This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
honor the Victorian home while turning it into a state-of-the-art vet clinic.


Homework The Paradises were working at other veteri-


nary practices in Rhode Island in the early 2000s but always planned to have their own. They searched for established practices to buy and began working on a business plan. With help from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, Mark honed in on the village of Greenville, which has more than 8,600 people. Each day, the Paradises drove past a


charming, blue Victorian home located on a busy Greenville corner. Mark mentioned to Danielle that the house, which already was used by a commercial business, would make a good spot for a practice. In mid-2003 the house became available, and Mark and Danielle leased it with an option to buy. The couple and their staff did some preliminary renovations simply to operate in what then was a 2,300-square-foot home. Two years after leasing the home, the


Paradises were faced with the decision to buy. “I hired an architect to give me a foot- print of what an expansion would look like on the property,” Mark explains. “A lawyer and I took that footprint to the zoning board to get an approval for an expansion that I wasn’t planning on doing for another couple years, but I wasn’t going to buy the building if they weren’t going to let me ex- pand. When I got the OK for the expansion, we purchased the property.”


Mark again did his homework when


searching for an architect who could help him and his wife expand the clinic in a thoughtful way. During their fi rst two years in business, the Paradises banded with the community to thwart a road expansion by the Department of Transportation that would’ve demolished the clinic and three houses behind it. “The obligation to the community after having saved the property from eminent domain put a little twist on things because we couldn’t go changing the house dramatically,” Mark notes. “It also was important for me to keep the philosophy we had already established—high-tech service in a homey environment.” Years before, Mark had visited an animal


hospital whose design he particularly liked and coincidentally his current bookkeeper had once worked there. She shared Ed Lyons’ name as the hospital’s architect. After con- tacting Lyons, the Paradises visited several more of his animal hospital projects and liked what they saw. Mark explains: “One of the strongest points we took away from the owners of the clinics we visited was that Lyons understands veterinary medicine well enough, but he also is very open to listening to what we wanted and helping us build what we wanted to build.” Lyons adds each of the animal hospitals he has designed has been unique. “Every vet has a different approach to things, and I pride myself on being a good listener,” he says. “A driving force of any animal-hospital design is people have to bring their pet to the vet and you don’t want to make it a problem for the clients or pets. Mark took this idea one step further by actually prac- ticing in a home, which I think is very nice.”


Design One of the aspects the Paradises liked most


about their existing practice was that clients and pets entered through a front door and waited for their appointment in a living room that contained comfortable furniture and a fi replace. The surroundings minimized animals’ stress levels, which led to better examinations. Therefore, the Para- dises were adamant about maintaining the homey waiting area. Like any typical house, the Victorian’s


front door faced the street and the drive- way was on the side. The people who fi rst utilized the home for a business constructed the parking lot in the back, which led to a challenge for Lyons. “We went through a number of iterations of entering from the rear where the parking lot is but Mark and Danielle liked the character of the original— entering from the front—so I designed a big, ADA-compliant porch that brings people from the parking lot up and around so they still can enter from the front.” The reception area was updated and


now features a concierge space rather than reception desk to make it feel a bit homier. Separate cat and dog waiting areas maintain the comfort level of the animals.


September October 2012 // RETROFIT 37 AF TER


BEFORE


DURING


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68