Category Archives: Awards

101 North Main Street

A developer acquired the former Pilgrim Mills Building for conversion to upscale condominiums.  While restoring the original building, KITE thoughtfully crafted a new four-story addition on the south side of the structure.  Utilizing a variety of forms and materials, the complex of buildings now reads as an assemblage of smaller scale structures, reflective of the original neighborhood and mid-block alley.

A common entry to the condominiums contains as elevator to all floors and provides access to the parking garage.  The original four-story building maintains its identity as the entrance to a new restaurant.  Each of the condominium units is unique in size and layout, ranging from one bedroom to two-floor penthouse units all with a private deck or balcony. The new units maintain the large windows and high ceilings of the original building, providing generous, light-filled living spaces.  The project serves as a skillful example of revitalizing a building and a streetscape.

David Brown Science Center, St. Andrew’s School

KITE developed a new master plan for St. Andrew’s Olmstead-designed campus that would allow the school to increase its overall student population by 50% and double its boarding student population.  To define the needs created by the expansion, the architects worked with students, parents, faculty, staff, and trustees in a series of “F.U.N.(Focus Users Needs) Sessions” to understand how the people who would use the facilities perceived their school and its future.

Following the masterplan, KITE designed the new Science Center to be sympathetic to the overall forms and scale of the existing campus buildings.  The Center is composed of a series of residential forms clad in cedar shingles that step down the hill meeting accessibility requirements without the use of an elevator.  The facility contains four classrooms (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Environmental Sciences), each with dedicated laboratory and teaching areas. Interiors contain exposed piping and are configured to provide views into the mechanical room, further reinforcing the teaching and understanding of the sciences.

Ample daylighting and a lively, nature-inspired color palette assure that there is no association with the typical staid science classroom.  A Greenhouse, Gardens, Wind Mill, and Solar Water Panels, illustrate practical examples of sustainability and everyday science to the students.

Old Kent County Courthouse / East Greenwich Town Hall

Originally constructed in 1806, and one of Rhode Island’s original state houses, the Town of East Greenwich asked KITE to fully restore the historic Kent County Courthouse building as well as house new offices for the Town of East Greenwich.

A new addition was constructed which was separated from the original building by a glass connector. Another challenge was to make the building fully accessible on this steeply sloping site from the commercial area of Main Street to Peirce Street, an area of mixed historical and public buildings. A drive at Courthouse Lane passes through the addition to allow parking at an interior courtyard. An accessible route from Peirce Street is provided via a covered walkway.

Department of Mathematics Building, Brown University

The Department of Mathematics had outgrown their existing facilities, a 19th Century wood framed house with a 1980’s brick addition on a prominent urban corner. Brown University engaged KITE to reorganize the existing space and provide new construction on the limited remaining buildable lot.

The first floor was completely reorganized with an emphasis on improving internal circulation and functional efficiency. Responding to the scale and forms of the residential campus, new construction is intended to visually separate the historic house from the rest of the complex. KITE provided offices for 30 faculty members and 40 graduate students, as well as administration, conference and seminar rooms, and common meeting space. The existing lecture hall remains as an independent space, isolated from other Math Department facilities in order to be used by the entire university community.

Great Island Residence

Set in the fragile environment of the Cape Cod coast, this vacation house for a busy executive couple with a large, multi-generational family presented an ambitious program. It had to provide comfortable living space for one, two, or many; to integrate interior and exterior spaces both physically and visually; and to emerge gently from the scrub-growth surrounded dunes.

KITE’s solution provided a group of familiar shingled, gable-roof pavilions informally arranged and linked by transparent flat-roof connectors that form a cohesive whole whether viewed from the land or the sea. Mahogany windows, doors, and trim are stained a transparent red to give an energizing splash of color against the time-honored silver-grey of the weathered cedar shingles. The organization of space allows both for an intimate experience for the couple in two adjacent pavilions and for large gatherings in the interior and exterior spaces that extend from them. Simple detailing inside and out reinforce the clarity of the program. While the compound evokes the ad-hoc qualities of rural houses in southern New England, the vigorous massing and crisp detail distinguish this as a strikingly modern yet timeless composition.

School of Architecture, Roger Williams College

Conceived to provide a new home and department identity for a rapidly growing part of the school’s curriculum, this design was the winning entry in a national design competition that attracted an impressive array of entrants.

The design concept developed around a long, skylit central spine flanked on one side by administrative spaces on one side and linked design studios, stepped to reflect the challenges and natural attrition in each year of the program, on the other. A common gathering space and the department library terminate the ends of this linear two-story gallery. The architectural response to the program produced spaces where interchange is abundant and frequent among the faculty, staff, and students; materials that are durable; and construction techniques and building systems that are exposed and instructive.

Residential Properties Headquarters

KITE’s design for Residential Properties, Ltd. headquarters is on the high-visibility corner lot of residential Benefit Street and commercial Wickenden Street.  It provides 2,800 square feet of corporate office space and 3,600 square feet of rental space.

The building forms a broad sweep as it wraps this prominent corner site. The Wickenden Street front has large areas of street level glazing that respond to the adjacent commercial storefronts, while the Benefit Street elevation responds to its context by employing residential scale windows, chimney, and dormers.

Corporate offices are located on the third floor and mezzanine, taking advantage of the high ceilings and river views. The first and second floors accommodate an art gallery and commercial tenant respectively.

The Sloop Great Republic

This proposal marked the first design competition entered and won by KITE, and was a turning point in the design history of the firm.

Captain Howard Blackburn made a historic solo voyage in the 25 foot Sloop Republic from Gloucester to Lisbon in a record 41 days in 1901. A non-profit group sponsored the competition to create a permanent exhibit displaying his restored craft on the waterfront in Gloucester.

KITE’s winning entry was designed to dramatize the seaside context of the boat display with a full sized mural depicting the harbor as it was in 1901. It would allow the full rigging of the boat to be extended indoors, and by opening up one side of the enclosure to the sea, reflections of the water, sounds, and the scent of the ocean became part of the visitor experience.

Roger Williams Park Zoo

Located in the heart of the historic Roger Williams Park, the early menagerie that opened in 1872 was the United States’ third official zoo. By 1978 the City of Providence and the RI Zoological Society decided to upgrade its facilities. They turned to KITE for the design of a series of new pavilions, walkways, and exhibits.

The new park designed by KITE embodies the interactive and educational spirit of the modern zoo. New walkways lead visitors through preserved natural wetlands area. Special exhibits for polar bears and sea lions incorporate underwater viewing windows. Exhibits include carefully designed habitats for North and South American animals that are seamless within the park’s topography and vegetation. The children’s learning center pavilion uses natural materials and ample daylight.

Wind in the Pines Girl Scout Camp

Located on 142 acres in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Girl Scouts came to KITE with a request to develop a master plan for the Wind in the Pines Girl Scout Camp that met their needs for a year-round camping and conference center.

KITE responded with a plan that respected the natural features of the land and provided a role model through its use of sustainable design techniques. In addition to the master plan, KITE also designed many of the pavilions as part of a phased construction plan. The buildings make ample use of passive solar heating and cooling strategies, and provide a unique character that comfortably integrates its natural surroundings.

As a pioneer in what we think of as green design today, many of the innovative design strategies explored through the pavilion designs are now mainstream.