BPSI Exterior / Schwartz/Silver Architects
Newton, MA – Kaplan Construction has completed work on a 12,540sf historic building in Newton for the Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute (BPSI). Project team members include Schwartz/Silver Architects of Boston, Design Technique, Inc. of Newburyport, Cosentini Associates of Cambridge, Nitsch Engineering of Boston, and John Born Associates of Cambridge. A long-time Boston institution for 80 years, BPSI relocated from the Back Bay to Newton in early December. Its new educational center will support more than 500 members and 150 volunteer faculty, providing space for seminars, the largest psychoanalytical library and archives in the country, and educational programs for members, students, and the public.
The vaulted chapel was converted into a library / Schwartz/Silver Architects
Working with Schwartz/Silver Architects and owner’s project manager Design Technique, Inc., Kaplan provided interior and exterior renovations to Colby Hall, located at 141 Herrick Road in Newton Centre and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. BPSI is an institute which provides post-graduate training for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other highly trained graduates of mental health programs, interested in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Built in 1866, Colby Hall is a Romanesque Revival, Second Empire stone masonry building with wood framed floors, roof, and stud partitions. Kaplan renovated and reconfigured the building’s three floors to accommodate BPSI’s program spaces, and converted the attached vaulted chapel to a library and multipurpose room to host lectures, dinners, and functions. Off the entrance is a casually furnished community room with an attached kitchenette that is being used as communal gathering space for students, members, and faculty. In addition to construction management, Kaplan provided preconstruction services, including exploratory work, budget review estimates, preparation of deduct alternates, and preliminary schedules.
