PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Shawmut Design and Construction recently celebrated a virtual topping-off ceremony of Brown University’s under-construction Performing Arts Center at 130 Angell Street in Providence. The project began in 2019 and is slated to be completed in spring 2023; it is anticipated to achieve a minimum of LEED Silver certification.

Shawmut, in partnership with internationally acclaimed architecture firm REX, is completing the state-of-the-art, 94,000-square-foot complex that will anchor a future campus arts district and expand the possibilities for the creation and staging of experimental, collaborative, and engaged performance work. With an unparalleled approach to spatial, acoustic, and technical flexibility, the Performing Arts Center will feature a dynamic main performance hall, a central lobby and promenade as well as customizable spaces to create, rehearse and perform.

“We’re proud to continue our partnership with Brown University and create a building that will push the boundaries of innovation in performance spaces across the globe,” said Ron Simoneau, executive vice president of education at Shawmut. “Through an innovative and collaborative project delivery, we’re building a facility that is technologically sophisticated, highly flexible and one-of-a-kind in higher education.”

Designed to offer unmatched flexibility, the building’s main performance hall will be able to transform into any of five vastly different stage and audience configurations — ranging from a 625-seat symphony orchestra hall to a 250-seat proscenium theater to an immersive surround-sound cube for experimental media performance. The shoebox-shaped hall can modulate physically and acoustically and will feature components such as seating gantries, acoustic curtains, reflector panels and lighting bridges that can be shifted, hidden and stretched to configure the space. With the capability to move walls, floors, seats, ceiling and lights, the Performing Arts Center will become an ultra-adaptable hub for Brown and surrounding communities.

On its exterior, the building will feature an aluminum rainscreen that will appear to shift in color and pattern with seasonal changes and time of day. Inside, the Diana Nelson and John Atwater Lobby will create a central convening space that sits within the building’s horizontal clearstory, slicing through the façade at stage level to enable performances, rehearsals and arts scholarship to extend into the Brown campus and surrounding neighborhood. Below street level, the complex will offer spaces for theater, music and dance that will enable students and faculty to create cutting-edge, original artwork and include areas for student groups and other collaborative activities.

“We’re here to recognize the hard work underway each and every day by the teams of dedicated professionals who support this project,” said Brown University President Christina H. Paxson at the virtual event on December 10. “This celebration is about all of you…especially all of the skilled men and women who are quite literally bringing this remarkable vision to life.”

Work on the Performing Arts Center has been able to continue throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on the firm’s world-class safety program, Shawmut has deployed enhanced safety protocols to mitigate the risk of infectious disease spread across all jobsites — rolling out new procedures, jobsite innovation and an exhaustive COVID-19 risk assessment and response plan nationwide. These protocols are implemented at the project site and include Shawmut Vitals — a custom technology platform which allows team members to self-certify daily health screenings by scanning a job-specific QR code and completing a health survey.

To optimize efficiency, the project is utilizing Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) — an approach that brings the university, Shawmut, REX and subcontractor teams together to execute all phases of the project, resulting in an effective and highly collaborative planning, design and building process.

Shawmut Design and Construction is a $1.5 billion construction management firm with offices located in Boston, Providence, New York, Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Irvine, Calif.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Shawmut Design and Construction recently celebrated a virtual topping-off ceremony of Brown University’s under-construction wellness center and residence hall at 450 Brook Street in Providence, which is expected to be open in time for the university’s fall 2021 semester.

Shawmut, in partnership with William Rawn Associates, is completing the center that will mark the first new building in the university’s housing portfolio in 30 years. The facility will bring together Brown services and programs instrumental to students’ physical and emotional well-being—including Health Services, Counseling and Psychological Services, Brown Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and BWell, the university’s health promotion program. The center will also include a 162-bed residence hall on the upper floors to create a unique community of students who are committed to developing and sustaining healthy lifestyles and promoting the well-being of the Brown community and beyond.

The project, which is part of the Brown/Shawmut Strategic Sourcing Program, is designed to LEED v4 Silver standards, using FitWel and Well certification systems as guidelines for the overall approach. This holistic approach to wellness translates directly into the building’s sustainable materials. Most prominently, the building features an innovative hybrid system of steel framing and cross-laminated timber (CLT), a carbon-negative material that promotes the use of renewable and environmentally sensitive resources, carefully managed forestry, and building technology that is meant to last.

When complete, the center will include a residence hall on the upper floors, including single bedrooms as well as several four-person suites—all with optimum views of the adjacent Pembroke Field. On the lower levels, the co-located student services include clinical areas, a counseling and psychological services team whose offices are arranged around a viewing garden, a health promotion center, and the student-led EMS department.

The interior environment of the building is infused with the same commitment to sustainability through its exposed CLT. The natural wood ceilings and a visible wood deck will present warm, natural material to students and faculty and amplify access to nature and daylight. In addition to strategies for natural ventilation in bedrooms for indoor air quality, the building will also be equipped with energy recovery technology on mechanical systems. All building systems are electric, which is a result of the university’s pledge to reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2040.

To date, the project has stayed on schedule as Shawmut has deployed enhanced safety protocols to minimize potential coronavirus risk across all jobsites. The firm has rolled out new procedures, new job-site innovation, and an exhaustive COVID-19 risk assessment and response plan across the country.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I.— Renovations at 164 Angell Street, a Brown University building in Providence—formerly known as the Brown Office Building—have been completed.

Shawmut Design and Construction, a construction management firm based in Providence, and with locations across the country, was the general contractor on this approximately $25 million project. Done in partnership with the Architecture Research Office, work included gutting the second, third and fourth floors of the 1970 building and transforming the space into a vibrant multidisciplinary hub.

“Our team was honored to revitalize such an important Brown University building to create a contemporary, state-of-the-art space for interrelated academic groups,” said Ron Simoneau, vice president at Shawmut.

“Our long-standing partnership with Brown University resulted in a coordinated approach that upholds the original design of 164 Angell Street, while promoting greater synergies and opportunities for collaboration.”

The nearly 50-year-old building had been characterized by its narrow and dark interiors, but is now highlighted by a design that focuses on natural light.

The renovated space includes state-of-the-art conference rooms with updated technology and video conference capabilities. The building’s systems and structure were overhauled, including the replacement of approximately 40 percent of the precast façade with curtainwall, new mechanical, engineering and plumbing systems, as well as elevator systems, and an updated enclosed lobby space off Angell Street.

Not only did the extensive renovation improve the interior design and work environment for its occupants, but several centers, institutes and departments are able to move into the same building. 164 Angell Street now houses these entities from across the Brown campus: the Carney Institute for Brain Science, the Center for Computational Molecular Biology, the Data Science Initiative, the Department of Education, and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.

The Brown Bookstore, located on the ground, mezzanine and basement floors remained operational throughout the project, requiring careful planning and coordination.

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Despite its small classrooms and narrow hallways, Wilson Hall is described in a statement by the university as one of its most “heavily trafficked undergraduate academic buildings.” The hall, however, has not received an upgrade since a modest renovation in the 1960s.

“If you visit Wilson Hall during the exchange of classes, so many people are pouring in and out that it can be difficult to even get into the building,” said Dean of the College Maud Mandel in a statement. “Couple that heavy use over more than a century with its location on the Main Green, and it’s easy to understand why Wilson has a symbolic significance to the undergraduate learning experience at Brown.”

Mandel added that the interior renovation will do much more than simply refresh old classrooms; it will allow the building to accommodate different courses and types of instruction. Work will extend across approximately 20,000 square feet and give the facility a new three-floor configuration. It will establish seven new classrooms featuring both fixed and flexible seating and modern teaching technology. Among these will be a more intimate 500-square-foot, 24-student seminar room alongside larger classrooms that will comfortably serve up to 100 students.

The project will also establish a new 900-square-foot student common area on the first level to facilitate more casual student interaction. Other improvements to the first level will include two new ADA-accessible entryways on the building’s north and west sides. A new elevator will improve accessibility throughout the building.

“The entryways we envision will invite spaces where students can gather before or after class,” University Architect Collette Creppell said in a statement. “Much of the activity that happens inside this old stone building will spill outside into landscaped areas, which will encourage social interactions and create a wonderful new set of connections to the larger Brown campus.”

While the project will overhaul the existing interior, the building’s original façade will be preserved. Upon the project’s completion, the university plans to rededicate the building as Friedman Hall in honor of its benefactors.

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