Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Boston-based NADAAA architects and landscape architects Landworks Studio renovate the 6-story, cross-laminated timber, and steel-frame hybrid structure residential hall of RISD campus, covered in a zigzagging array of fiber-cement panels over its long east and west facades.
The mission of the master plan dictated the maximum amount of beds, which in turn created amassing that was overscaled for the site.
Located alongside the List Building by Philip Johnson, the strategy for this building was to excavate out of its mass as much volume as possible in order to relate its subcomponents—cornice lines, terraces, material shifts—to the various contextual elements on Angel, Prospect, and Waterman streets.
This project has been awarded a 2021 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
Acknowledging the predicament that almost all of the contemporary construction is composed of laminar units (skin systems, vapor barrier, waterproofing, gyp board) the skin system on this building adopts the slick roof systems of the surrounding context, the prevalent slate roof systems of the RISD and Brown campuses, for its eastern and western faces.
This monumentalizes the shingle system in tandem with awning windows whose operability reinforces the shingle system. These facades celebrate the aesthetic of thinness.
Critical to the conception of this project are building technologies that adopt composite systems to bring out the best of optimal material use.
For instance, by having a hybrid steel structure with cross-laminated timber infill (the first hybrid CLT/steel housing project in New England), the architects were able to gain 9’ high raw wood ceilings, without the need for added finishes.
In turn, this allows all the mechanical systems to be located in the corridor, feeding the bedrooms of the entry wall only and having a minimal impact on the room.
Thus, the bedroom serves as a plenum for the mechanical system with fresh air intake and output working in combination with the variable refrigerant flow unit that controls the air temperature.
From the thoughtful input of the campus community, the design features common spaces for socializing, making, reflecting, and creative expression, tailored to meet the varied needs of today’s art and design students.
The building includes spaces that facilitate interaction through social lounges, a shared kitchen, a studio, gallery spaces, as well a spray booth, and bike storage.
Project: RISD North Hall
Architects: NADAAA
Design Team: Nader Tehrani, Katherine Faulkner, Arthur Chang, Matthew Waxman, Gretchen Neeley, Nathan Vice, Richard Lee, and Aaron Weller
Client: Rhode Island School of Design
Contractor: Shawmut Design and Construction
Landscape Architects: Landworks Studio
Photographers: John Horner
