Architecture Award To King Arthur Building

Review: Excellence in Vermont architecture

February 10,  2013

Donald M. Kreis
vtdigger.org

Norwich, Vt., is not Freeport, Maine. For that, someone deserves a medal.
And, as it happens, the Vermont chapter of the American Institute of Architects gave out that very medal a few weeks ago – or, at least, a merit award that was among its annual honors for excellence in Vermont architecture. The award in question went to the Burlington architectural firm of TruexCullins and its client, King Arthur Flour.
King Arthur could devour Norwich much as L.L. Bean ate Freeport, which was once a real Maine village until the catalog retailer headquartered there slowly crowded everything else out except for other national retailers and souvenir shops. Instead, the expansion of King Arthur’s retail store, bakery, school and café, pulls off a small miracle of site planning.
Using King Arthur’s existing building and its round timber-framed atrium as the centerpiece, the architects created a campus of interconnected monitor barns. They embrace a courtyard and entryway that faces away from the street. To reach the entrance, and the adjoining parking lot, visitors must navigate a sufficiently long and curved driveway as to render any aspect of the complex that might shout “tourist destination” a non-issue from the street.
If you think that’s no big deal then perhaps you have never driven through Waterbury Center. There, the Ben & Jerry’s factory and the Cold Hollow Cider Mill presumably do wonders for the local economy but tend to give the impression that servicing tour buses is the reason Vermont exists.
Cynics might deem it a cliché of contemporary Vermont architecture to appropriate the monitor barn, whose distinctive fenestrated rooflines provided light and ventilation for traditional dairy operations. But it’s an honest theft; the monitors are desirable and energy ...

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LINKS: 
http://vtdigger.org/2013/02/10/review-excellence-in-vermont-architecture/
See also:
http://truexcullins.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-spirit-of-vermont-in-norwich.html
http://www.vpr.net/episode/55299/kreis-aia-vermont/