The Bridges House in Concord, New Hampshire, is officially considered the residence of the Governor of New Hampshire. The house, on land long occupied by Revolutionary Veteran Joshua Thompson, was built by Charles Graham about 1835. Designed in a sophisticated, substantial, yet deliberately simple architectural style known as the Greek Revival, the home was gifted to the state by the former Governor and Senator Styles Bridges for use by the state’s governors and their families.
Very few governors have ever used the house as their residence while in office. Although the state maintained the property well, it was under-used and unappreciated. In 2005, then First Lady Susan Lynch initiated a campaign to revitalize the residence and expand the use of the property. She saw the home as a state treasure that should be made accessible to all residents of New Hampshire. TMS Architects is proud to have been a partner in this effort from the very beginning.

Steps from the water, this 1840s gambrel located in a New England seafaring community, was a perfect location for a newly-engaged, water loving couple! The home had been remodeled 15 years ago, deleting some of its original character, and the owners wished to bring back more of the home’s original style.

TMS worked with the owners on a redesign of the historic home, keeping some elements and reworking others. A large fireplace divided the kitchen and as the architect explained “There are five fireplaces in the house but this one just dominated the room and chopped up the space. Removing it allowed us to expand the kitchen with a better layout and more room for entertaining.”

The home now has a large kitchen that flows into the dining and living room areas. The home has two first floor living rooms separated by a Rumford fireplace. The second living room connects to a glassed-in porch that has been insulated, heated and equipped with new operable windows and serves as a year-round retreat.

Nautical motifs and an ocean color palette reinforce the home’s seaside location. The master bedroom is located at the top of the house and is built like a ship’s cabin with original tongue-and-groove paneling on the walls, built-ins and banks of windows that take full advantage of the spectacular site. As the homeowner said “It is literally like being on a ship in the ocean.”

Bottomline Technologies is a world leader in automating and managing processes involving payments, invoicing, global cash management, supply chain finance and transactional documents. To meet the growing demand for their services and products, Bottomline chose to expand their office space with a 4,500 S.F. renovation within the building already housing their headquarters located at the Pease Tradeport in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Bottomline Technologies promotes a sustainable message through a paperless automation software and teleconferencing capabilities. They also wanted to be green-minded with their most recent renovation. Known as the “1st Floor Expansion Project”, the newly outfitted office space was built using sustainable construction methods with sustainable building materials and equipped throughout with innovative energy saving devices. 90% of the demolition material was either recycled or donated. New finishes had to meet three major design factors before being concerned: have a high post or pre-recycled product content, a low-life cycle cost, and enhance the think-tank mindset. The lighting and mechanical systems utilize light harvesting and CO2 sensors to automatically adjust light and air levels based on occupancy use throughout the day, while furniture systems offered flexible workspaces designed for efficiency, collaboration and constructive down-time think sessions.

Transparency is a key factor in the overall design. Office space is broken into several key shared work zones, all visible from the staff offices and the conference room. The open office space houses 54 workstations, several staff offices, a hotel space for visiting clients or consultants, 3 team rooms, a teleconference capable conference room and a well equipped cafe, which encourages team building and spurs creative ideas even away from the desk or office. Most of the rooms feature glass partitions and sliding glass doors, with aluminum frames are combined with the “Bottomline Blue” featured on key walls and light fixtures to subtlety represent the company message of an efficient, creative, team building, and high-tech minded business.