Traditional Building Design Challenge
William Sloan Associates won the 2009 Traditional Building Design Challenge Award at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston on Saturday, March 14, 2009. The contestants were selected from a pool of applicants from all over the country, narrowed down to six teams from Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts. The aim of the competition was to design multiple new residential buildings that would integrate flawlessly with the historic architecture of Salem, MA. The challenge proved to be especially difficult, because participants had only two days to complete the project.
The winning design included single, two and three family residences, both brick and wood, designed in the vocabulary of historic Salem residential architecture. The jury consisted of several members of the Salem community, including Tom Daniel, Economic Development Manager for the Salem Planning Office, David M. Hart of David M. Hart Enterprises, and Edward Nilsson of Nilsson + Siden Associates, Inc. Other jury members included Christine Franck of Christine G. H. Franck, Inc. in New York City and Nancy Berry, Editor of New Old House Magazine in Yarmouth Port, MA.
The jury selected the entry submitted by William Sloan Associates because the urban design reinforced the existing street frontages, developed under ground parking with landscaped park & gardens above with public access through a variety of walkways and passages. It also made suggestions for the development of adjacent street facades and buildings. In addition to 50 cars, the underground development provided the distribution for a central Cogeneration Plant that would provide electric power, steam and chilled water to the development with minimum energy usage and carbon footprint.
The Traditional Building Design Challenge was a part of the Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference. This is a national event featuring various experts, demonstrations, and workshops for information on the restoration and renovations of historic buildings, and emphasizes the value of building new structures in a traditional style.
A Competition for a Residential Redevelopment in Historic Salem
