Derby Line, Vermont, USA
HGA Architects and Engineers have designed the new Derby Line I-91 Land Port of Entry to address programmatic and operational requirements while prioritizing security and safety for employees and officers.
A visceral connection to the land is present in the Northeast Kingdom and in the Village of Derby Line —a remote yet significant site at the US-Canada border.
The abrasive juxtaposition of the existing Port, a deteriorating steel frame canopy overhanging a nondescript red brick building, against the natural landscape and vernacular structures, was jarring.
This experience would inform the emerging design goal of constructing a new Port, sensitive to its significance as a threshold into the United States of America and representative of the deep beauty and an enduring legacy of the Northeast Kingdom.
The new one-story, 30,000 square-foot, Land Port of Entry facility is tightly constrained to a 4.2-acre site that is bounded on the West by the I-91 Southbound on-ramp, I-91 Northbound to the East, and the Caswell Avenue overpass to the North.
The project has been awarded a 2021 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
Improvements to the Port included a new Main Port Building, a larger Commercial Inspections Building, and open Primary and Secondary Inspection Canopies.
Site improvements included public and secure staff parking lots, wetland restoration,
improved traffic flow and a new local access drive.
Inspired by Vermont’s natural resources, vernacular architecture, and the celebration of the threshold, the resulting Port is a modern and poetic building that serves to safely and efficiently welcome visitors to the United States.
Much of the building’s exterior is composed of a simple palette of architectural precast concrete panels, wood, and dark metal panel.
The architectural precast panels were all designed with custom form liners and left naturally colored to age and weather in a similar fashion to the wood portals.
The precast panels help ground the building in the landscape, giving it a strong sense of permanence and dignity.
Smaller, non-public entrances are clad in dark metal panels.
A language of wood portals signifies and celebrates the locations where the public enters and interacts with the buildings.
Materially, the portals are clad in dimensional lumber cut from readily available Southern Yellow Pine that has been thermally modified to improve durability, dimensional stability, and longevity.
For ease of maintenance, the wood was left unfinished and will slowly weather from a natural brown to a soft gray in exposed areas over time.
This patina recalls Vermont’s historically covered bridges and vernacular architecture.
The first impression of the facility is an expansive North-facing portal that signifies a welcoming entry into the United States.
Similar scaled-down versions of this North-facing portal are employed at two other public building entrances: one for processing of bus passengers and the other serving applicants seeking Trusted Traveler status for frequent border crossings.
Project: Derby Line Land Port of Entry
Architects: HGA Architects and Engineers
Client: General Services Administration
Contractor: DEW Construction
Photographers: Gary Hall Photography and Peter J. Sieger Architectural Photography
