Building Design > Project Case Study

Redesign of Historic Water Treatment Plant

Wright-Pierce was retained to design an upgrade to Somersworth's Water Treatment Plant. The original historic structure was built in 1895 with two later additions. In the 1970's a one-story addition was added to the rear of the original building, and in the early 1990's an administration and operations addition was adjacent to the 1970's addition. Much of the operation moved to the 1990 addition upon its completion, leaving the rest of the building underutilized. The restricted site did not allow expansion beyond the existing footprint.

To increase water flow to meet current and future demands on this tight site, the 1970’s addition was designed to incorporate a package filtration unit. To accommodate the height of this unit, the existing structure needed to be raised 12 feet. The challenge was accomplishing this while not negatively impacting the classical historic structure. The solution was to pull back a few feet from the historic structure before increasing the height of the 1970's addition and to integrate the new addition by retaining the simple style and building materials of the original 1970's addition. This design retained the integrity of the original historic structure allowing it to remain the focal point of the facility as it was originally intended. 

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