Amherst College
Amherst, MA
Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Lyceum
Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst College’s new Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Lyceum is located on the west side of South Pleasant Street, at the rise of a hill, adjacent to the President’s house and is home to the Center for Humanistic Inquiry (CHI) providing resources for Amherst’s academic community to support and expand humanistic thinking in public and scholarly life. Home for the fellow in residence at CHI, the new building is a beacon of learning for the campus and wider community with a weekly salon (lecture series). The project features a welcoming facade with large open glass windows that bring the light out to campus, and a new accessible walkway connection through a dense grove of native trees and shrubs, with expressive stormwater cascades and dry creek beds sharing a narrative about stormwater even on the sunniest of days. The winding walkway on the west side of the building connects to Newport house and Walnut Street, parts of campus previously difficult to access from Kirby Theater and Johnson Chapel.
ARCHITECT: Bruner/Cott
PHOTOGRAPHY: Staff
East Drive Gateway
Amherst College, Amherst, MA
Amherst College’s Eastern campus entrance off of College Street is envisioned as a new Gateway and entry point to the newly constructed Science Center and Beneski Museum of Natural History. East Drive also is a significant point of entry for deliveries and large trucks and the command center for Campus facilities and operations. It also serves as a point of entry on foot for members of the campus community parking in the Hills Lot further east on campus or north on the Dickinson Lot. The point of entry along College Drive is challenged with a steep slope and limited sight lines. Together Berkshire Design collaborated with C&H Architects and Agency, to reconfigure the driveway, walkways, parking areas, and provide an accessible entrance into the main facilities building, as well as cutting back grades at the entrance to open up views and construct a granite sign announcing the Eastern entrance into campus. During this exercise, clarity in alignments of walks and materials and elevations were refined to transformer walkway striping in the asphalt into dedicated walks and curbs.
ARCHITECT: C&H Architects
PHOTOGRAPHY: Staff
Amherst College Varsity Tennis Courts
Amherst, Massachusetts
in 2017, Berkshire Design assisted Amherst College in redesigning and upgrading the Campus fourteen tennis courts just off of East Drive. The courts serve as an important upgrade for the College that is attractive, vital for athletics and recreation, and a prominent feature on the campus.
The court color surfacing matched the college’s custom purple color, and the surrounding areas were coated in a green color. The design added many amenities to improve the comfort of students and faculty and support their time during practice or competitions. On three sides of the court, the area is sheltered from the wind through custom wind screens branded with the team’s name, “Amherst Tennis.” These wind screens are additionally supported by planting screens.
The design is linear in organization, fitting within the previous tennis court footprint, and the 14 courts are further subdivided into two sets of seven, with a central spectator seating area, with a double-sided, three-row bleacher, brick end walls, and a shade pavilion.
Additional enhancements included a brick memorial wall, and flagpole, as well as two scoreboards, a drinking fountain with bottle fill station, and infrastructure for future athletic lighting, power and charging outlets. At the arrival point into the facility, patrons walk over a circular concrete logo with a a purple background, and a white A.
The project was designed and constructed with future improvements in mind- the project includes infrastructure for future athletic lighting, as well as power and charging outlets.
79 South Pleasant
Amherst, Massachusetts
Berkshire Design partnered with Kuhn Riddle Architects to help transform the former church into an efficient, functional campus building in the heart of downtown Amherst. 79 South Pleasant Street is an historic building, built in 1834 as the First Baptist Church in downtown Amherst. It was updated and expanded in 2014 to house the five College Center for the Study of World Languages as well as many of Amherst College’s administration departments.
This project received an honor award from the American Institute of Architects.
Berkshire Design Group’s services included site design, permitting, construction documents, and construction administration.
ARCHITECT: Kuhn Riddle Architects
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Dormitory Renovations and Campus Improvements
Amherst, Massachusetts
Berkshire Design assisted the college with several dorm renovation projects including Seelye and Mayo-Smith Houses, Hamilton House, and the Hitchcock House among others. Partnering with a select group of architects, each of the dormitory projects sought to improve overall accessibility, address code and interior building improvements.
Our office has also assisted Amherst College with a host of other campus improvement projects over the years. These include renovations to the Valentine Hall patio, landscape restorations, and crosswalk improvements.