Project type: Adaptive Reuse, Renovation or Historic Preservation
Honor Project name: Aliki Perroti & Seth Frank Lyceum at Amherst College
Project overview: Nestled between rolling hills, ancient trees, and ivy-clad buildings, the Aliki Perroti & Seth Frank Lyceum is a sustainable, light-filled academic venue that seamlessly integrates a semi-historic home with a sleek glass and stone addition to create a dynamic hub for learning and collaboration. Inspired by the ancient lyceums of Athens, the project centralizes the college’s Center for Humanistic Inquiry (CHI) and adjacent academic departments.
The existing house, constructed in the Greek Revival style, is refreshed on the exterior and transformed on the interior to support its new program, consisting of offices, classrooms and support spaces. A new, two-story addition is placed next to the existing house along Pleasant Street, separated by a transparent exterior wall. These two elements contain larger, public spaces including seminar rooms, an event space, and flexible classroom. A three-story office wing wraps behind the existing house and creates a linear band of offices looking west. The design leverages the adjacencies of offices, classrooms, ground floor event space, and an outdoor terrace all connected by an open commons and abundant “in-between” spaces. Designed to inspire intellectual exchange, its spacious interiors and sweeping views establish a new place for the community to share thoughts, ideas, and work.
The Lyceum is a “smartly sustainable” building, designed to support the client’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2030 and showcase low-carbon construction. For both the interior and exterior, the materials palette prioritizes those with lower amounts of embodied carbon and products that store carbon, like wood and other plant-based materials.
Project location: Amherst, Massachusetts
Firm name: Bruner/Cott Architects
Architect of Record: Bruner/Cott Architects
Completion: 2023
Client: Amherst College
Jury comments: The project submission demonstrates a thoughtful integration of design excellence with sustainability goals, successfully combining historic preservation with modern, environmentally responsible building practices. The design emphasizes natural light, carbon neutrality, and community engagement while maintaining the aesthetic integrity of the existing Greek Revival structure. The project appears to have been very thoughtful and intentional about a variety of sustainability measures, leading to impressive energy reduction, especially considering that the project reused half of an existing building.
Images/Photographer(s): Robert Benson Photography Project or Construction Manager: Daniel O’Connell’s Sons, Inc. Civil Engineer: Berkshire Design Group Specifications: Kalin Associates Structural: Foley Buhl Roberts Associates Mechanical: BuroHappold Electrical: BuroHappold Plumbing: BuroHappold Acoustics: Acentech Audio Visual: Acentech Landscaping: STIMSON Lighting: Lam Partners Carbon Consultant: New Frameworks Natural Design/Build, LLC Envelope Consultant: Wiss Janey Elstner Associates Geotechnical Engineer: Haley & Aldrich
