Architecture
Interior Design
- Type
Stone Mill Lofts
Lawrence, MA
Stone Mill Lofts is comprised of 86 mixed-income rental apartments for residents of Lawrence, MA. This innovative adaptive reuse project has transformed a nearly 200-year-old mill building into one of the region’s most energy-efficient all-electric apartment communities, meeting ambitious energy code requirements and strict historic preservation guidelines while setting a new precedent for historic conversions. The 149,220-square-foot building was first constructed in the 1840s, helping to power the Industrial Revolution as a manufacturing hub supplying parts to other mills and factories across New England. Yet like many historic industrial complexes, it sat empty for years by the time its transformation began in 2021.
The ochre-colored fieldstone façade was carefully cleaned and repaired, breathing new life into the building’s exterior. More than 400 windows were restored, and the original roofing slate was replaced with locally sourced tiles, ensuring the new materials matched the building’s historical context. Inside, original wood beam ceilings, shiplap, and historic wood trim were left exposed to maintain the building’s industrial aesthetic. The design team integrated touches of the exterior fieldstone into the interior common areas, complemented by polished slate flooring and elevated ceilings. The resident experience is fully up-to-date, with shared lounge and work-from-home spaces, a children’s playroom, indoor bicycle parking, secure package room, and landscaped outdoor areas.
These elements exist within an airtight, ultra-efficient new building envelope whose performance is competitive with a modern Passive House development. In a rare occurrence for a historic mill conversion of this size, Stone Mill Lofts is completely fossil fuel-free and uses highly efficient heat pumps to provide heating, cooling, and hot water. The building’s role reversal in energy usage is expected to use 46 percent less energy and emit 33 percent fewer greenhouse gases than a typical gas-fired multifamily structure, allowing the building to become a 21st-century housing model for the future.
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