McLennan Design Offices

Bainbridge Island, WA

Turning a century old abandoned 1906 era naval stables shed into the regenerative design studio of McLennan Design.

Once a coal storage barn and horse stable from 1911, now a net-positive, regenerative design studio—The Stables at Fort Ward is a bold reinterpretation of historic architecture for a new era. Located in Kitsap County’s Fort Ward Historic District on Bainbridge Island, the first phase of this multi-year transformation converts a nationally registered military structure into the new workplace for McLennan Design and Perkins&Will’s Bainbridge studio. Designed to meet the rigorous standards of the Living Building Challenge, the adaptive reuse project preserves the building’s original timber frame and historic character while introducing state-of-the-art systems for energy, water, and health. With biophilic interiors, an all-electric infrastructure, and the lowest embodied carbon of any Perkins&Will office globally, The Stables proves that preservation and innovation are not opposites—but powerful partners in shaping a future that’s resilient, inclusive, and deeply rooted in place.

McLennan design

Lead Architect

Living Building Challenge 4.0 Registered

Bainbridge Island, WA

2,406

2023

Pacific Northwest

Office, Historic Renovation, Adaptive Reuse

  • Jason F. McLennan
  • Galen Carlson
  • Joshua Fisher
BI_Studio_diagram copy

Diamond in the rough

Though the linear, roughly 20-foot-wide building was listed on the local historic registry, it was largely written off as a teardown. Its time serving as a stable and coal storage facility showed: The bottom two feet of the structure had rotted away under layers of dirt, coal ash, and other waste such that only six cast-iron stanchions kept it standing. But from two feet up, the beauty of the original wood framing and roof trusses was apparent through the dust and debris.

We cleared out its dirt floor, poured a new concrete slab with in-floor radiant heating, connected it to the existing perimeter foundation, and sistered new wood to the existing structural members. Carefully preserving all 58 original rafters and wood roofing, we topped the building with a new metal roof with skylights, solar tubes, and an 8kWh solar array. We also chose wood siding to match the historic profiles from 1911. With careful planning and detailing, the stable now has another century of productive life ahead in the story of Bainbridge Island.

Climate Strategies

105% of the building’s power demand will be provided by on-site PV panels, and on-site battery storage will be supplied. This will allow the building to serve as a resiliency hub in case of emergency, with enough backup power to supply crucial building services for several days, and the ability to operate off-grid indefinitely when sunny. An innovative linear rainwater cistern adds additional resilience to the building systems, providing irrigation capacity independent of city utilities. Designed to be an asset for the entire community, the project is capable of serving as a haven during crisis, with generous cooking spaces, showers, and even a small overnight sleeping nook.

The project is Perkins&Will’s first
net-zero studio and includes 100% FSC-certified wood or salvaged wood, on-site stormwater treatment, and pollinator-friendly
plant species.

0%
EUI reduction
0%
annual building energy from rooftop solar array

Salvaged douglas-fir folding doors allow the conference room to open out onto our landscaped patio and garden.

“Everyone told me to tear the building down due to the state it was in, but doing so would have erased history and wasted the resources and energy that went into creating this lovely little structure. Now that it’s done, everyone is glad we worked hard to preserve and rebuild—imagine a building that was once used to store coal and horse equipment—now is powered by the sun and houses a team that designs green buildings all over the globe!”

– Jason F. McLennan