Description

As circumstances change over the years, many clients return to Richard M. Cole & Associates to craft architectural solutions to new needs.

The owners of this gracious home first commissioned RMC&A years ago to design accommodations for their young family.

Now the charge was to add a home library and office for the newly empty nest. The program called for copious light, views to the garden, a fireplace, a congenial workspace and, most important, shelving for thousands of volumes that had been scattered throughout the house.

The architect designed a one-and-one-half-story, classically detailed wing with a clerestory lantern that floods the space with light. The new addition sits squarely on the footprint of an earlier wing, incorporating some of the original foundation, in order to preserve mature trees and landscape.

The new library addition serves the clients as a cozy space to read and work from home as the fine old house evolves to meet a new stage of its owners’ life.

Description

Description

Richard M. Cole & Associates used bright colors, indestructible materials, ingenuity and a great sense of fun to create an indoor fitness center intended to get sedentary children moving.

A husband-and-wife summer-camp owner and pediatrician identified the need for a year-round facility to encourage children to be physically active and commissioned RMC&A to transform a vacant floor in an underutilized industrial building.

RMC&A retained the original concrete ceiling and beams to provide a sturdy framework for the 5,000-square-foot space and fitted out the facility with durable materials designed to take the impact of kids at play. Acoustic panels absorb sound, a rubber floor provides safety and specially-designed fabric ductwork is impervious to any errant ball.

With its brilliant color palette and bright lighting, the space, which also includes a dance studio, medical and dietician’s offices, is an irresistible setting for kids to get active for good health.