Plainville’s 2 East Bacon isn’t your typical construction project – even by our standards. Situated on the corner of this sleepy Massachusetts’ town’s South and East Bacon streets, this development is an exercise in community building and sustainability.
The project is being developed on the grounds of Plainville’s old Falk’s Market building, which had fallen into disrepair and needed to be demolished. 2 East Bacon was planned from the start to foster a sense of pride in the community and to revitalize an unsightly corner lot. Stressed as a cornerstone value of this development, the use of sustainable and green building materials and construction techniques is evident throughout the fast-rising structure, and reflects upon the town’s shared conviction to do right by posterity.
The use of reclaimed wooden building materials in this project has been tremendous. 2 East Bacon’s steel frame is supplemented with reclaimed Heart Pine beams Longleaf salvaged from the nearby Providence, Rhode Island Atlas Terminal warehouse building. In a fashion atypical of modern constructions (but once commonly used in mill and factory building), the mixed steel and Heart Pine frame supports thick, heavy reclaimed Heart Pine decking boards, many of which were recovered from the very same Providence warehouse. This decking then will underlay reclaimed maple factory flooring, which Longleaf Lumber sourced from a number of nearby sites, including an 1899 Dorchester, MA nail factory, a Providence-area textile mill, and the ever-historic Amoskeag mills. The flooring has all been re-milled with fresh tongues, grooves, rebates, and a skip-planed surface.
This throwback style of building is intriguing, exciting, and all-around respectable. It’s a nod to the celebrated constructions of factories and warehouses of New England past, and an environmental commitment to the health of Plainville’s future generations. Needless to say, we’d love to see this all-out enthusiasm for reclaimed building materials catch on!
This project has been designed by Boston’s Bergmeyer Associates, Inc., and is being developed by author Jeff Kinney.
Photographs of this very special building process:
Heart Pine beams, before salvage, in a Providence, Rhode Island warehouse.
Heart Pine beams and decking, before salvage, in a Providence, Rhode Island warehouse.
Reclaimed Heart Pine beams installed this winter.
Reclaimed Heart Pine beams and decking installed at 2 East Bacon. Note the special protective covering preserving the original faces of the beams.
Reclaimed Heart Pine beams and decking installed at 2 East Bacon. Note the special protective covering preserving the original faces of the beams.
Reclaimed Heart Pine beams and decking installed at 2 East Bacon. Note the special protective covering preserving the original faces of the beams.
The unfinished interior of 2 East Bacon, with reclaimed Heart Pine beams and decking above.
Installing reclaimed Factory Maple flooring at 2 East Bacon.