Projects
Masonic Village – Clinics Building
Elizabethtown, PA
Renovations to this 21,942 square feet, three-story, fully-occupied and operational healthcare building encompassed upgrades to waiting areas, corridors, evaluation rooms, administrative areas and therapy spaces with accommodations for bariatric patients. We utilized nature-inspired finishes and artwork along with bright pops of contemporary color to create a comfortable, healing environment.
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
Lakeside Apartments and Clear Creek Cottages at Carolina Village
Hendersonville, NC
These new independent living residences, consisting of 54 cottages and 36 apartments, are the next step in Carolina Village’s multi-year plan for strategic growth. The Lakeside Apartments are located next to the community’s Tranquil Lake, which is home to abundant waterfowl and pleasant landscaping. Discrete parking is provided under the building. The Clear Creek Cottage neighborhood is made up of six duplexes and seven 6-plexes. These homes take advantage of the terrain to provide multiple single-story residences, all with ground-level entrances maximizing the hillside site. Both the apartments and cottages reflect the community’s Smoky Mountain aesthetic featuring wooden post and beam details and stacked stone.
Views
Each Lakeside residence steps back from the one beside it allowing unobstructed views of the nearby mountains. Every residence’s large picture window and balcony or patio highlight these views and allow abundant natural light to stream indoors.
Balcony Customization
The outdoor space is customized to each homeowner’s preferences – everything from full four-season, three-season, screened-in, or open balconies and patios. Yet, each was carefully designed to maintain a similar aesthetic creating pleasingly complimentary cottage and apartment exteriors.
Clubhouse
What began as the need for tool storage near the community garden plots evolved into a clubhouse with a uniquely cantilevered roof covering an outdoor patio gathering space. The clubhouse boasts floor-to-ceiling windows and a cozy fireplace surrounding a large open multi-purpose space. Bathrooms and the original garden tool storage are also part of this striking amenity.
Photo credit: Nathan Cox Photography
Waverly Heights Community Center Updates
Gladwyne, PA
Waverly Heights’ community center updates focused on dining venues and wellness spaces, and also provided a more open and welcoming entry experience. The former reception area was replaced with a concierge desk and the corridor was widened to provide a contemporary seating area that reflects the vernacular of Philadelphia’s Main Line. Connections to a 100-year-old mansion on the campus are now a highlight of the first impression by showcasing the historical building’s exposed stone walls.
A Fresh Approach to Food Preparation and a New Attitude Toward Dining
The casual dining experience transitioned from a predictable cafeteria style service with behind the scenes food preparation to a front and center display of food preparation at its finest. The transformation supports dining service and production changes allowing an emphasis on farm-to-table ingredients and made-to-order selections, as well as increased chef engagement with residents. The new scatter-style food stations utilize up-to-date technology innovations to keep foods precisely hot or cold for longer times while helping to alleviate circulation issues and resulting wait times associated with the former cafeteria style set-up. Removing walls that separated the dining areas from the serving lines allowed more natural light into the space and created an open and appealing setting that elevates the food preparation process.
The updated Atrium Dining Room provides full-wait service selections, prepared in the updated display kitchen, along with courtyard views though a towering glass wall. A new, intimate scale formal dining room features a distinctive wine wall element that is visible from the corridor. All of the updated dining areas take full advantage of natural light and outdoor connections while highlighting the existing architectural detailing.
Wellness Expansion within the Existing Infrastructure
Wellness center updates included enlarging the pool to accommodate lap swimming and aquatic classes, adding a new aerobics/dance studio, and new massage and manicure/pedicure rooms as part of a relocated and expanded salon. A major challenge was lengthening the existing pool to better serve aerobic and lap exercising needs without an addition to the building. The solution involved working with residents and staff members to find suitable alternate locations for an existing art studio and clubroom to free up the needed expansion space. Fortunately, the existing structural framing allowed for a straightforward, but unique expansion with acoustic ‘airfoil’ baffles that add aesthetic appeal as well as functional value.
Award: Environments for Aging (EFA) Remodel-Renovation Competition Gold Winner
“Not only were the aesthetics greatly enhanced, this team fundamentally improved the important functions of these wonderful spaces. This remodel added interactive and highly mobile spaces versus just remodeling more “sitting areas” which is too common in our profession. This very attractive remodel draws people into the spaces and celebrates added choice and enhanced lifestyle!”
Juror Comments
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
Brandermill Woods
Midlothian, VA
The 2011 master plan included renovation and additions to the Clubhouse at Brandermill Woods which allowed the community to enhance their independent living common areas by offering additional amenities that appeal to the incoming Baby Boomers and their families. No longer will a single dining venue, chapel, and stereotypical shuffleboard court be considered enough to sustain and entertain residents. Instead, the new Clubhouse amenities include a theater, party room, game room, formal dining, club room, four-season room, private dining, bistro, multi-purpose space, chapel, fitness room, aerobics room, clinic, pool, terrace dining, private garden, and greenhouse and extensive spaces meant to both support the current cottage and apartment residents and also entice future residents to choose Brandermill Woods as their home. At the same time, 93 new independent living apartments were built adjacent to the new Clubhouse offering residents additional housing options with direct access to the clubhouse.
Photo credit: Nathan Cox Photography
Charlestown Community
Catonsville, MD
Designed to capture the spirit of a downtown marketplace, this renovated 4,100 square foot café space features a large A-frame roof with 17-foot ceilings. Features include display cooking stations, a bar/lounge and patio dining space. Exposed red brick walls with high window sills pay homage to nearby Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The project doubled the capacity to 96 people with a variety of seating options.
Awards: Environments for Aging Remodel/Renovation Competition Winner
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
Meadowood
Worcester, PA
Community center updates on the entry floor focused on dining updates to increase capacity while simultaneously breaking down the scale and creating distinctive, differentiated experiences. This included introduction of bistro, pop up dining and exhibition cooking. On the lower level, the design expands the aerobics classroom, rehabilitation suite and aquatics areas. The new pool accommodates multiple configurations for lap lanes, shallow water exercise, water volleyball and deep water exercise. Outdoor connections and sustainable strategies are seamlessly integrated into the design solutions. The underutilized courtyard was transformed into a new campus amenity to create engaging outdoor event spaces to complement and enhance the dining and wellness updates.
Awards: Publication in Environments for Aging Design Showcase
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
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Rose Villa
Portland, OR
New Main Street amenities include a performing arts center, newsroom, bistro café, garden nursery, full service salon, wellness center, pool and spa, all have been designed to look and operate as individually branded businesses. The aquatics component includes a lazy river and water slide, as well as lanes for lap swimming. Fully operable garage doors allow portions of the bistro to provide open air seating along Main Street.
Awards: Publication in Environments for Aging Design Showcase
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
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Edenwald
Towson, MD
The contemporary café design is more open than its predecessor and allows for greater circulation space between the food offerings. The resulting design took cues from a local farmers market, focusing on fresh foods (some locally sourced during the summer) and a wide range of options. New to the café are a coffee shop, Grab-N-Go offerings, and a pizza station, which complement a salad bar, deli, and hot entrée station. Another new dining experience to be offered is a patio dining component.
Awards: Publication in Environments for Aging Design Showcase
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
Woodcrest Villa, Viva Centre
Lancaster, PA
Viva, often translated to “long live,” is an apt description for this welcome center focused on vitality and community engagement. Feathered into a hillside between existing apartment wings, this expansion more than doubled the size of the community center. The welcome center at the main entrance features a two-story lobby and pre-gathering area outside the new 300-person performing arts center. The fitness components of the wellness center include an aquatics center with lap pool and warm water therapy spa, a fitness classroom, cardio equipment room and lockers with changing rooms. The upper level includes a bistro, beauty shop, theater, billiards and terrace with dining grill area and bocce courts.
Awards: Publication in Environments for Aging Design Showcase
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
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The Lutheran Community at Telford
Telford, PA
This replacement health care center includes a first floor 23-bed memory support unit, while the top three floors are each home to 25 skilled nursing residents. The new center creates an intimate grouping of rooms arranged in small neighborhoods. Meals are offered in small-scale dining rooms with country kitchens that include counter seating. Covered porches accommodate seasonal outdoor dining and activities. Semi-private rooms are separated by a full privacy wall and all resident rooms include a private bath with roll-in shower.
Photo Credit: Larry Lefever Photography