The New Hampshire Institute of Art saved Manchster, N.H.’s historic first high school building when it moved it forward on its site over a new basement, restored it, and constructed a new connector and six-story addition. The completed $7.3 million project provides 12 classrooms and studios, 54 dormitory beds, faculty offices and support spaces for the school.
According to the architect, Dennis Mires, PA, with Manchester-based Dennis Mires, PA, The Architects, the goal was to rehabilitate the historic building, provide a scale-less translucent connector and articulate the addition in keeping with its 21st century time, in accordance with the Secretary of Interiors Standards for adding on to historic buildings.
The LEED Gold certified, 32,000-square-foot (2,973-m2) facility features many sustainable strategies,including reusing the embodied energy of the historic building; providing a high-performance envelope; using daylighting, shading and glazing to advantage; employing a geothermal heating and cooling energy source; using rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing; employing a photovoltaic array on the sunshades to provide a portion of the electrical needs; no-VOC materials; and locally produced materials.
“The design evolved as a response to the mixed-use program, and the desire to reuse the historic building on this south-facing urban lot,” Mires said. “We then had all the elements that would make LEED certification relatively easy and be able to be used as a teaching/learning tool for this educational institution.”
Petersen Aluminum Corp., Elk Grove Village, Ill., supplied 9,500 square feet (883 m2) of StandingSeam Metal and Flat Lock Metal Shingles;Sharp Electronics Corp., Mahwah, N.J., supplied the solar panels; and EFCO, Monett, Mo., supplied the sunshades.
“Metal is a contemporary material that allowed us to differentiate the form with the same material and finish, and yet create different textures,” Mires said. “The varying width, vertical standing-seam form versus the metal shingles form. It also provided a hand-crafted character using an industrial material that seemed appropriate for an art college.”
New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, N.H.
Award: AIA New Hampshire Excellence in Architecture Merit Award
Architect: Dennis Mires, PA, The Architects, Manchester
Construction manager: Milestone Engineering & Construction Inc., Concord, N.H.
Metal wall panels: Petersen Aluminum Corp., Elk Grove Village, Ill., www.pac-clad.com
Solar panels: Sharp Electronics Corp., Mahwah, N.J., www.sharpusa.com
Sunshades: EFCO, Monett, Mo., www.efcocorp.com
