Project

Emerson College — Little Building Reimagining

Project Description

Originally constructed in 1917, the 12-story building had nine floors of office space, a two-story shopping arcade, post office, restaurants, and tunnels connecting it to the subway and neighboring theaters. Elkus Manfredi reprogrammed and reimagined the building into a mixed-use student residence for 750 students.
The repositioning effort included a major façade renovation and restoration that employed laser scanning and digital reconstructions, infill of the lightwells to create upper-story common rooms, and improvements for structural and MEP building systems.
This cornerstone of Emerson’s campus is home to 1,054 students and offers additional instructional and collaboration space as well as ground floor retail.

Photographer: Robert Benson

Project

Stockton University

Project Description

The nearly 216,500-square-foot, 533-bed residence hall sits along Atlantic City’s iconic boardwalk and offers ground floor retail uses and multiple outdoor amenity spaces for students.
The entire site is raised above the boardwalk level by two feet and includes ample rain gardens, reducing the impact of potential storm surge and increased rainfall due to climate change.
The residence hall also features a highly sustainable building envelope with a thermally broken green girt system and high-performance glass, both of which reduce the overall energy load on the building.
First floor amenities include a living room, fitness center, study rooms, lounge, and a monumental stair leading to a second floor common area. The apartment-style dorms on floors two through five include units from studios to six beds.

Photos © Tim Dinofa

Looking out to courtyard from common room

Project

University of Massachusetts Boston Student Residence Hall and Dining Commons

Project Description

263,000-square-foot, certified-LEED-NC Gold facility comprised of two buildings framing a new pedestrian path leading into the heart of the school’s Columbia Point campus.
Including 1,077 beds, this first residence hall in the campus’ history offers a diverse mix of room types organized around distinct living communities.
The facility also accommodates several multi-purpose spaces, conference rooms for group study, administrative offices, and a 500-seat dining hall.

Photographer: Robert Benson and Bruce T. Martin (dorm room)

Project

Emerson College — Two Boylston Place & Dining Center

Project Description

18-story, 375-bed residence hall offers suites, single, double, and triple student residences in the heart of the college’s growing campus in Boston’s historic Theatre District.
Features five themed, destination common rooms that address the urban campus’s need for indoor and outdoor communal student spaces.
Totaling 18,000 square feet and seating 550, the Dining Center’s two distinct levels are connected by a grand open staircase.
Demonstrates a creative reinvention/restoration of three long-underutilized retail spaces on the College’s Theatre District campus.
Certified LEED-NC Gold while preserving and incorporating the façade of an historic Ancient Landmark Building into the new structure.

Photographer: Peter Vanderwarker

Project

The Ohio State University – South Campus Gateway

“We have felt very satisfied, very comfortable with the decision to hire Elkus Manfredi. They really understand the demands of urban design and the complexities of mixing uses in buildings.

Terry Foegler

Former Associate Vice President, Planning and Real Estate Operations at The Ohio State University

Project Description

This 887,000-sf mixed-use development has transformed a neglected urban area—and the main entry to the campus—to create a welcoming college-town environment and sense of arrival to the OSU campus.
Strategically planned mixed-use programming included 225,000-sf of street-level retail, 12 restaurants, an eight-screen cinema, 180 residences, and the relocated University bookstore.
A unifying urban design project, the Gateway has made the University’s cultural resources more available to the City of Columbus, creating incentive for junior faculty and others to live in surrounding residential neighborhoods, thereby reclaiming the formerly rundown area.

Photographer: Brad Feinknopf

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Project

Harvard University Graduate Commons

Project Description

Bringing new graduate student housing to Harvard’s Cambridge campus, this six-story residence hall transforms the edge of the University’s campus in the Riverside neighborhood.
Featuring 141 apartments plus 189 parking and 104 bicycle spaces on three levels below grade, the building’s design incorporates a façade of brick, copper, limestone, and granite—materials that closely relate to the vernacular of Harvard’s historic River Houses.
Bridging the architectural variety of the site’s context—from adjacent University towers to the pedestrian-scaled residential neighborhood—required careful urban design that balanced massing, and stepped heights and setbacks to recogonize adjacent residences.

Photographer: Robert Benson

Harvard University Graduate Commons day exterior

Harvard University Graduate Commons Exterior

Harvard University Graduate Commons Trellis

Project

The Paramount Center

“The vision for Emerson is to develop the coolest, hippest, most compelling destination in downtown. The Paramount Center is truly a center for creative collaboration among students, faculty, performers, and the public. As the College had originally hoped, this facility is fully realizing its important role at the heart of Emerson’s mission.”

Lee Pelton

President, Emerson College

Project Description

A key component of Emerson’s new campus in Boston’s Theatre District, this 39,200-sf, mixed-use development joined together new construction with the landmarked Paramount Theatre and adjacent Arcade building, plus a neighboring backlot.
The Center incorporates the renovated Paramount Theatre, a black box theatre, a scene/prop shop, rehearsal spaces, classrooms, a sound stage, a film screening room, plus a 262-bed residence hall and 150-seat streetfront restaurant.
The renovated Paramount Theatre is now a 590-seat live-performance space used for performances by both students and professional artists from all over the world through the ArtsEmerson program.

Photographer: Peter Vanderwarker

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Preservation Honor Award

National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2011

Award

Paul E Tsongas Award

Preservation Massachusetts, 2011

Award

Merit Award

United States Institute of Theater Technology, 2011

Award

Design Excellence Award – Venues

Live Design Magazine, 2011

Award

Awards of Merit – Exterior and Interior Lighting

Illuminating Engineering Society, 2011

Award

New England Design Award

American Institute of Architects, New England Chapter, 2010

Award

Preservation Achievement Award – Significant Rehabilitation / Restoration

Boston Preservation Alliance, 2010

Award

Honor Award for Design Excellence

Boston Society of Architects, 2010

Award

Building Project of the Year – Renovation / Modernization Less Than $100 Million

Construction Managers Association of America – New England Chapter, 2010

Award

Best of 2010, Project of the Year – Renovation / Restoration

New York Construction Magazine, 2010

Project

Sojourner Truth Apartments at the Yard

Project Description

Designed to support students’ transition from on-campus to off-campus living, these apartments sit atop a mixed-use ground level that includes 8,000 sf of restaurant and retail space, a tech-transfer lounge and collaborative space, and a 1,500-sf fitness facility.
With accommodations for 442 upperclassmen in two‑, three‑, and four-bedroom apartments, this 14-story building offers views of New Brunswick and Rutgers’ historic Voorhees Mall.
The north and south wings of the building shape a courtyard that serves as an active town square focused on creating community and 24/7 activity for students and the surrounding neighborhood.

Photographer: Brad Feinknopf