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Insight—Renovation & Historic :

Over half of our work involves the renewal and expansion of existing buildings, many with historic significance. Under the direction of Principal Stephanie Kingsnorth, the firm’s renovation practice focuses on educational and civic buildings ranging from planning and programming, to full renovations, rehabilitation or adaptive re-use. We bring the ability to think “outside the box” within the framework of existing facilities, and address historic building issues.

Our principals have worked alongside many of the great American architects: Thomas U. Walter, Bertram Goodhue, John Russell Pope, Cass Gilbert, McKim Mead and White, in the context of the Mall in Washington DC, and on historic college campuses around the country.

"For me, there is no greater personal satisfaction than transforming an existing building—giving it new life, regardless of its age or prior use. " —Stephanie Kingsnorth, Principal

The firm, and its predecessor Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, have been responsible for 36 planning and design projects involving buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

Projects have included major civic, commercial and educational buildings all across the country, ranging from the transformation of Bryant Park at New York Public Library and the introduction of new public amenities, the rejuvenation of the New Amsterdam Theater as a key instigator of the renewal of New York City’s 42nd Street, the $130 million renovation and expansion of the Los Angeles Central Library, to the expansion of the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C., and the reuse of Richmond’s Broad Street Station for the Science Museum of Virginia.

Whether restoring a building to its original use or adapting it to a new one, we have listened carefully to all the voices and constituents: both present and past, allowing them all to be at the table where decisions are made.

It is said that “History is what the mind remembers and history chooses to record,” and we view ourselves not only as stewards of memory and record, but as designers firmly looking to the future.