Adaptive Reuse

Bay Chamber Concerts & Music School, Camden

Adaptive ReuseAdditionsCondition AssessmentContextual DesignHistoric Preservation

B+W worked with the Owner to assemble a mostly local team of landscape designer, civil engineer and construction manager, and augmented the team with expertise in acoustical engineering, structural, mechanical, electrical, lighting design, and interior design.

The site design considered safety for the student drop off zone, but also, changes to make the experience more welcoming overall. Native plants, natural and locally sourced materials contribute to the beauty of the design.

The building addition is contextual yet designed as a modern counterpoint to the historic former church, offering a balance of old and new and signaling the new life that Bay Chamber’s use breathes into this property. The forms tuck neatly under the eaves of the old and set back to allow the historic building to rightfully retain its prominence. The project team worked diligently to find the most cost effective, best looking, sustainable and low maintenance materials to select for the exterior.

When Bay Chamber bought a historic landmark in Camden to house its concert series and music school, the magnitude of the project was not immediately apparent. Through a serendipitous introduction from another arts leader, we hired Barba + Wheelock and the work began to undertake a highly technical and also important architectural statement for our organization as well as the town. Melding a new addition with a 175+ year old former church was in B + W’s wheelhouse. Our new building reflects the mission of Bay Chamber to present traditional classical music while educating the next generation of musicians. Critical to the management and success of this project was team member Tim Morrison. His attention to detail, conscientiousness and patience were invaluable to a project that required tremendous forethought and flexibility. We offer our highest recommendation to the team at Barba + Wheelock.

– Monica Kelly, Executive Director, Bay Chamber Concerts & Music School

Geothermal heating was explored and eventually dismissed when the costs were found to be too high for the payback. A variable refrigerant flow Heat Pump system was selected as the project’s heat/cooling source and the system was designed to allow for solar photovoltaic arrays to be added to the roof later, if desired.

Acoustics play a critical component of the design with wall types and ceiling types designed with isolation clips and added sheetrock and doors with higher STC ratings and gaskets.

Lemont Block, Brunswick

Adaptive ReuseAdditionsContextual DesignHistoric PreservationTax Credits

The Lemont Block was originally constructed in 1870 with retail spaces on the first floor and two meeting halls on the upper floors for fraternal/sororal organizations. Lemont Hall served as the venue for many compelling speeches and events in the 19th and early-20th centuries, including by Frederick Douglass and Joshua Chamberlain.

Prior to this project’s 2019 start, only the three storefronts on the first floor were occupied, the second and third floors had been vacant for over 20 years, and the fourth floor had been vacant for over 50 years.

The roof of the building was also not originally built to withstand the current codes for snow loads. On the fourth floor of the building, plaster removal revealed multiple prior structural repairs to the original structure. The roof ultimately required additional extensive structural repairs.

The current owners bought the building in 2019 and construction began in 2021. Now that the project is complete, the basement and first floors are occupied by three businesses and the upper floors have been converted into four residential units, which were immediately rented. The second floor Lemont Hall was retained/restored for public gatherings.

One of the major design challenges for the project was reconfiguring the interior space in a manner that qualified for Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits, a major funding source for the project. The large meeting spaces in Lemont Block’s upper floors had been inaccessible to the public for several decades, due to code compliance issues such as a steep existing stair disallowing a safe second means of egress, and a lack of elevator. B+W worked with Maine Historic Preservation Commission and the National Park Service to determine the best ways to repurpose the building without destroying its character-defining features.

Other work included installing steel beams to support the roof, adding a sprinkler system, designing a modern stair tower addition, decorative plaster, window, and other architectural element restoration, and residential unit design. One of the residential units includes an intact corner of original decorative plaster wall and ceiling painting surrounded by the restored painted plaster throughout the rest of the space.

This project received a Maine Preservation Honor Award in 2023.

Thornton Academy Main Street Dormitories, Saco

Adaptive ReuseCondition AssessmentContextual DesignHistoric PreservationMaster PlanningNew Construction

The initial design challenge was to integrate a new building type and new construction form into the historic campus. The designs respond to the historic context of Main Street in the Saco Historic Preservation District as well as a predominately red brick campus, which has evolved via several construction campaigns during its nearly 125 year history. The residential quality of other Main Street (and Academy) houses and historic detailing from the campus’ education buildings informed our design. We believe this approach has achieved a dormitory and future village that complements both the community of Saco and the Academy.

Locating the first dormitory building – Nelson Residence Hall – on a previously unoccupied lawn at the campus’ main entrance, now forms a gateway to the historic campus. The long axis of the dormitories faces south-southwest for optimal solar exposure and frames the entry to campus create greens or courtyards between each of the proposed buildings. The street façades, of this and the forthcoming buildings, are designed to establish the street rhythm found on Main Street south of the campus.

Nelson Residence Hall, completed in Summer 2009, is constructed with durable standing seam roofs and fiber-cement cladding in neutral colors that acknowledge existing patterns and textures found on campus buildings without resorting to mimicking the brick, which the project’s budget could not justify.

A tight building envelope with high thermal insulation performance was achieved with the use of ICF (insulated concrete forms) for the foundation and first floor walls and conventional framing with dense pack cellulose insulation at the second-floor level. The use of ICF benefits the interior architecture as its wall depth creates deep recesses at the windows adding a layer of space for use by the residents. ICF also allowed an economical and seamless construction season as the contractor was able to pour concrete walls throughout the winter without concern for special freeze protection. The ICF walls achieved a R-48, far exceeding any current energy code.

Rockefeller Hall, Acadia National Park

Adaptive ReuseHistoric PreservationMaster Planning

Rockefeller Hall, located on the Schoodic Peninsula of Acadia National Park, is one of the Park’s most significant historic buildings. Built in 1934 as a three-story apartment building for the Navy, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. brought in noted architect, Grovesnor Atterbury to design this French Norman Revival-style exterior over a steel framed structure with a masonry veneer and half-timber facade.

The building remained largely vacant since the Navy returned the property to the National Park Service in 2002. In 2009, Barba + Wheelock was commissioned to explore and evaluate options to update the facility and introduce a new use as compatibly as possible. The Schoodic Education and Research Center (SERC) is the primary tenant and advocate for the building and the campus.

The primary use is on-site accommodations for visiting professors, scholars and others who come to the SERC campus. Additional uses include a Conference Center and Welcome Center for the campus on the first floor. The lower level will house support spaces for the planned Great Lawn, which will serve summer functions and other outdoor events.

Meeting the program goals while preserving the significant architectural features required many hours of discussions with accessibility and preservation regulators and development of an unusually large number of alternatives. I credit Barba + Wheelock for both persistence and imagination in finally arriving at a solution that met the needs of all parties.

– James Vekasi, Chief of Maintenance, Acadia National Park

B+W prepared drawings and specifications for the exterior restoration work, rehabilitation of interior spaces, life safety and accessibility upgrades. Other retrofit work includes upgrading building systems and installation of new fire detection and suppression system. All work was designed in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and reviewed by both the National Park Service’s Cultural Resources division and by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

Rockefeller Hall was funded by a public-private partnership with the construction work completed in Spring 2013. The construction cost was in the $2 million range and received a Maine Preservation Honor award in 2013.

Friends’ Central School, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania

Adaptive ReuseCondition AssessmentContextual DesignHistoric Preservation

The carriage house for the original estate – c. 1885 – was an “underperforming asset” that now has a new life for great creative ventures with its complete adaptive re-use!

The “Light Lab” was designed with four maker spaces in the areas of: natural sciences, fabrication, media and computing, and design.

Because the original building had been so extensively altered, the School opted for a complete removal of interior walls and finishes, taking the spaces down to their masonry bearing walls. From this B+W was able to add back a completely continuous thermal envelope and new second floor structure, and new fully integrated mechanical, plumbing, electrical, sprinkler and fire alarm systems. It is essentially an all-new building inside. Part of our work included an investigation of the thermal dynamics of the wall construction to assure that the new work would not affect the long-term performance and viability of the original walls.

The Mechanical engineer explored multiple options for energy systems including geothermal and ended up determining that the best system for this project would be mini-split heat pumps.

As part of a Lower Merion Township historic district, the review board required restored windows on the sides visible to the public way. The balance of windows were new replacement windows, with details to complement the historic windows.

We removed a later garage shed uncovering the original form to create a U-Shaped plan with an outdoor courtyard. The new layout naturally lent itself to a welcoming entry, elevator, stair and bathrooms; as the central core it creates a wonderful mixing bowl of activity between classes.

Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania’s Historical Commission Historic Preservation Award, 2017.

Leon L. Bean Home & Archive Center Phase 1

Adaptive ReuseAdditionsContextual DesignHistoric Preservation

Leon L. Bean and his wife, Bertha, purchased the house in 1912 and it remained his home until his death in 1967. L. L. Bean, Inc., purchased the building in 1987, with the intention to create a museum and archives honoring L. L. and the company he founded.

Barba + Wheelock with Malcolm L. Collins AIA, Preservation Architect and Planner, were retained by L. L. Bean, Inc., to prepare design and construction documents for the house and attached carriage barn’s restoration. The project resulted in faithful restoration of the building’s exterior to its 1912 to 1917 appearance. Period features were replicated, including cedar roof shakes and polychromatic exterior color scheme. Other significant features include a new contemporary entrance addition to allow easier accessibility, integrated with a substantial landscape and site changes.

Adaptive Reuse

This project received a Maine Preservation Honor Award in 2023.

Rockefeller Hall was funded by a public-private partnership with the construction work completed in Spring 2013. The construction cost was in the $2 million range and received a Maine Preservation Honor award in 2013.

Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania’s Historical Commission Historic Preservation Award, 2017.

2018 Maine Preservation Honor Award.

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