The Roosevelt High School was built in 1888 in Clinton Iowa.  It had been patinaed with over 120 of constant use when the local school district deemed it too expensive to use and maintain. A developer who had decade before restored nearby Louis Sullivan building, sought out the building to give it new life as affordable housing.  She referred to the building as having great bones.  The architects were more than thrilled to help repurpose the building and without pause informed her that “those bones” were solid and ready for another hundred years. The challenges were numerous and the rules simple.  Respect. The charge of the design team was the insertion of 16 apartments within a school containing about 14,000-square feet and 7 classrooms and a large gathering area space while maintaining the integrity of the existing walls and spaces.  (Each unit containing a washer/dryer, individual HVAC units, bath and kitchen fans and no penetrations through the historic brick envelope.) The process utilized ALL historic walls and left the main hall unchanged.  The second floor utilized units with mezzanine level bedrooms to squeeze in all of the possible living area in while respecting the beautiful two-story window units.  A special […]
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