How to Use Passive House Principles Successfully in Historic Buildings

As the renovation of our historic 1816 masonry office building, known as the “King’s Block,” nears completion, our firm took the opportunity to put the details of this Passive House retrofit into a presentation that Associate Jeannette Penniman and I were thrilled to give to two recent audiences: An energy-focused group at PhiusCon, the annual…

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Powerful Tools for the Design of Sustainable Early Childhood Centers

At Patriquin Architects, the sustainability of the buildings we design is a top priority. Working within budgetary constraints, site parameters, and specific client goals, we strive to incorporate sustainable strategies as much as possible.   In early childhood center projects, we’re even more careful about indoor air quality, natural daylighting, and views to the outdoors,…

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How We Create Great Designs for Early Childhood Education

Designing facilities that meet the unique needs of young children and the educators responsible for their care and teaching requires attention to a few key elements. For example, there should be plenty of informal learning spaces, certain elements of the design need to be scaled appropriately for children, and consideration needs to be given to…

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Learn About Helpful Funding Sources for Historic Building Renovations 

If you own a historic building and are considering improving it, you should keep in mind that there are funds available for the renovation, restoration, or rehabilitation of these types of structures. The Secretary of the Interior maintains separate “standards” documents for the different types of work performed on historic properties, but our team can…

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Tools of the Trade: Physical Model-Making

There are many ways to help a client visualize the architectural design we’re developing for them, from initial hand-drawn sketches to highly precise CAD drawings. But because we all live in a three-dimensional world, there is nothing quite like a physical model to bring a design to life. And, of course, we all played with…

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How We Make Structures More Resilient in Historic Preservation Projects

At Patriquin Architects, we do a great deal of work on historic buildings, including many with historic significance to their surrounding area. In order to maximize the lifespan of these unique and interesting structures, and ensure that they are a vital part of the local historic fabric for decades to come, our first question in…

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Hidden Historic Treasures: How to Find and Preserve Them

As our work has shown many times through the years, when renovating an older building there is often an opportunity to find, salvage, and restore elements of historic or architectural significance. We’ve also learned that sometimes we have to choose which part of a building’s history should be preserved, and which areas should be modified…

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Need Excellent Thermal Performance? Try These Wall Assemblies

Thermal performance—the degree of energy transfer between a building and its surroundings—is an important consideration for every construction or renovation project. Not surprisingly, exterior wall assemblies play a major role in achieving the desired performance. At Patriquin Architects, we’re continually exploring new wall options to meet specific project conditions. Whether or not a client is…

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King’s Block Passive House Retrofit: What’s the Latest?

Established in Europe more than 40 years ago, Passive House is a standard used in designing new buildings—or retrofitting existing ones—to be highly energy efficient. The standard requires that buildings be fully insulated and airtight, have high-performance windows, manage solar gain effectively, and utilize balanced recovery systems for heat and moisture, as well as a…

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