Windows and Guardians

If our eyes are windows into our souls, than the windows in our buildings must be the eyes into the soul of our world – our communities, our streets, the trees and the birds, the wind and the sounds, the rain and the sun. The warm light emitting into the streets from our rooms, the hover of people over dinner, the blue glow of evening television shows, all satisfying signs that even after sunset we are living and flickering. At night the moon comes in, prodding you relentlessly before you fall asleep.

As Architects and Designers who are fortunate to operate with old buildings (with large magnificent windows) we guard the sacred apertures, always placing walls such that every inhabitant can spend their life in connectivity with the world.

Windows at Cromwell Mills on first site visit. Photo credit: Anastasia Laurenzi

Test fitting new windows at Cromwell Mills. Photo credit: Anastasia Laurenzi

Finally new windows being installed at Cromwell Mills. Photo credit: Anastasia Laurenzi

Discussion on the most prominenet feature of the building during a construction administration meeting at One Cedar

View out from One Cedar

Double height windows in the stairwells looking out at a 100 year old tree at Kendall Dean school in North Smithfield

Existing Conditions; The Textures

Exploring old buildings can be a remarkably emotional experience -It's archeological and philosophical- you quite literally uncover layers, discover old flooring, old walls, old windows. You see where things were covered up and hidden, where they were patched -and how, where they were forgotten, where  time and the elements warped the unattended surfaces and structures we create. 

Old floors at Cromwell Mills, Providence

Gate, Cromwell Mills, Providence

Floors at the Union Bank Trust building, Providence

Terrazzo flooring at the Union Trust Building, Providence

Wall at 10 River Road, AAA, East Providence

Demo Wall Art at the Union Trust Building, Providence