2024

Five Projects Awarded at the 2023 Boston Society of Architects Design Awards!

We are excited to announce that five of our projects have been honored for the 2023 BSA Design Awards.

Jury Comment: “Beautiful presentation of the library renovation. Lovely explanation of the mini-vignettes within the library, and the story of the renovation itself is expressed clearly through the exploded axon. The “maze” of children’s bookshelves is a clever touch. Using the dome for light, and relating the organization of kids and adult areas with the existing window conditions, is smart and allows for the lower stacks and “book maze” for the kids, and more enclosed area for the kids’ reading lounge areas.”

Jury Comment: “This project is exciting because of how it allows for a design that places children and their caregivers deeply within nature while adhering to the look and actual material of that surrounding environment. The project goals are clearly articulated and evident in the aesthetics from building massing down to the details described.”

Jury Comment: “Exploring the incorporation of mass timber structure into a triple-decker typology and providing affordable housing are noteworthy; tackling sustainability and housing issues at the same time.”

Jury Comment: “This project presents an exciting approach to Mass Timber Construction with a creative acknowledgement of the nation’s tree biodiversity and a design that allows visitors to appreciate the Center and the surrounding context. The Center’s mission to educate the public about the history and ongoing conservation work by showcasing wood species as part of the structure and user experience is very thoughtful and done successfully.”

Jury Comment: “The goal of creating a both socially and technically connected building system is valuable and shows an alignment, again, with student interests in the project’s relationship to land and the surrounding environment. Approaches to healthy materials and building systems were clearly articulated, as was the responsible approach to water management. Aesthetically, the building’s inventive form and response to context are well considered.”

http://designawards.architects.org/2023-award-winners/

High-Profile March 2024 Issue

Cornell University Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science building is featured in High-Profile’s March 2024 Schools and Institutions issue, focusing on higher education projects underway and including a focus on the North Atlantic region of the Society for College and University Planning (NA SCUP).

Bringing together the departments of Computer Science, Information Science, and Statistics and Data Science for the first time in one complex, the new building will create both a precinct and a destination for the university’s rapidly growing computing and information science programs. “Creating comfortable and healthy interior environments is key sustainability driver for the project” – Katia Lucic, AIA, LEED AP as quoted in High-Profile.

 

See the feature here: https://issuu.com/highprofile/docs/highprofile2403

2023

Boston Public Library – Roslindale Branch has received Editor’s Pick in the Libraries Category for Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design 2023!

Built in 1960’s, Roslindale Library needed a major renovation. It had served the community well but all aspects had become outdated. The gut renovation restored its best features while renovating it for the next fifty years. Renovation strategies included highlighting the dome and preserving its starburst sculpture with new semicircular open layout and the service desk below it, new starburst lighting array, wayfinding with supergraphics for a diverse, multiethnic community, a children’s area “book maze” and a new entry with colorful terra-cotta tiles. Preservation of over 90% of existing structure and envelope and new efficient MEP systems resulted in low embodied carbon and operational carbon. Celebrating its unique circular shaped domed space, the blue color wall continues the terra-cotta tiles at the entry and organizes all the program rooms behind it, including multipurpose community room and quiet reading room. An urban reading garden brings respite to a busy city block.

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Roslindale Branch Library has received Honorable Mention for The Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Awards 2023!

Built in 1960’s, Roslindale Library needed a major renovation. It had served the community well but all aspects had become outdated. The gut renovation restored its best features while renovating it for the next fifty years. Renovation strategies included highlighting the dome and preserving its starburst sculpture with new semicircular open layout and the service desk below it, new starburst lighting array, wayfinding with supergraphics for a diverse, multiethnic community, a children’s area “book maze” and a new entry with colorful terra-cotta tiles. Preservation of over 90% of existing structure and envelope and new efficient MEP systems resulted in low embodied carbon and operational carbon. Celebrating its unique circular shaped domed space, the blue color wall continues the terra-cotta tiles at the entry and organizes all the program rooms behind it, including multipurpose community room and quiet reading room. An urban reading garden brings respite to a busy city block.   

Learn more

National Museum of Forest Service History has been Awarded the Bronze award in the Future Education category for the World Architecture News Awards

The Conservation Legacy Center for the National Museum of Forest Service History in Missoula, Montana will educate the public about the history and ongoing conservation work of the United States Forest Service (USFS).

Its design is inspired by the qualities of the forests as valuable recreational and economic resources throughout history and echoes features of the local surrounding mountain landscape. An exhibit in and of itself, the predominantly wooden building will feature an array of mass timber products such as glulams, cross laminated timber (CLT) and Mass Plywood Panels (MPP). The unique two-way span capability of MPP is exhibited in a folded roof geometry over the south facing portico and the main lobby.

“Showcases a noble ambition to educate about conservation through architecture,” Laura Kinnaird, Judge

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University of Massachusetts, Amherst North Chiller Plant Receives 2023 Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award 2023

The North Chiller Plant at University of Massachusetts Amherst is a 10,592-square-foot chiller plant that provides a “visual learning” element to the engineering quadrant community, a ground level perimeter glazing that showcases its interior operations and equipment to passersby, offering “technology on display” through the glazed base of the building.

 

“Since 1994, The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, together with The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press, have organized The American Architecture Awards as a way to honor the best, new significant buildings and landscape and planning projects designed and/or built in the United States and abroad by the most important American architects and planners practicing nationally and international.

” – The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies

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BWWC Signer Spotlight

Boston Women’s Workforce Council Features Leers Weinzapfel Associates in BWWC 100% Talent Compact Signer Spotlight Series, “A Conversation with Juliet Chun, AIA Associate and Josiah Stevenson, Principal”.

“The values we hold internally as a company, such as equity and sustainability, are infused in all aspects of our projects – from thinking about where we source our materials and their embodied carbon, to working with clients to ensure the design and space are inclusive for everyone.” – Juliet Chun, AIA, as quoted in BWWC.

Learn More Here

What’s Next? The Architect’s Newspaper Checks in with LWA for Updates on Mass Timber Projects

The Architect’s Newspaper Digital Issue – Mass Timber 2023

Five of our recent Mass Timber projects, Williams College Davis Center, Woodland Wonders Nature Preschool, Cornell University Ann S. Bower College of Computing and Information Science, and Conservation Legacy Center have been featured in The Architect’s Newspaper Digital Issue Mass Timber 2023.

“[…] In recent decades, the team has been focused on expanding their knowledge and understanding of mass timber as an architectural material. Five recent projects featured here have taken timber and wood products to new heights for a variety of programs, from affordable housing to an ivy league college campus.” – The Architect’s Newspaper

See Digital Feature Here: https://issuu.com/archpaper/docs/an_1023_timber_issue