Rachel Ryan, Newsplex.com (10 April 2012)

The Crossings at Fourth and Preston held it’s grand opening ceremony Tuesday morning. For many residents getting keys, it’s a dream come true.

“This is the first time in my life I’ve had a place of my own,” said an ecstatic David Taylor. “Being homeless, I’ve slept here and slept there and stayed with different people at different times.”

Now Taylor will have his own studio apartment, complete with a twin bed, a dresser, a bathroom and even a small kitchenette. For man residents, it also offers a new beginning.

Organizers with Virginia Supportive Housing say The Crossings is a solution to the lack of affordable housing options in the area.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Hawes Spencer, The Hook (3 May 2011)

The Crossings, an apartment complex designed to prevent the phenomenon of “Million Dollar Murray,” has begun its rise at the corner of Preston Avenue and Fourth Street…

Charlottesville’s City Council took note and in 2009 approved a controversial zoning law change to enable the so-called Crossings at Fourth and Preston to be developed on the site of a former mini-mall, later owned by the Region Ten Community Services Board.

The single room occupancy, or SRO, complex will consist of 60 studio apartments with half of them reserved for the homeless.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Chiara Canzi, C-ville Weekly. (02 May 2011)

The Crossings will cost $7 million, with roughly $1.07 million already appropriated from the Charlottesville Housing Fund. The project has also received private donations and a $75,000 grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation.

“Some people say this is a lot of money to be spending on one project,” said Norris. But, he added, the UVA Hospital invests about $11,000 for each chronic homeless individual it treats.

“It costs a lot of money to keep people homeless,” he said. “But it’s not just about dollars and cents, it’s not just about bricks and mortar, it’s about transforming lives and it’s about giving people a warm and a safe place.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Terry Karnes, Charlottesville House & Home (08 October 2008)

Taking something and breathing new life into it is something of habit for people in our region. With restored famous historic buildings surrounding us, it’s not surprising that Charlottesville Architect Bruce Wardell fell in love with a historic church and decided to turn it into his home in the mid-1980s.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Dan Gould, CvillePodcast.com (June 2008)

Virginia Supportive Housing, a Richmond-based statewide nonprofit housing provider, recently agreed to work with the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless (TJACH) and the Charlottesville community to develop and manage an SRO facility in Charlottesville. The May 27 presentation gave members of the public, community agencies, local officials, potential funders and area media a chance to learn more about the SRO concept and to hear about Virginia Supportive Housing’s plans and timeline for opening an SRO in Charlottesville.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

Stephanie Garcia, The Hook (2008)

Last Monday, Arch’s Frozen Yogurt opened its third location to the delight of both frozen yogurt fans and architecture enthusiasts. The two-story building on Emmet Street, with two outdoor eating balconies, ivy-covered walls (eventually), lots of glass, and a host of energy-efficient features is unlike anything else you’re likely to see on that stretch of Emmet.

Designed by BRW Architects, known for renovations of Congregation Beth Israel, the Downtown Rec Center, and the Mall side of the Market Street parking garage, the building is a model of sustainable construction (it actually won an award from the City) and modern design, complete with energy efficient SIPS roof and wall panels that were cut to order. The two outdoor decks are on a glassy light-filled second floor, along with a couple of comfy chairs and a small battalion of toddler tables and chairs.

“What I really like about the building is that there are so many unique spots to sit,” says co-owner Sandy Archer, “…its got a lot of really unique nooks.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Dave McNair, The Hook (13 December 2007)

In 2005, Arch’s owners bought the old Donut Connection at 1232 Emmet Street. Since then, they’ve been working with the folks at BRW Architects– known for renovations of Congregation Beth Israel, the Downtown Rec Center, and the Mall side of the Water Street parking garage– to develop a modern two-story building with two outdoor eating balconies, ivy-covered walls, and a host of energy-efficient features.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Season 4, episode 10
(Original air date 3/25/07)

Compare what kind of house you can get for $700,000 in six markets across the country. First, in Phoenix, a couple falls in love with each other and with a midcentury modern ranch. Next, a young family experiences a religious awakening of sorts at their property in rural Charlottesville, Va., and then an empty nest couple has a spooky secret to tell about their 1850s farmhouse in Stowe, Vermont. Last up is a quick a look at homes in Rhode Island, Minnesota and North Carolina.

LEARN MORE HERE

BRW Architects’ principal and founder, Bruce Wardell, spent the first four years of his career in the Kingdom of Tonga, in the southwest Pacific learning early the riches embedded in people’s stories. Today, Wardell describes his architectural firm’s work in much the same way. “We understand that each place in a client’s home carries a set of memories that may come from a trip, a past experience, a grandmother’s house, or a quality tied to a specific emotional or psychological story,” Wardell says. “When we design a house, we are designing something that evokes a series of memories, feelings and emotions of what it means to live at home. That can include the way you cook, how you entertain, or how what setting you enjoy when you read the newspaper on Sundays.”

Though BRW has completed work throughout the country, including Knoxville, TN, Mountain Iron, MN, and in New England, it concentrates its portfolio within a three-to-four-hour’s drive radius of its home base of Charlottesville, VA.

The Country Residence project exemplifies BRW’s expertise. The project added and renovated 2500 sf square feet to a 3,000-square-foot country home and included renovations to the existing house, which sits on 11 acres with breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. Their client was a couple where the husband is a former NFL football player and the wife is an equestrian — wanted more family space to accommodate their four children, their oldest child (9) and a set of triplets. They needed more family livable space and wanted to leverage the sites magnificent views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

BRW designed the living room to open onto a blue stone terrace with a screened dining room, providing an open vista onto the backyard, swimming pool and the mountains beyond. The firm also crafted an in-home office, play and exercise room, car barn, auto courtyard, and a living room large enough for the family to enjoy together. The existing house provided a vernacular ‘white clapboard’ farm house precedent for the new additions. Working with Kelly Trout, Mr Wardell created a series of pavilions and connections allowing the additions to create the appearance of having developed over an extended period of time. The new 3 car garage was envisioned as a barn and finished with gray stained board and batten siding distinguishing itself from the main ‘farmhouse’. This allowed the creation of an auto court between the house and the barn connected by a covered walkway open to the views of the Blue Ridge.

The living area was conceived as a pavilion placed toward the west, affording it panoramic views of the farm landscape and mountains beyond. In creating the interior design of the house the architects needed to keep in mind that the scale of the spaces needed to be comfortable for the couple, This was accomplished by creating a generously scaled space in the new living room, opening the room to the gallery beyond, and placing generously scaled windows where they allowed the space to visually expand to the landscape.

“I enjoy getting to know our clients and understanding how and why they want their homes to feel a particular way,” he says. “It’s the building of that relationship that helps us design houses tailored to the specific needs and concerns of each client.”