Northampton Arts Trust

The Arts Trust building, known as 33 Hawley Street, is a vibrant arts facility in Downtown Northampton, MA, that includes classrooms, rehearsal space, gallery & two large performance spaces. After working with the Arts Trust for a number of years to find a suitable site for a new facility for five local community arts organizations to share one roof. The primary goal of the project was to bring these five groups together in a cohesive building layout. A large communal, three story lobby connects the seven main rooms providing a cohesive central collecting space for before and after events or classes.

The building envelope is made of highly efficient insulated metal panels that provide superior protection for air and thermal infiltration.  Whenever possible the building systems run on electrical powered from the large (equivalent to 75 residential systems) photovoltaic system on the roof, the larges of its kind in Northampton.  The interior is a bright industrial space with natural day lighting throughout and locally sourced lumber and timber, warming the feel of the former warehouse.

33 Hawley Street has become the vibrant arts space that the community wanted, fulfilling the ethos of “keeping art in the heart” of downtown Northampton with both indoor and outdoor spaces for performance, expression and creative endeavors or all types.

Sustainable features:

Energy Efficiency:

• Very high insulation values in walls, roof and foundation

• Air tight detailing used to prevent energy loss

• Heating and air conditioning use energy recovery

• Smart controls in each room control the heating & cooling system

• Day lighting strategies are used to get natural lighting into the deep interior spaces.

• 176 kW photovoltaic array on the roof to power much of the buildings energy needs.

Materials:

• Locally sourced wood

• Interior finishes were chosen for their natural durability, beauty and environmental integrity, locally sourced whenever possible.

Academy of Music

The Thomas Douglas Architects-designed marquee and canopy adorns the façade of Northampton’s 1891 theater and is the centerpiece of Northampton’s cultural scene. This marquee structure is entirely new and replaced a much smaller art deco styled sign.

In the late 19th century, Edward H.R. Lyman, a philanthropist and Northampton native, had a vision for a new venue for culture and theater in his hometown. On May 23, 1891, the 800-seat Academy of Music Theatre opened its doors to the public for the first time. One year later, Lyman deeded the Academy to the City of Northampton, making it the first municipally-owned theatre in the nation.

The Garden House, Look Park

Located in one of New England's finest parks, the Garden House stands on the site of the former Look Park pool building, a 4,500 square foot nostalgic Northampton landmark built in 1930. The restoration of the building keeps faith with the Mission style architecture of the earlier period.

The interior is a simple but richly detailed design, featuring massive wood trusses, a new large stone fireplace and mahogany paneled walls decorated with handcrafted botanical stencils. The enclosed sun porch offers a panoramic view of some of the park's many attractions, and is accented with wrought iron accessories, mission style wall sconces, and awnings reminiscent of earlier days at the pool building.

The Calvin Theater

The renovation of the Calvin Theater involved eighteen months of planning and construction. Every space and surface of the building was affected. The theater had extensive damage from years of neglect. As architects, we planned every aspect of the renovation from redesigning the loading dock to creating a new concession area to designing the new marquee.

The complete renovation and restoration of the 1924 historic Calvin Theater earned Thomas Douglas Architects a Massachusetts Historic Commission Preservation Award and a Northampton Historic Commission Award.

This restoration involved creating a new stage, seating, lighting and equipment as well as designing a whole new color scheme - all tied to the theater’s historic roots, but still new and fresh. We used elaborate decorative paint and restored and duplicated huge old, plastic moldings. In the end, this Northampton 21,000 square foot landmark with 1,300 seats has evolved from Vaudeville theater to movie house to one of the most popular live music venues in Western Massachusetts.

The Mohawk Theater

Thomas Douglas Architects was selected by the Mohawk Theater/Downtown Development, Inc. Committee to develop Preliminary Architectural/ Engineering Plans and estimated costs for the renovation of the Mohawk Theater.

The scope of work included development of plans for a preferred re-use program that included film, music, lectures, community events and limited stage performances.

From images of the theaters current condition, digitally created photos were developed of the proposed renovation. A complete set of plans and schematic drawings were also prepared for the report.

The Mohawk Theater is a single balcony theater with an original capacity of over 1000 seats. Built as a movie house with a 25 foot wide proscenium, it is not a dramatic theater as there is no significant stage area nor fly gallery. The proposed renovations call for the construction of a new enlarged stage and backstage support spaces. The Mohawk’s art deco interior, with its stencil painted Native American motifs, will be fully restored.

The Garden Theater

As a part of a downtown-wide restoration project, Thomas Douglas Architects was tapped to design a restoration of this multi screen movie house into a modern performing arts complex. Originally designed as a 1,000-seat vaudeville and single screen movie house, the theater has been cut up into a multitude of small-unadorned spaces. The Thomas Douglas Architects design envisioned a restoration of the decorative theatrical auditorium featuring a painted surround of a colonial Greenfield downtown street scene complete with twinkling starts in the night sky.

The project received full funding from a variety of sources including New Market Tax credits and State and Federal Historic tax credits. 

Baptist Church Performing Arts

Northampton’s 1903 First Baptist Church is a current project under construction. The 15,000 square foot former church is being converted to a modern performing arts and banquet facility. Extensive structural and mechanical renovations were necessary to modernize the building and prevent further collapse of the structure.

There will be a theater space, meeting rooms, three full bars, a banquet facility and a full commercial restaurant kitchen. The building will be fully accessible with a new elevator. All interior surfaces are removed and a new decorative plaster and wood interior will be built. The central theater space has a large 3-tier dome that is being rebuilt and restored. There will also be a large outdoor terrace accessible from the interior. All aspects of the project are designed by Thomas Douglas Architects.

HuKeLau

The HuKeLau has been a destination in Chicopee since the 1960’s. It was originally built as a Polynesian style restaurant, bar, and performance space. The restaurant underwent numerous changes before the owners hired Thomas Douglas Architects to recreate the original Tiki décor with a modern twist. Materials such as bamboo plywood, thatch roofs and bamboo poles were used to create this themed atmosphere which is warm, playful and exuberant.

Smith College Conference Center

TDA was retained to reimagine the former faculty club as a conference center serving the campus and larger communities.  Overlooking Paradise Pond, the low brick structure presented a forbidding façade toward the campus way that ran in front of it, punctuated only by a single door and a line of high, small windows.

TDA removed the original entry and replaced the front and rear walls with a glazing and a canopy, protecting the entry and providing views through the building to a rebuilt deck high above the pond.  A pergola was added in front of the long wall with the small windows, creating new visual interest and warmth in an otherwise uninviting façade.  The entry was made more attractive and modern with new stairs, a ramp, and plantings.  Thoughtful lighting interventions were made both inside and out to create a welcoming, warm destination for visitors.  

Amherst Cinema

The Amherst Cinema Center (ACC) proposed the transformation of an existing 1920’s single screen cinema into a performing arts facility for live and cinematic presentations. While the long and narrow configuration of the building was challenging, the lack of columns and structural walls within the auditorium space allow for a great deal of freedom in configuring the new spaces.

Our solution located 2 cinemas at the northern end of the existing auditorium space while the performance theater with a flexible stage and full fly gallery developed in the south end. The stage of the performance theater is comprised of 3 adjustable height platforms that allow for a variety of arrangements from a traditional proscenium theater to a "black box" configuration.