Burlington Memorial Block

Utile collaborated with Farrell Properties, Larkin Realty, and All At Once to create a new redevelopment vision for Memorial Block, an urban block in downtown Burlington, VT anchored by the public library, the historic fire station, a congregational church, and the titular Memorial Auditorium, built in 1927 to commemorate WWI Veterans and closed in 2016 due to safety concerns.

Utile created iterative development test-fits that incorporated the historic structures (to varying extents), added new mixed-income residential, hotel, retail, and community spaces, and carefully negotiated the dramatic grade change (30 feet difference from east to west). To accommodate the large parking demand, the designs leveraged programs and facades (both existing and new) to hide a partially above-grade garage, accessed discreetly off side streets.
To communicate this vision to the mayor, city councilors, and the community, Utile created a suite of illustrative renderings to convey the urban design benefits, particularly how the design frames new public open spaces, activates the streets, minimizes the appearance of new density, connects to the broader neighborhood, and perhaps most importantly, preserves the most iconic facades of the historic structures.