When the local YMCA decided to move out of the historic Bedford Building and adjacent firehouse in Westport, Conn., Bedford Square Associates purchased the property and an adjacent lot to create a 1½-acre site for a 110,000-sf complex.
Bedford Square—a mix of retail, office, restaurant, residential spaces, and a new public piazza—creates an urban environment in a suburban location. The Westport historic district required the developer to preserve the public street façades—Tudor-style architecture in brick, half-timber, and stucco. The back portion of the Bedford Building underwent selective demolition to repurpose the structure as a retail store, restaurant, and offices.
The firehouse was converted into a restaurant and office suite with a rooftop terrace. Its large doors open southward to Church Lane, where two-story residential townhouses were added above retail shops.
A YMCA pool expansion (circa 1977) was demolished to clear the site for new residential units, a community gathering space, public courtyards, pedestrian alleyways, tree-lined sidewalks, and underground parking. The private residential terraces, although visible from the street, were set back to maintain a human scale.
Remnants of the old gym ceiling were restored; a skylight was added over a new three-story stair to daylight the interior.
The arched North Passage brings visitors from a municipal parking lot into the central piazza. The complex’s various entrances and passageways create what the designers at Centerbrook Architects and Planners describe as “the intrigue of a small, intimate European village.”
Nathaniel Riley Photography.
Silver Award Winner
BUILDING TEAM Centerbrook Architects and Planners (submitting firm, architect) Bedford Square Associates (owner/developer) Langan Engineering (CE, site design) BVH Integrated Services (MEP) Turner Construction (CM) DETAILS 110,000 sf Total cost Confidential Construction time January 2015 to August 2017 Delivery method CM at risk
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE 2018 RECONSTRUCTION AWARDS LANDING PAGE
Related Stories
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 11, 2016
Exclusive Chicago club re-emerges as a boutique hotel
Built in 1893 for the World’s Columbian Exposition, the CAA was an exclusive social club founded by leading figures in American sports and commerce.
Reconstruction Awards | Dec 1, 2015
Massive Chicago parking garage gets overdue waterproofing
Millennium Lakeside Garage, the largest underground parking facility in the U.S., hadn’t been waterproofed since the 1970s. The massive project took nearly 2½ years and 33,554 man-hours.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 30, 2015
Washington Monument restored after 2011 East Coast earthquake
This restoration and repair project, which was completed under budget and eight days early (despite several setbacks), involved re-pointing 2.5 miles of mortar joints, repairing 1,200 linear feet of cracks, and installing 150 sf of Dutchman repairs. Construction took place from November 2011 to May 2014.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 30, 2015
Denver's 107-year-old seminary campus modernized
The scope of the project included the seminary dorms, library, and chapel, all of which posed their own set of obstacles.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 24, 2015
Center of I.M. Pei-designed plaza part of Washington redevelopment
The L’Enfant Plaza, a three-story below-grade mall, was renovated to include a new glass atrium pavilion and a 40-foot-long, interactive LED.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 24, 2015
Manhattan's first freestanding emergency department a result of adaptive reuse
The Lenox Hill Healthplex, a restoration of the Curran O’Toole Building, has glass-block walls and a carefully preserved exterior.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 19, 2015
Nave restored at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library
Turner Construction and Helpern Architects revived the 150-foot-long nave, which was embellished with stained glass windows by G. Owen Bonawit, stone carvings by René P. Chambellan, and decorative ironwork by Samuel Yellin.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 19, 2015
Infinite Chicago redevelopment bridges past to present
The renovation of three historic downtown buildings—the Gibbons and Steger Buildings and Pickwick Stables—includes a multi-level concrete walkway connection.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 18, 2015
Sun Theater serves the youth of St. Louis
Lawrence Group and property owner TLG Beaux Arts raised $11 million to restore the 26,000-sf theater into a modern performance venue.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 17, 2015
Smithsonian Institution’s Arts and Industries Building again an exposition and museum space
After removing decades’ worth of unfortunate additions to expose 17 historic interior spaces for the National Historic Landmark, the Building Team zoned in on the client’s key concern.
