance venue. WCSU was looking to implement an outdoor bandshell: Kosinski recommended that it take advantage of the natural amphitheater created by a crescent sloping condition, terminating at the lake-front site. Accordingly, the band-shell is situated on the lake at the base of the slope. The resulting much-loved facility houses music and dance performances during the temperate months.

 

The Concert Bandshell for the Performing Arts provides protection from the elements in a gazebo-like structure which provides a unique context for performance in that it appears to float on the lake. The facility can support a full orchestra or ballet company. The structure is built of timber trusses, is finished with a pine floor, covered with a cedar shake roof, and is hung with acoustical panels. Nestled in this natural amphitheater, the band-shell plays easily to an audience of 10,000.

New Pre-K and Library Building, Renovations to Existing St. Joseph School Miami Beach, FL

The St. Joseph School is located in the very tight site context in the urban fabric of Miami Beach, The program required a new Pre-K facility and a new Library for the school at large. The solution was to provide Pre-K at grade with immediate drop-off operating from circulation at the rest of the school.

 

The library was placed above the Pre-K with access directly from the school at level 2. In addition, much-needed office and administrative space were obtained by using space from the unused stage area at the existing multi-purpose room. Additional cafeteria space is obtained by covering an unused, paved area between the multi-purpose room and play surfaces outdoors.

Pine Point School Gymnasium Auditorium Stonington, CT

The project includes a new athletic center and performing arts facilities for this K-12 school. The existing gymnasium was converted into a library media center. The new building includes a Multi-purpose Room with a Gymnasium-Auditorium space a full Proscenium Stage with a Fly Loft and Support Spaces, Art Studios, a Music Room, and Dance Studios. The project includes comprehensive code updates, renovations, and associated site upgrades.

Waterford Quaker Hill and Clark Lane Schools, Additions Renovations  Waterford, CT

The Quaker Hill School project included the addition of an Art Room, a new Media Center, a Music Room, and Library Comprehensive renovations were implemented for 34,200 square feet of the existing facility. Within the highly stringent budget parameters stipulated for the project, the firm endeavored to produce as inspired a learning environment as possible, including the use of glazing and natural light to enliven the spaces.

 

The Clark Lane School project entailed 50,000 SF additions of two phases, including a new 15 classroom wing containing science labs, conference rooms, offices, the main lobby at the primary entrance, circulation hall with control, a new gymnasium with locker rooms, a new music center, and faculty area. Comprehensive renovations include code compliance update, sprinklers, site development, window replacement, feasibility study, and master-planning including space planning for the entire facility- including extended public use timelines. 

Daniel Hand School Gymnasium Additions Madison, CT

This project entailed the doubling in size of the school’s existing gymnasium and related facilities, including public toilets, locker rooms, a weight training facility, exercise rooms, classrooms, a physical education office, and storage areas. A new entrance lobby was provided with a covered portico to provide protection from the elements and a gathering area for teams and spectators which included a new ticket and concessions area at the interior. The program was to provide a more functional point of access for the visiting teams and spectators and to upgrade the athletic facilities to a level worthy of the school’s strong athletic program.

Writing Center, Alvin Sherman Library, Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, FL

This project entailed transforming 2,900 SF of a raw, unbuilt space at the existing Albin Sherman Library and into the new state-of-the-art Writing Center. 

 

The program entailed providing a media-rich lecture room, collaborative media workstation areas, an open area for individual and group work and study, lounges for brainstorming and writing, offices, and a kitchen. The strategy was to provide an open as possible facility in order to foster a collaborative learning environment. Within that strategy, glazed partitions provide visual continuity with acoustical breaks where required, whereas ceiling definition is used to define function zones in the open areas. The firm worked closely with the NSF Facilities Department and the end-user to implement their goals and specific items such as the application of the NSF color scheme.

Richter Library Passageway and the Foyer Upgrades and Renovations, University of Miami Coral Gables, FL

The Richter Library forms one of the primary anchors that define the UM campus core. In addition to its primary library function, the building houses a new Special Collections Archive, a cafe, a gallery, and a major pedestrian passage and connection between one end of campus and the campus core. The project program included providing upgrades to the passage’s lighting and finishes in order to make it brighter and more functional as a primary campus component. Towards that end, new lighting, glazing, paving, stone cladding, and ceiling treatment were implemented in order to create an outdoor space for inhabitation rather than a dark tunnel.

 

That approach enhances the existing cafe function by providing a positive context for outdoor seating and gathering. The upgraded wall surfaces now provide additional gallery space. A foyer was designed to allow access to both the cafe and new collections facility while creating a greater visual connection to the through passage function, The result has been to provide a vibrant outdoor facility with improved connections between interior functions and public space.

Farquhar Honors College, Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, FL

This project entails the buildout of the new Farquhar Honors College facility at NSU’s Alvin Shermans Library. The existing unbuilt, 6,800 square feet of raw space is transformed to provide design a collaborative learning space to enhance experiential learning, engagement, study reflection, and community interaction with faculty. The open plan glass-enclosed Conference and Dean’s Office, lounges, and learning pads strengthen the concept of an open informal environment. 

Dream Center, Community Building, Calvary Chapel, Boynton Beach, FL

Services:

  • Programming

  • Feasibility, including ordinance and code

    review.

  • Preliminary Design

  • Estimating

  • 3D Modelling and Rendering

     

Music

  • Adult Outreach to include:

    • Counselling and Addiction Services

    • Job Search and Resume Training

    • Adult Education

 

Site Development:

  • Parking

  • Drives

  • Fire Access

  • Program:

  • Entrance Lounge Area

  • Chapel for 150 plus seated

  • Gymnasium

    • Full basketball court and multiple transverse basketball and volleyball courts, retractable stage and bleachers.

    • Exercise Room

    • Dance Room

    • Lockers

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Food Service:

  • Full Commercial Kitchen

  • Dining Area

  • Youth Services:

    • After School

    • Daycare

    • Classes and Training

    • Arts:

Nova Southeastern University, Fischler Learning Center Fort Lauderdale, FL

The program for the new 4,750 square foot Learning Center at NSU’s Alvin Sherman Library entails a number of space types dedicated to teaching, learning, and collaboration. These entail classrooms, conference rooms, computer and media labs, computer and media stations, and open, configurable spaces for collaboration and presentation. The strategy for the center is to provide an open core accessed from the library’s main central lobby that then aligns with the build- ing’s primary axis.

 

Space function types are then accessed off of the core terminating the end of the building’s signature window wall. In addition to the core’s open layout, more intimate pod seating configurable within the open layout provides a context for small group work, privacy, and individual focus when needed. At the far end of the facility, a coffee bar and lounge make strategic use of natural light and provide a visual and spatial anchor for the center.

University of Miami, Retrofit of Chapel and Fellowship Buildings for Theater Arts Program Miami, FL

The purpose of the project is to provide spaces within the chapel and fellowship hall buildings applicable for the functions of UM’s Theater Arts department temporary facilities program, including instructional spaces for performance and acting, theatrical design, and dance. The interior is to be configured based on renovations to accommodate those functions, while the treatment of the exterior is to maintain as closely as possible the original application of finishes and opening treatments extant at the time of purchase of the property by the University of Miami.

 

The one story, slab on grade First Methodist Church of Coral Gables was designed in the Mediterranean revival style in 1948 and was given Historic Preservation Designation  Where renovations or updates to the exterior are required, reference to the original design was made in order to best replicate the original condition in accordance with the requirements of Historic Preservation.

University of Miami Interim Theater Arts Facility

The UM Theater Arts Department Interim Facilities project entails the full interior demolition of and comprehensive renovations to an existing SF Chapel and adjacent 3720 SF fellowship hall on the southern tip of the UM campus. Upgrades and hardening of the exterior envelope fall within a historic preservation designation. Accordingly, the program and scope were to provide new educational facilities for the UM Theater Arts department while upgrading the exterior of the buildings within historic guidelines. Additionally, a continuous covered walkway between the two buildings and an adjacent church building received upgrades. Comprehensive site upgrades included new water lines, fire lines and backflow preventer, new walks, a new parking lot, plantings, site lighting and irrigation. 

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The facilities include a new dance classroom, a acting classroom, a design studio classroom, and a new performance space with a stage area, backstage areas, and a tech booth mezzanine, and new restrooms. All systems are new, entailing two new mechanical rooms, and electrical room, and IT infrastructure room. New partitions, finishes, lighting, HVAC, emergency lighting and NFPA 72 annunciation has been provided throughout.  

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All existing stained glass windows at both the chapel and fellowship hall have been refurbished and reinstalled.  HVHZ glazing has been installed throughout outboard of the stained glass to protect it from high windows and wind borne debris. Comprehensive repairs and patching have been made to the exterior walls. The roofs have been replaced, including all gutters and downspouts with copper. All exterior doors have been replaced with HVHZ rated panelized metal doors, including key card and power assist operation.  

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