As the home to Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals—the oldest theatrical company in the nation—12 Holyoke Street had its share of opening nights. In April 2002, however, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences decided the 1888 Georgian Revival building no longer met the needs of the company and hired Boston-based architect Leers Weinzapfel Associates to design a more contemporary facility.
The goal: construct a large, modern theater and space for arts activities while keeping the building's historical details intact. The $23 million project included restoring the building's façade and anteroom bay and tearing down the existing theater to make room for an addition.
Before the show could go on, the Building Team had to deal with a cramped site whose property lines were only 18 inches from adjacent buildings' foundations. Municipal height restrictions added to the complexity, so the team had no choice but to build down. They used a slurry wall foundation system, which prevents groundwater encroachment and can be built immediately next to adjacent properties.
On each side of the façade, two symmetrical entrances—with stone slab steps, a wooden roof, and glass and brick details—are an integral part of the building's character. In order to construct the slurry walls and bring in excavation equipment, the team had to remove the building's south front porch. Construction manager Kevin Sullivan of Shawmut Design and Construction, Boston, used drawings, blueprints, and photographs to document the original porch. Much of the original granite, brick, and stone were reused in the new porch.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle was fitting a crane onto the small site. Not wanting to station it on Holyoke Street—a one-lane, one-way residential street—the team threaded a 130-foot-tall self-erecting tower crane through an eight-and-a-half-foot alley, leaving just two inches on each side. Extra care had to be taken while using the crane to deliver steel support beams, HVAC equipment, lighting and acoustic systems, and two stage lifts.
“This was an extremely difficult, tight site,” said Reconstruction Awards judge Jeff Pratt, principal with KJWW Engineering Consultants, Naperville, Ill. “The design and construction team had to work closely to solve significant logistical issues.”
Today 12 Holyoke Street—now dubbed New College Theatre—features a 274-seat theater, rehearsal space, a prop shop, orchestra and stage lifts, and a dance studio. As required by the city's historic commission, the addition is hidden behind the historic façade, giving it much the same street presence as it has had for the last 119 years.
Related Stories
| May 30, 2014
Riding high: L.A., Chicago working on their version of the High Line elevated park
Cities around the U.S. are taking notice of New York's highly popular High Line elevated park system. Both Chicago and Los Angeles are currently working on High Line-like projects.
| May 29, 2014
7 cost-effective ways to make U.S. infrastructure more resilient
Moving critical elements to higher ground and designing for longer lifespans are just some of the ways cities and governments can make infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters and climate change, writes Richard Cavallaro, President of Skanska USA Civil.
| May 23, 2014
Big design, small package: AIA Chicago names 2014 Small Project Awards winners
Winning projects include an events center for Mies van der Rohe's landmark Farnsworth House and a new boathouse along the Chicago river.
| May 23, 2014
Top interior design trends: Gensler, HOK, FXFOWLE, Mancini Duffy weigh in
Tech-friendly furniture, “live walls,” sit-stand desks, and circadian lighting are among the emerging trends identified by leading interior designers.
| May 22, 2014
No time for a trip to Dubai? Team BlackSheep's drone flyover gives a bird's eye view [video]
Team BlackSheep—devotees of filmmaking with drones—has posted a fun video that takes viewers high over the city for spectacular vistas of a modern architectural showcase.
| May 22, 2014
IKEA to convert original store into company museum
Due to open next year, the museum is expected to attract 200,000 people annually to rural Älmhult, Sweden, home of the first ever IKEA store.
| May 21, 2014
Gehry unveils plan for renovation, expansion of Philadelphia Museum of Art [slideshow]
Gehry's final design reorganizes and expands the building, adding more than 169,000 sf of space, much of it below the iconic structure.
| May 20, 2014
Kinetic Architecture: New book explores innovations in active façades
The book, co-authored by Arup's Russell Fortmeyer, illustrates the various ways architects, consultants, and engineers approach energy and comfort by manipulating air, water, and light through the layers of passive and active building envelope systems.
| May 19, 2014
What can architects learn from nature’s 3.8 billion years of experience?
In a new report, HOK and Biomimicry 3.8 partnered to study how lessons from the temperate broadleaf forest biome, which houses many of the world’s largest population centers, can inform the design of the built environment.
| May 19, 2014
Calatrava wins court case concerning 'Calatrava bleeds you dry' website
A judge has ordered the left-wing political party Esquerra Unida to pay €30,000 to Santiago Calatrava because of "insulting and degrading" website.