COMPLETE 2024

Burlington, VT

As an addition to an historic building with limited pedestrian and vehicular access (they both share the only public connection to the street), it was clear from the outset that there were two major issues to resolve: 1) connecting new to old in a meaningful way, and 2) giving precedence to the pedestrian even though site access is necessarily shared with vehicles.  The masonry mass became the anchor of the addition, and its protected colonnade provides shelter from inclement weather.  This entry connects directly to a concrete plaza, intended to minimize the vehicular connection to the rear parking, and to provide a space for communal uses, such as holiday barbeques, or parents supervising their children as they play hopscotch, or learn to ride a bike.  The combination of covered entry with colonnade recalls the colonnaded streets of the medieval Tuscan hill-town of Poppi and the Giorgio Vasari colonnade overlooking the Piazza Grande in Arezzo.