2022 Honor Award

WMAIA 2022 Design Awards
HONOR AWARD

truthbox Architects, Providence, RI

1492 Westminster Street is the first multifamily building in Rhode Island built to the exacting passive house standards administered by the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) (certification pending at time of award submission).

Located on a narrow lot on Providence’s west side that sat vacant for many years, the building combines a ground floor commercial space, ground floor accessible residential unit, and six one-bedroom dwelling units.

Through a combination of a super-insulated envelope, airtight construction, highperformance windows, efficient systems, and smart design the building achieves an expected energy use intensity (EUI) of only 16.7 kBTU/ft2yr. This represents a nearly 75% reduction in operational energy use relative to the national average for multifamily housing.

This project demonstrates how architecture can directly address the urban housing shortage while also advancing critical climate goals.

Photos by Jason Wessel

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WMAIA 2022 Design Awards
HONOR AWARD

Shepley Bullfinch, Boston, MA

Reinvented as a social and cultural incubator, the newly renovated Student Union embraces student entrepreneurship and organizations that transform the building into a refreshed stage for campus life designed for equitable communities and campus well-being. The Union radiates
energy from the geographical heart of campus to become the nexus of student engagement, restoring its historic cultural vibrancy.

Programs are strategically placed to draw students into the Union along new pedestrian pathways. During intensive workshops, student representatives were engaged in defining desired space types, from intimate study spots to casual gathering to formal event venues and a
shared home for all student organizations.

The bold proposal to lift the 8,000-sf Ballroom opens the once dense and circuitous interiors, connecting and layering visual activity from within to the campus outside. The now open interior encourages serendipitous connections and collaboration, providing views to and from campus
and flooding the Union with natural light.

Photos by Raj Das

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WMAIA 2022 Design Awards
HONOR AWARD

Naomi Darling Architecture, South Hadley, MA

The Maier Camerlenghi Addition is a second story addition and renovation of a mid-century home in the center of Amherst, MA for an academic couple with need for a home office as well additional bedrooms for their growing family.

Respecting the original design, the addition inserts a vertical two-story library volume and light scoop along the existing chimney. Added circulation within the light scoop connects the library space to the new children’s bedrooms and bathroom.

Additional renovations address sustainability including insulating the roof for improved energy performance, updating windows, adding an EV power station, and bringing daylight into the main living room by redesigning the previously solid wood cap that with vertical louvers to allow light to flood through the high clerestory windows.

These changes allow the classic mid-century home to grow into the 21st century.

Photos by Sean Kernan

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