High-Profile Blog Articles and commentary from high-profile.com

Westwood, MA  - The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded Elm Place at 1066 Cambridge Street, Cambridge a Platinum rating under its LEED for Homes program. Essex Builders Corp. completed construction of Elm Place last year for Just-A-Start Corporation. The 25,000sf, four-story building includes 19 affordable apartments with select retail space at street level.

The design by VMY Vitols Architects incorporated a high sustainable element including a 24 kilowatt solar power plant on the roof.

“We are delighted that Elm Place received a Platinum Rating,” acknowledged David O’Neil, President of Essex Builders. “Long before there was a LEED federal program to monitor sustainability, our company conducted its operations with consideration of how we impacted the environment. We have found that it always made good business sense to do so. I’m delighted for Just-A-Start as well. They work hard to provide affordable housing and we have had the good fortune to be involved with many of their projects.”

Boston – As the technology has increased in use over the past few years, laser scanning has become recognized as a versatile and powerful tool to support the design process. From transportation projects to Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects, laser scanning allows land surveyors to collect millions of data points that represent a real-world object or environment. The collected data can be used to construct digital, two- and three-dimensional models useful for a wide variety of applications – and laser scanning has proven to be especially useful for performing site inventory for historic restoration or rehabilitation projects.

Paul R. LeBaron, PLS, Director of Land Surveying at Nitsch Engineering, said, “Laser scanning is particularly well-suited for projects that involve an historic building because the technology allows us to pick up the architectural details of the property in a non-destructive, accurate, and comprehensive manner.”

One example of how laser scanning can support historic renovation/rehabilitation projects can be seen on a project in Wellesley, which is being designed by Ann Beha Architects. Nitsch Engineering used laser scanning to record interior and exterior architectural details of a historic house owned by Wellesley College.

Boston — Salvaged building materials can almost always be re-used in their traditional way, but are also often creatively repurposed in new and different ways as unique and eco-conscious design elements in residential as well as commercial projects. Hotels, condominiums, businesses, offices, restaurants, gardens and outdoor landscapes often rely upon recycled antique materials and artifacts in restoration, renovation, and decoration projects.  A heightened appreciation for the craftsmanship of architectural antiques, coupled with a growing commitment to preserve both our heritage and our environment has inspired an increased demand for these vintage salvaged materials. They are coveted for their beauty…quality… scarcity..history… and authenticity …and also because they are unique, as well as “green” building alternatives.  At the same time, these one-of –a-kind, reclaimed relics can also be far more cost effective!

Restoration Resources located at 1946 Washington St. in Boston’s historical South End carries an expansive selection of quality and one-of-a-kind salvaged items that include marble and wood fireplace mantels,  wood and iron elements; authentic antique hardware; period doors; religious items; interesting furniture; original lighting fixtures; beautiful mirrors; stained and leaded glass windows; bath fixtures and décor; dramatic statuary and garden accents and unique artifacts

Restoration Resources, has been in business for more than 20 years, and has earned the reputation as New England’s primary source for antique architectural salvage, fixtures, and unique décor. The store has been awarded “Best of Boston, by Boston Home” in 2010 and 2011, and garnered substantial media attention over the years, appearing on national broadcast and cable television programs such as Emmy award winning WGBH programs, “This Old House”, and “Ask This Old House”, ABC’s/Channel 5’s local Chronicle, and cable networks NECN and HGTV.  At the same time, Restoration Resources has received media recognition in more than 25 publications, including Better Homes and Garden, Old House Interiors, Old House Journal, the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, and New England Home magazine.  Also, just recently, ABC’s, The Nate Berkus Show, chose Restoration Resources as one of the top 3 Architectural Salvage Stores in the country and showed a video tour of the store as part of a segment dedicated to using salvaged items as design elements in new ways!

Owner Bill Raymer initially “rescues” his collection of design elements and old house parts from historical sites, noteworthy commercial buildings, period homes, mansions, and churches throughout the New England area, and then showcases these relics in his well organized 7000 square foot showroom and warehouse located in Boston. Boston City Hospital, South Station, the Massachusetts State House, Boston College, Our Lady of Pity Church in Cambridge, the old Boston Police Station, and the Paramount Theatre in Boston’s old theater district are just a few of the New England buildings where an assortment of antique items have been carefully removed and then added to the eclectic collection found at Restoration Resources. Vintage treasures include 5 foot building urns, an alter, plaster-winged cherubs, iron gates, frosted glass novelty doors, an old phone booth, antique sconces and lighting fixtures.  Most items can have still be re-used in traditional ways, but many have also been repurposed as unique accent pieces, ornamental elements and architectural décor to compliment a variety of exterior as well as interior design concepts in non-residential locations throughout the Greater Boston area.

Some of the customers involved in commercial projects include restaurant owners, architects, interior decorators, hotel owners, landscape designers and contractors. In fact, while contractors drop by the store to purchase salvaged building materials, in some cases they also use the store’s recycling center to drop off materials from a building or home that they are in the process of demolishing or renovating, which allows them to also receive LEED points.

While the store itself is renowned nationwide as a retail treasure trove of architectural antiques and unique decor, owner, Bill Raymer and his talented design team are considered architectural salvage experts, well seasoned in renovation and restoration They provide important tips and guidance on how to integrate salvaged items into a new location, so customers can reuse them in the way they were originally intended to be used. Antique building ornaments, a beautiful stained glass window or an ornately carved door from a Beacon Hill Brownstone adds character and charm to any setting, and may find a new home at the entrance to an office building. And a gorgeous vintage marble or wooden fireplace mantel may be re-located to the lobby of a hotel or condominium complex, while a 17 foot bar from a Rhode Island saloon may end up in a Boston area restaurant or bar.

With regards to the hospitality industry, Restoration Resources has provided unique artifacts and salvaged items such as paneling, leaded and stain glass, decorative iron, hardware, windows, doors, and antique lighting fixtures to numerous Boston area restaurants and bars, including British Beer Company, Citizen Public House, Stoddards Fine Food and Ale, Cafe Marliave, and  Bill’s Restaurant. While salvage can almost always be reused in traditional ways, Raymer and his staff have also seen a growing trend of reusing, and repurposing salvaged relics in new and creative ways. Old building columns, Stained and frosted glass windows, and doors, have been repurposed as attractive partitions and are also used in unique and different ways to upgrade or sub-divide a space. A Decorative granite stair part with the City of Boston Insignia that was removed from Boston City Hospital, was repurposed as a unique garden “bench” at the pedestrian entrance to the retail shops and galleries at Thayer St. in the Sowa district of Boston .

Currently Bill Raymer and his staff are part of a Steampunk by Design team charged with completely renovating and designing one of the entertainment rooms at Audio Concepts in Boston, which is scheduled to be finished in March of 2012. (Audio Concepts was recently awarded Best Showroom in the Country!) Steampunk artists across the country are repurposing and recrafting period pieces to accommodate and embrace technology. Raymer is working with a Steampunk team in Boston, led by Steampunk guru, Bruce Rosenbaum.  Projects include the repurposing of the frame from an old Victorian mirror and recrafting it to surround a plasma tv, while the hearth of an old fireplace mantel will be crafted to house all of the audio and video components.

Bill Raymer is chock full of ideas and advise on how to repurpose antique salvage. He highlighted some of the items currently for sale at his store, and shared different ways to recycle finds from Restoration Resources and re-use them as functional as well as decorative accents in commercial settings.

Twelve Ideas on re-using antique salvage in commercial settings:

1. Replacing a run-of-the mill, entrance door in an office with an unusual antique door
2. Hanging a stain glass window on a wall as “architectural art” in a lobby, or in front of an outside facing window for beauty and privacy
3. Swapping out dull or ordinary office doors using antique hardware and unusual or elaborately carved vintage doors to make a statement for a main entrance, conference room or CEO office
4. Repurposing an old medical cabinet or kitchen Hoosier as an attractive and interesting conversation piece that can be reused as a supply unit, coffee and lunch cabinet or CEO liquor cabinet
5. Using unique tables for desks, or an old library type table for a conference room
6. Trading drab glaring light fixtures for antique unusual ceiling fixtures and wall sconces (which can also help improve employee productivity)
7. Making unique walls or cubicles from old doors, paneling, wainscoting, shutters etc.
8. Making a statement on an open wall space and also “enlarge” an area at the same time with distinctive mirrors, or create intrigue by adding  carved architectural elements and columns etc.
9. Completing an empty drab wall space with a one of a kind fireplace mantel
10. Furnishing a hotel lobby or CEO office with a gorgeous mahogany desk repurposed from an old piano, or replace an ordinary
11. Surrounding a flat screen tv with a beautiful antique mirror frame or  elaborately carved molding
12. Using unusual old or antique chairs in your waiting area

Ipswich, MA – OLSON LEWIS + Architects opened its doors over 32 years ago. Since its founding, this north shore architectural, planning and interior design firm has gone through several phases of growth and change.

For the past several years, it conducted business under the full name Olson Lewis Dioli & Doktor Architects & Planners. They’re now rebranded as OLSON LEWIS + Architects.

The firm also has updated its website and other communication materials, including its logo.

This new name and logo honor the company’s traditional roots, but also add a stylized “plus” symbol for “more.”  The “more” reflects expanded services to a wider range of clients (homes, schools, commercial, biotech, hospitality and healthcare), innovative and responsive design aesthetics, growth in professional staff, and leadership in long-term industry trends such as sustainability and other movements that affect the future of architectural design and planning.

Originally a sole practice in John Olson’s home, the firm quickly grew into a collaboration between the two Harvard alumni and operated under the name Olson Lewis for almost two decades.

As they took on new partners, the business title eventually expanded to Olson Lewis Dioli & Doktor Architects (OLD&D), acknowledging the respective contributions of two newer principles: Arthur Dioli and Christopher Doktor.

And yet, people continued to abbreviate the firm’s name. “To this day, our clients often refer to us as Olson Lewis. That was our name 30 years ago,” says founder John Olson. His partner H. Randolph Lewis adds, “Although we changed the company’s name over time, many clients continued to shorten it. We’re listening to the wisdom of that habit.” Rather than struggling to remind clients of the firm’s extended business name, they responded by re-interpreting its original company name.

As the firm enters its fourth decade of practice, its leadership team now offers expertise in more disciplines: biotech, commercial, hospitality, education, healthcare, and residential design. It includes a fifth partner, Bill Mead, and remains one of the largest firms north of Boston, with a staff of 20 people.

Its in-house services include architectural design, master planning and interior design. It maintains cutting-edge training in essential trends such as sustainable design, including LEED certification and design implementation.

Pittsfield, MA–Construction is underway on the $15.5 million transformation of the historic A.H. Rice Silk Mill on Spring St. in Pittsfield into 45 units of affordable workforce bshousing.

Jon Rudzinski, founder of Rees-Larkin Development, (RLD) says the historically sensitive renovation of the 66,100 sf building is scheduled to be completed in July. He noted that the finished building will contain 19 one-bedroom, 19-two bedroom, and  seven three-bedroom apartments.

Forty-three of the apartments will be available at an affordable rate to working  individuals and families at 60 % of the area medium  income (which is currently about $49,000 for a family of four).

The developer is Pittsfield-Silk LLC, a partnership between RLD and Howland Development Company. The Architectural Team is the project architect, Keith Construction, Inc. is the general contractor and Berkshire Housing Services, Inc. is the property manager.

Rudzinski says the biggest challenge to the project early on was resolving a conflict between the requirements of historic preservation and the need to remediate a brownfield area that included a portion of the original 90,000 sf building.

As soon as that problem was overcome, financing was assured, permits were obtained and work commenced.

A former senior vice president at WinnDevelopment, Rudzinski founded Rees-Larkin Development in 2008.

Between 1997 and 2008 he was directly responsible for the successful completion of 20 housing developments, totaling over 3,000 units with a combined development

cost of over $270 million.

Boston –  A two-phased masonry restoration and building renovation project is underway at 422 Columbia Road and 466/468 Columbia Road, Boston.  Both properties are under the management of Maloney Properties, Inc. of  Wellesley.

The design plan submitted by RMX Northeast, Inc. of Milford  encompasses a large-scale repair to deteriorated concrete sills and lintels along with miscellaneous brick repairs at 422 Columbia Road, as well as a complete façade restoration at 466/468 Columbia Road.

Two elevations of the 466/468 Columbia Road façade are being completely renovated with a new exterior skin and metal panel installation with the remainder of the property being fully repointed, and the concrete sills and lintels replaced.

Following an extensive bidding process, Abbot Building Restoration Co., Inc. was selected as the masonry contractor on the project.

According to Abbot vice president and director of field operations, Steven Diodati, “Abbot’s ability to fast track the project enabled us to complete the major portion of the Phase 1 renovation work before the cold winter weather set in.”

Renovations at 422 Columbia Road were completed ahead of schedule.

The Phase 2 portion of the project is scheduled for completion in the Spring of 2012.

Dowling Houy LLC was engaged by Bessemer Venture  Partners (BVP) to provide overall project management and move management services for BVP when it decided to leave its Wellesley Hills location and move closer to the heart of the intellectual and technology community in Kendall Square, Cambridge.

As the oldest continuously operating venture capital firm in the United States, founded in 1862, BVP has a place of history in this country.  BVP wanted their space to reflect their respect for the past while acknowledging the fast pace realities of the present, and to carry it into the future. To this end, BVP and Dowling Houy selected Dyer Brown Architects to design the space and implement their vision of a modern office that still reflected the company’s history and values.

Coming from offices in an old Victorian home, BVP was no stranger to occupying a unique space and adapting to older architecture.  Their decision to lease 5,000sf in a brick and beam building on Broadway Street in Cambridge allowed the design team to transform this 19th century industrial architecture into a 21st century high tech office space, all while maintaining the charm of the exposed brick walls and wood beams, original wood flooring and open ceiling.

Dowling Houy put together a team with Dyer Brown and WB Engineering providing Architectural & Engineering services; Garland Construction to build out the space and Peabody Office sourcing the furniture.

Working closely with BVP, the team worked on a plan that provided a space with glass office & conference fronts and side walls to allow visual connections between offices and throughout the space.  The use of glass allows for an abundance of natural light and brings airiness into the inner-spaces, providing the feel for a much bigger foot print, and gives the space an incredible connection to the outside.

Dyer Brown conceived the central collaboration space as a place to exchange ideas and foster interaction, acting as the hub of the space. Idea Paint was applied across the entire central partition, taking a seemingly static wall and transforming it to a dynamic area where staff and clients can gather and work through ideas and solutions.

In the end BVP was created a space that gives it the look of today while at the same time blending effortlessly with the brick and beams of the past.

Boston – The Massachusetts Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABCMA) installed its 2012 officers on January 19th at a joint meeting of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island chapters held at Christina’s restaurant in Foxboro.

Dennis Maguire of the Maguire Company, Inc. is ABCMA’s 2012 chairman.

Officers and other directors are:

Chairman – Dennis Maguire .Maguire Company, Inc.; first vice chairman – Thomas Descoteaux, R. H. White Construction Co., Inc.; second vice chairman – Brian Jurgens, W. T. Kenney Company, Inc; immediate past Chair – Mark Roberts, A & M Construction Co., Inc. and treasurer – Joseph E. Mahoney, McGladrey

Three Year Directors:

Leon Asadoorian, Methuen Construction Co., Inc.; Robert Brait , Brait Builders Corp.

Lyle Coghlin, CTA Construction, Inc.; Romeo D’Agostino, D’Agostino Associates, Inc. and Michael Fish, Dellbrook Construction.

One Year Directors:

Patrick Callahan, Callahan, Inc.; James Grasseschi ,Grasseschi Plumbing and Heating, Inc.; Jerry Simmer, Shawnlee Construction, LLC and Bryan Quinn, Resource Options, Inc. National Directors:

Eric J. Forish, Forish Construction Co., Inc.; J. Douglas Hunter, The Hunter Group and Kyle Reagan, DECCO.

Gould Construction Institute Trustees:

Chairperson – Dottie Amanti, E. Amanti & Sons, Inc.; first vice chair/clerk – Daniel James Erland Construction, Inc.; immediate past chair – Robert McDonald, Phoenix Mechanical Contracting, Inc. and treasurer – Louis J. Sannella, McGladrey

Trustees

John Annarelli, Jr, Medford Wellington Service Co., Inc.; Timothy Barton, DECCO, Inc., Gregory Beeman, ABC president; Tom Blesso, Erland Construction, Inc.; Ralph Caisse, NorthStar Construction Services Corp.; Rene Lachapelle, RALCO Electric, Inc., Dennis Maguire, ABC 2012 Chairperson; Vic Pelletier,Tenant Systems, Inc.; Ivan Quinchia, Air Purchases, Inc.and Michael Rheault, Mechanical Management, Inc.