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Date: 1/25/2022
AMHERST – The Planning Board recently approved a plan for a new lyceum for the History and Humanistic Inquiry departments on the property on the Amherst College campus.
Teams from Amherst College and Berkshire Design Group joined the board for a public hearing during its Jan. 19 meeting to present their site plan for a new academic building on campus for the History Department as well as the Center for Humanistic Inquiries. The proposed lyceum would be built in addition to an already existing building on South Pleasant Street. The proposal also requests access to create parking improvements on Northampton Street and enlarge the space from a 17-space lot to a 28-space lot including two handicap spaces.
Amherst College Director of Design and Construction Tom Davies said this new building, to be known as the Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Lyceum, would create a different academic feel and extend the academic buildings that extend along South Pleasant Street going south.
Principal Senior Engineer of Berkshire Design Group Chris Chamberland broke down some of the key pieces of the project. Chamberland explained the new building will incorporate a remodel of a former existing single family home to create the new lyceum.
In the proposals there was also request for a woodland path connecting the building from the Newport House parking lot on Northampton Street. This path connects the lot, which is the closest lot to the building, and trails behind the President’s house on South Pleasant Street.
Lauren Stimson, a principal of Stimson, a landscape architecture group, spoke on landscaping plans for the potential new building. She described plans for a garden on the west side of the building, new tree sites proposed, and the overall layout of the property.
When reviewing her site visit with fellow members Andrew MacDougall and Johanna Neuman, Planning Board member Janet McGowan said their visit matched the proposals, but that it was very icy by the front crosswalk and due to the sloping, designers should possibly consider another option for pedestrian safety.
Davies, later in the meeting, did note that they have already been in conversation with a traffic engineer for traffic calming measures in this area in hopes to slow traffic down and that it ties into the goal of making a safer, more pedestrian friendly campus connection.
In questions and comments from the board to the designers, Planning Board Clerk Maria Chao called the rendering “beautiful” and felt the parking issue would be mitigated as many frequenters of Amherst College are used to finding a space where they can and walking to where they need to go.
MacDougall said while he thinks the architecture of the building looks “stunning” he was curious if developers put into consideration how the building’s modern look would differentiate with surrounding buildings.
Jason Forney, principal with Bruner/Cott Architects, also working in design development of the lyceum, broke down the thought process behind going with the building style presented.
“The new building is in the eye of the old one. It allows the old building to shine and be itself, and the new building to be itself,” Forney said. “We worked hard to really think about how each side of this compensation is speaking with each other. The hyphen in the middle allows them to not be too close, and have a relaxed meeting there in the middle.”
“I’m happy with it and I enjoy it,” MacDougall said.
Board member Thom Long added that the aesthetic was “right on” with what Amherst as a community has been doing the past few years in keeping architecture in contemporary fashion but also bring in new buildings.
McGowan asked if finding parking any closer to the building would be possible, as she felt the distance was far especially for someone with mobility issues who parks in the handicap accessible spot.
Davies said while they are legally covered in providing enough ADA parking spaces and tried to find a way to get some closer, parking not being provided near specific buildings was just a fact of college life.
“This is a building on a college campus but we are talking about this building in isolation. It [parking on campus] is a system with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of parking spaces distributed around. There are a number of lots larger than the one at Newport that are scattered up around and north of this building,” Davies said.
Davies added that when it comes to accessibility, his team goes out of their way to provide them where they are needed, but with the reality of those spaces being empty more often than not, it was not feasible in bringing a space closer when they are already meeting state law on the matter.
“I did teach there for about 10 years, you kind of walk wherever,” Long added.
Davies also mentioned that the building had an expected occupancy of over 100 people at its peak and that there is an on-call campus transportation system with an accessible van that supports anyone with mobility issues.
Following a confirmation of the Planning Board’s draft findings and conditions, the board closed the hearings, accepted their findings, and approved the site plan review application.