Our Passive Solar Wall

Despite the fact that our AAA East Providence headquarters building is largely an existing retrofit project we still figured out a way to redefine one of its walls to improve the entire building envelope and user experience. We let the natural resources of the site determine the geometry of our windows: The winter sun angles work with the building's windows and awning to create a comfortable cool shade in the summer, while allowing warm sunshine inside the building in the winter. The windows are also designed to capture views of the large trees on the edge of the site, while avoiding views of the parking lot.  

Things really came together when we found the perfect product with which to clad the vast south facing wall- the InSpire panel by ATAS. It is a sleek, perforated, corrugated cladding that "absorbs" and redirects the heat gained from the sun in the winter to help heat the space inside. The combination of designed geometry and the application of the cladding is estimated to help save the building considerable heating and cooling costs, with an estimated reduction of 2.2 tons of CO2 per year during the winter months alone. We're proud to be a part of a movement towards a more sustainable building industry, and happy to work with a client that values sustainability and innovation.

The awning of the building shades the south facing wall from the afternoon summer sun, helping to keep the building cooler.

Views out onto the tree canopies from the interior, before windows were installed

Views out onto the tree canopies from the interior, before windows were installed

Windows installed, interiors awaiting their finishes

Windows installed, interiors awaiting their finishes

The winter afternoon sun heats the south facing wall as well as the interior

South facing wall updates to the wall

South facing wall updates to the wall

How the InSpire panel works, diagram provided byATAS

How the InSpire panel works, diagram provided byATAS

South facing wall with InSpire panel application in progress

South facing wall with InSpire panel application in progress

South facing wall in progress.

South facing wall in progress.

Seeing the Addition Rise

It's always exciting to see the foundations of a project materialize from the ground. While the rest of this building is a retrofit of an existing warehouse there is a bit of free play with a small addition that will serve as a visitor entry into the building. We are especially happy to partner with a Providence startup landscape architecture office, Sealand Design to make this an informed and cross disciplinary effort that improves the experience of the visitors to the site. More to come!  

Charrettes at the Office: AAA New Building

Our First Ground up Project, an AAA in East Providence, is in the works, and the MEJA team got together to brain storm an elegant and striking design. Collectively we were able to push the scheme in an exciting direction while maintaining simplicity in form. The straight forward program, the sun, and the constant flow of traffic surrounding the site act as the guiding forces in shaping the exaggerated and recognizable building, easily read by pedestrian and vehicular traffic. We are planning to integrate eye-catching colors, textures, and graphics that help define the nature of the building as it sits quietly on a relatively open site.

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Our first Ground Up Project

For the first time we are working on a free standing building, which means it's not an addition or a fit-out; it is a completely brand new, ground-up building! It will be just beside the East Providence AAA dispatch center we worked on as well -it is currently under construction. It's exciting to address this portion of the Wampanoag trail in East Providence so comprehensively and to be the creative directors and orchestrators of such a large site. We are letting the character of the dispatch center-to-be inspire the new free-standing building, emphasizing exaggerated awnings and a flat, elongated geometry.