From Demise, New Life for L.L. Bean

by Heather Livingston
Contributing Editor

How do you . . . design a new retail store with materials from an old store?

Summary: As the mythical phoenix rises from its ashes, so too L.L. Bean’s new Hunting and Fishing store was birthed largely from the remains of its aged predecessor.

BOOKSTORE

Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century, ed. David Gissen (Princeton Architectural Press, 2003).

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Find out what’s happening with the Committee on the Environment (COTE).

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Learn more about L.L. Bean’s commitment to the environment and supporting sustainable buildings.

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Brian Paul Dougherty, FAIA; Harrison S. Fraker, FAIA; Michael J. Crosbie, AIA, moderator

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Outdoor retailer L.L. Bean is based in Freeport, Maine, an unassuming town of about 2,000 that annually hosts 3 million visitors to the L.L. Bean flagship campus, open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. The newest building on the 200,000-square-foot campus is the Hunting and Fishing store, designed by Sean Selby, AIA, an associate with Arrowstreet in Somerville, Mass. Recently LEED® Silver certified, the store is the first LEED certified retail project in the state and one of nine LEED registered projects for the company.

Selby notes that L.L. Bean’s directive to erect a LEED-certified store was decided early in the project. “L.L.Bean has a strong commitment to protecting and preserving outdoor spaces,” says Senior Vice President and General Manager of Retail Ken Kacere. “Because of this commitment, it is important for the company to create a sustainable retail environment for our customers.”

New out of old
In addition to the LEED requirements, the retailer also wanted the entire project completed in only nine months, in time for hunting season. To accomplish the accelerated schedule, the design team put the contractor in place quickly and sought convenient and local sources to supply materials. One such local source was L.L. Bean itself, which was tearing down an outdated outlet store.

“If you look up in the store, you see a lot of wood on the ceiling. If you walk into the front door, you walk along the porch. All of that wood is from the old outlet store. We were able to reuse wood and claim it for LEED points, which is always a good thing,” explains Selby. In addition to repurposing structural timbers, bead board, and floor board, the company also recycled materials from the outlet store for product fixtures. “If you look around in the hunting and fishing store, all of the store fixtures are pieces of wood and chunks of steel from other stores and they recycled or remilled and turned them into something new. They’re starting to do that more and more.”

Local products, local care
L.L. Bean also felt that it was important to use local materials to the greatest extent possible. One instance where the design team was particularly successful in that was in the selection of the stone for the hearth. “The hearthstone for the fireplace came from a guy’s backyard in Freeport,” recalls Selby. “This is typical Maine. As his hobby, [this] guy’s got a chunk of granite in his backyard that he cuts and chisels away and makes hearthstones for people. You go into his backyard and he’s got all these chisels knocked into the stone and he asks, ‘which one do you want?’ It was like two miles away. Quite honestly, that kind of stuff made the project a lot of fun, and the people at L.L. Bean are just great to work with. They’re a lot of down-to-earth, fun people, so that’s always good to have on a project, especially when you have nine months to do something.”

Some of the other sustainable strategies included using structural steel fabricated from recycled material, interior walkways finished with recycled rubber or carpet, 100 percent stormwater management, low-flow sinks and toilets, and energy-efficient windows that provide daylighting and natural airflow via CO2 sensors. Selby points out that the building’s operable windows are unique to retail spaces, because most retailers won’t allow operable windows for security reasons. A well daylighted store also is a rarity, because retailers typically are quick to cover large window spaces with graphics or product.

The way they do things
Says Selby of his experience working on the project: “L.L. Bean’s customers are very loyal, and there’s an aura to the company. Their customers tell these stories about how they went to the store in the ‘60s and ‘70s—and they make return trips every year. Since we were able to take the stuff out of the outlet store and use it to build the hunting and fishing store, many people told us that the store fits in with the fabric of the rest of the L.L. Bean campus, and the look and feel of their stores includes the creaky old wood that is part of their heritage. Heritage is a big part of their brand, and to take this stuff out of one store and put it in the other just fit in with the way they do things.”