Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners • Beinfield Architecture • Centerbrook Architects and Planners • Faesy-Smith Architects

Speakers: Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners – Maxwell W. Pau, Beinfield Architecture – Bruce Beinfield, Centerbrook Architects and Planners – Michel Pariseau, Faesy-Smith Architects – Thomas J. Smith

2010 Hesburgh Lecture, Thursday, March 4, 7 PM,
in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit

Duncan Stroik is a noted architectural educator and practitioner. In addition to publishing and lecturing, Stroik continues to develop his practice with a focus on sacred, residential and civic architecture.

 
The exhibit was recently featured in CT GreenScene and ARTES Magazine.

 

Over the last 20 years the Gallery has focused primarily on contemporary works that have responded to changes in our world – work that reflects who we are and who we are becoming. Artists are often at the forefront of change in humankind, defining and explaining the issues of our times.

 

We all know that the world is changing, that we can no longer conspicuously consume resources without thought of the future, of the rest of the world’s energy needs and of our planet’s health. New environmental challenges are our reality.

 

Norwalk Lock Building, Beinfield Architecture, Norwalk, CT Photo Credit: Robert Benson

Having exhibited numerous artists’ responses to these changes, we now explore this a little closer to home with the spaces in which we live, work and play. This is the purview of the architects who translate scientific advances to make our lives more ecologically compatible with our environment and make those technologies useful and beautiful enough for us to want to embrace them.

 

We have the same requirements: we still need heat and water and food but we have been made uncomfortably aware of sustainability, of our carbon footprint and of using our fair share of resources. Our knowledge base has changed and we want to become more educated, more responsible citizens of the world.

 

We know that some materials are not renewable in our lifetimes. Even though a material may be renewable, if it takes a lot of energy to deliver it to our construction site perhaps it is not the most efficient use of our energy. We are told that some energy is clean and some is not. These complex issues require translation for most of us.

 

Some people approach societal needs from a scientific point of view – rethinking our use of energy, analyzing the kinds of energy available and evaluating what it takes to run our homes and office buildings. We’ve created solar panels, more energy-efficient cars, energy efficient light bulbs, etc. But in order for people to accept these advances they need to be

aesthetically pleasing. Scientific considerations need to be translated into things that are artful and scaled to human use.

 

This is where our architects come in, taking these new materials and innovative products and finding ways to utilize them to design places we want to live in that are healthy, attractive and efficient. Their skills combine the scientific with the aesthetic, seamlessly creating light-filled, comfortable shelters that are both desirable and sustainable.

 

General Theological Seminary, NYC Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners Photo Credit: Fred Charles

The four architectural firms whose designs we focus upon have acquired knowledge and experience in the field of sustainable, green architecture; Beinfield Architecture PC (Norwalk, Connecticut), Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners LLP (New York City and Washington, DC), Centerbrook Architects and Planners (Centerbrook, Connecticut), and Faesy-Smith Architects PC (Wilton, Connecticut). It is logical that larger firms have made this kind of educational investment, since their primary markets are large corporations and institutions who must respond to contemporary concerns in ecological issues. But what is extraordinary is that even smaller firms have made these adjustments and prepared themselves to deal with this emerging market.

 

Although each of the works in the exhibit are meant to indicate the diversity available in green, sustainable architecture being built today, the exhibit also includes an example of an older project that was an early “green” solution by Beinfield Architecture – the adaptive re-use and renovation of the Norwalk Lock Building which was constructed in 1856. Distinctive office spaces were created to utilize a building that is part of the character of South Norwalk. The firm is currently responsible for the Stepping Stones Children’s Museum expansion and won an AIA design award for three sculptures which will be created for the museum illustrating wind, water and solar power.

 

Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners address uniquely different projects. The renovation and expansion of the Dennison University Bryant Art Center enhances the connection between faculty, student and community spaces through skylights that connect a series of common areas. The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is an adaptive re-use of a maintenance building into a visitor facility with exhibition and presentation spaces adding space and new technologies to maximize best practices in its approach to sustainability, in the hopes that it serves as a model for future National Park Service projects. The Tutu Center of the General Theological Seminary campus in Chelsea is powered by geothermal heating and cooling, achieved by 22 wells dug 1500 feet under the sidewalks.

 

The work of Centerbrook Architects, an exceptional firm that has been interested in sustainability since the 1970s, invites us into their own fascinating 19th century compound of mill buildings that have been a laboratory for energy conservation use and the testing of new technologies. It is a creative workspace that encompasses several levels and passageways of indoor and outdoor spaces. In contrast, the Wolf Law School at the University of Colorado at Boulder was designed to recall the character of the original campus, using red local sandstone with limestone details and the red tile roofing that had been lost through years of renovations.

 

Faesy-Smith architects have created two extraordinary private residences. One of these residences is in an historical district that has been improved and expanded with the ultimate in green-energy upgrades. Per the owner’s instructions, the systems installed allow her to manually control and manage the energy needs using a hands-on approach. The other home, in Vermont, is new, energy-efficient construction designed to meld perfectly with the main street of a small town. Its attractive looks belie the hard winters it must combat.

 

These are a small sampling of the types of projects that are attaining “green status” in today’s buildings. Architecture, unlike many other artistic practices, is a collaborative process that involves many practical and aesthetic considerations like understanding the client’s needs and preferences and evaluating cost and sustainability issues.

 

The architect begins with an idea, a scribble, a collaboration of many thoughts that come directly from the brain down the hand to the paper. We have the privilege of showing some of those images along with the finished products that illustrate the thoughts of architects, engineers, builders and scientists. The complexity of being “green” requires a collaborative approach as will be shown in the panel discussion.

 

Sophia Gevas,

Director