Peterson Architects

Profile of Peterson Architects

Business Name

Peterson Architects

Location

United States

Services

Architecture

Website

http://www.peterson-architects.com

Principal(s)

Jeffrey D. Peterson (1962)

Philosophy

At Peterson Architects, the range of our design work extends from campus planning to the design of academic buildings to the detailing of furnishings and built-ins. At varying scales, these elements comprise much of our built environment.

Each of our designs develops under its own unique circumstances. Many of a project's parameters can only be determined in collaboration with the client. Thus, generalizing our approach to the design process is difficult. Nonetheless, several themes underlie much of our work:

• The specifics of place always inform our designs. The location of a building or object will suggest ideas about its size and shape, its materials, and its relationship to the environment.
• We carefully detail our buildings to imbue them with a sense of quality and workmanship.
• We seek to design buildings that are "honest" in their structural expression and to highlight the structure to the degree that it contributes to the spirit of the building.
• We seek to incorporate light and lighting within our buildings to accentuate the qualities of the spaces.
• We aim to design buildings that are environmentally responsible.
• We highlight the sensuality of materials through their careful selection, detailing, and their relationship to other materials.
• We aspire to make architecture that is timeless, not stylish. We strive to create designs founded in simplicity and clarity.

Much of our work occurs on school and university campuses. We believe that campus buildings should support and help define the vision of a campus plan that reflects the spirit of the institution; they should create appropriate exterior places at the same time as they meet their functional goals. We believe that institutional buildings should exist within an understandable hierarchy.

However, we also believe that a specific stylistic approach is not always necessary to achieve this end. Depending on the program and context of the building, we strive for a "humanistic" design that will accentuate the particular qualities of a place by creating buildings that feature simplicity in detailing and a focus on space, light, structure, and material. While we aspire to create compelling and dynamic spaces, we do so by combining clarity with quiet and thoughtful innovation; we strive for the delicate balance of order and invention.

Background

• Founded: 2001
• Offices: 1
• Design team: 3

Key projects

• Shoemaker Boathouse, Tufts University, Medford MA USA 2006
• Crumpacker Boathouse, St. Paul's School, Concord NH USA 2007
• Walton Boathouse and Riverside Activity Center, Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL USA 2004
• Admissions Building, Shady Hill School, Cambridge MA USA 2008
• Rowing tank, in Porter Boathouse, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI USA 2005
• Rowing Tank, in New Boathouse for University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland 2006
• Floodproofing and repair to C. Bernard Shea Rowing Center, Princeton University, Princeton NJ USA 2007

Key publications

• Boathouses: Architecture at the Water's Edge, E. Ashley Rooney, with foreword by Jeffrey D. Peterson, 2009
• To Build a Boathouse, Jeff Peterson, Rowing News, June 2008
• Athletic Business Magazine, William A. Shoemaker Boathouse, Tufts University, June 2007
• ArchitectureBoston, Walton Boathouse and Riverside Activity Center, Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, January/February 2007
• "New Buildings for an Increasingly Popular Sport" by Goldie Blumenstyk, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Focusing on Tufts University Boathouse, Medford, MA, April 28, 2006
• "Exercising Timber Construction: Glulams and Scholastic Rowing Centers" by Jeff Peterson, The Construction Specifier, Walton Boathouse and Riverside Activity Center, Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, November 2004
• American School and University, Walton Boathouse and Riverside Activity Center, Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, August 2004
• Athletic Business Magazine, Walton Boathouse and Riverside Activity Center, Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, June 2004

Key awards

• Small Firms Design Honor Award, Boston Society of Architects, Walton Boathouse and Riverside Activity Center, Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, 2006
• Silver Citation, American School and University Magazine, Walton Boathouse and Riverside Activity Center, Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, 2004