Design
Modernizing Historic Buildings
There are a lot of interesting, historic buildings in Boston, and increasingly less space available for new development. As a result, developments like Congress Square are enhancing the best parts of historic buildings, and thoughtfully adding to them to create needed additional space, combining the best of both worlds. An added benefit of building up, opposed to demolishing, is that…
Studying Swiss Graphic Design
[Ben Keel is a graphic design student at the University of Cincinnati (UC). Last summer, he won a poster design contest through Northeastern University and Swissnex while interning at Arrowstreet, and was sent to visit four design schools in Switzerland as part of his prize. He has just returned to Arrowstreet for his second co-op internship.] This fall I was…
450 Kendall’s “Nerve Center”
As part of the design for 450 Kendall Street, Arrowstreet planned for an installation of public art to activate the plaza. Our client, BioMed Realty commissioned New England sculptor Chris Williams to create “Nerve Center,” an illuminated 25-foot-tall metal and glass representation of innovation in Kendall Square. According to Williams, the inspiration for the design came from “Kendall Square’s prominence…
Designing Sophisticated Coastal Interiors
Arrowstreet’s interiors group is working with our architectural team to design a variety of spaces in a new, 230-unit residential development on the beach in Revere, MA. The concept developed for the exterior was successfully carried into the interior spaces, expressing a sense of sophisticated coastal living. The approach to the interior design was centered on creating an inviting, warm…
Update from CitySquare
At Arrowstreet, many of our complex projects develop over a long period of time. Our work on CitySquare in Worcester, which is taking shape now with the development of a public garage, housing and hotel, began in 2004. As the master planner and architect for the 20-acre revitalization project, our involvement has continued through the latest phases with the design…
City Hall: Naughty or Nice
Arrowstreet’s entry for the Community Design Resource Center’s (CDRC) 4th annual Gingerbread House Design Competition required a lot of engineering consulting, and resulted in a few burnt fingers. We ambitiously chose to create a winter scene at City Hall Plaza. To respond to the theme of “Imagine Boston,” we envisioned an activated plaza with a row of shops, almond people,…
New Photos of Fenway High
We just commissioned professional photography of Fenway High, which kicked off the new school year in new location, in a building renovated by Arrowstreet. The design team, City of Boston, and school members formed a strong working relationship, which is reflected in the success of the project. One of our main priorities in the renovation was to retain the character…
450 Kendall Achieves LEED Gold
450 Kendall Street has achieved LEED Gold, making all six of the buildings in BioMed Realty’s Kendall Square LEED certified. Kendall Square was a pioneer: this development received a special permit as a Planned Unit Developent (PUD) in 1999, before LEED certification was a requirement of special permits. There is only one parcel remaining to be developed, and that lot…
Lost and Found Blueprints
Many times when we are doing renovation projects, we are left to our own resources to figure out how the building was designed and built. We were recently across the street from our studio, walking through the basement of one of the buildings at the old Fidelity block, (which will become the new Congress Square project), when we came across some drawings of the buildings…
Building Minority Report
Last Friday evening one of our new team members, Stephen Zuber, spoke at an Arrowstreet Design Forum about some work he had done with interactive multimedia environments. Right out of the Tom Cruise film “Minority Report,” Stephen’s prior project for a university in Texas involved creating a large display wall which was visible to any viewer in the space, was able…