Archinect - News

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture reveal design for mountainside Vermont village master plan

2023-11-30T12:13:00-05:00

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture have unveiled their design for a master-planned residential development in Killington, Vermont. Developed by Great Gulf, the “mountain village community” will include the largest ski beach in the Eastern United States.

Image credit: Great Gulf

The 450-acre development is framed by the 4,241-foot Killington Peak, one of six mountain peaks to surround the village. The first phase of the community will see 32,000 square feet of commercial space accompanying 225 residences, comprising condominiums, townhomes, and single-family homes. The residential community will also feature ski-in/ski-out access.

Image credit: Great Gulf

“We aim to capture the spirit of, and character of, the Vermont village in a contemporary rendition of vital public spaces for all seasons,” Moshe Safdie is quoted on a website dedicated to the development.

Image credit: Great Gulf

Pre-construction is currently underway on the site, with sales for the first residences exp...

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture to deliver ‘luxury mountain village’ for Great Gulf in Killington, Vermont

2023-10-06T13:11:00-04:00

Safdie Architects has been tapped by developers Great Gulf to deliver a master-planned residential development in Killington, Vermont. While design proposals for the site are yet to be revealed, Great Gulf has said that sales of the first residences will launch next year, designed by a team led by Safdie and PWP Landscape Architecture.

According to the developers, the site will hold a “one-of-a-kind master-planned village and luxury four-season resort-style residential community.” The 450-acre development will include ski-in/ski-out access, restaurants, retail, and “the largest ski beach in the East.”

Project site in Killington, VT. Image credit: Williams New York

Phase One of the scheme will include over 32,000 square feet of commercial space and approximately 225 residences consisting of condominiums, townhouses, and single-family homesites. “We aim to capture the spirit of, and character of, the Vermont village in a contemporary rendition of vital public spaces for all seasons,” M...

Vermont's Shelburne Museum formally cut ties with Adjaye Associates over sexual misconduct allegations

2023-07-14T10:27:00-04:00

Adjaye Associates’ involvement with Vermont’s Shelburne Museum has ended as the institution is now looking to distance itself from the firm two months after its embattled founder was announced to lead the design of an important $12.6 million extension project in May.

The move comes amidst a torrent of project cancellations, voluntary withdrawals, and other relinquishing measures that followed accusations of abuse and misconduct on the part of David Adjaye, in addition to further details of a “toxic work environment” at his firm.

“The recent allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against David Adjaye, and his admission of inappropriate behavior, are incompatible with our mission and values, which left the museum with no alternative but to immediately sever ties with the architect and his firm,” the museum’s CEO Thomas Denenberg said in a statement to the media. “We remain committed to moving forward with the project and the many other partners and collaborators who have been invol...

Adjaye-led expansion announced at Vermont’s historic Shelburne Museum

2023-05-09T16:50:00-04:00

Adjaye Associates has just been announced to lead the design of the newly-commissioned Perry Center for Native American Art at the Shelburne Museum in northern Vermont.

The project’s brief calls for a “sustainable building with integrated landscape created in collaboration with Indigenous voices whose cultures and people are represented in the works to be stewarded in the space.”

The extension will be 9,750 square feet in total and created at a projected cost of $12.6 million. Once completed it will join the Shelburne’s stock of 39 other structures, the most recent of which, the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education, was designed by Annum (formerly Ana Beha Architects) in 2011.

Previously on Archinect: Several museum expansions and design research projects among National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipients

“Our team is inspired by the potential of the Perry Center to not only enhance Shelburne Museum as a destination for education but also to amplify and empower the Indi...

Olson Kundig's Vermont Cabin captures the essence of its surrounding landscape

2020-01-23T11:46:00-05:00

Situated within a rural Vermont landscape, amongst white pines and maple trees, this Olson Kundig-designed cabin seeks to bring a family into closer connection with one another and the surrounding forests. "This is an intentionally straightforward and economical cabin where the family can come together and take part in the adventure of engaging with the natural landscape just outside," said Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA about the project.

With a modest 750-square-foot footprint, the three level cabin combines economy and materiality with a fluid functionality. Steel, wood, and concrete articulate the structure's character and connectedness to the surrounding wilderness. The lowest level engages the site and holds the garage that also functions as a game room in addition to a bedroom and powder room; the middle level contains the main entry along with two small bedrooms and a bathroom; and the top level consists of one large living area.

"We embraced the client’s challenge of maintaining de...

Eisenman's iconic 'House II' is now on the market for $850K

2017-04-18T17:36:00-04:00

Built in 1970, ‘House II’ by Peter Eisenman is a major icon of structuralist architecture—and it’s now on the market for $850K.

One of ten experimental houses Eisenman designed, only four of which were built, House II is heavily influenced by the work of Noam Chomsky. The house comprises three two-story bays sheathed in plywood and intercut with skylights, partial walls, and openings in the floor. But the design wasn’t exactly contextually-appropriate: its flat roof didn’t mesh with the cold Vermont winters. So the original designers added a slightly sloped roof, floor grates, and expanded walls.

Even then, House II suffered from leaks and moisture-trapping paint. Eventually, in 2000, the rather deteriorated house was renovated and brought back to its original design “less as a practical dwelling than as a landmark of late-twentieth-century architecture”, according to the Society of Architectural Historians.

Now it can be yours! Situated on a beautiful 80-acre plot of land, it comes ...

Burlington, VT first U.S. city to hit 100% renewable energy

2015-02-09T13:36:00-05:00

Burlington’s switch to renewable energy will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save $20 million over the next 20 years and keep energy prices stable [...] The move is only one part of a solution for climate change, according to Taylor Ricketts, professor of Environmental Science at the University of Vermont. “Climate change is the biggest problem we face, maybe the biggest problem we’ve ever faced. But there’s no silver bullet to fix it,” he said.

Vermont Architects Create a Mobile Classroom

2014-06-05T13:16:00-04:00

After landing a $42,750 Innovation Fund grant from AIA for the project, the Vermont chapter purchased a 21-foot 1969 Airstream Globetrotter from a retired couple in central Vermont. Then it charged an undergraduate architecture class at Norwich University with redesigning and rebuilding its gutted interior. The Archistream, as AIAVT has dubbed its mobile classroom, is now complete.