Events
Greenbuild 2015
Greenbuild 2015 in Washington DC was as busy as ever this year. From a conversation with James Cameron to educational sessions to checking out new products on the expo floor and school building tours, I was able to make great connections with all that is happening in the world of green building. As the COP21 climate talks begin today in…
ABX 2015: Infill Density: Case of Alewife Cambridge
Last week, Arrowstreet’s Jim Batchelor and Claes Andreasen were part of the ABX 2015 panel Infill Density: Case of Alewife Cambridge. The development around Alewife has taken care to prepare for future climate change while protecting nearby wetlands and greenspace. Arrowstreet has been involved in several projects in this neighborhood, which is one of the fastest evolving multi-family locations in…
Successful Public Spaces Are All About Edges
In the past few days I have attended three presentations about designing successful public spaces, two at ABX and one sponsored by Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance. I learned a new word, thigmotactic. A strict definition is something like contact-loving, but in the context of placemaking it is generally used to mean edge-seeking. When selecting a place to stop and rest,…
Arrowstreet Bake-Off!
We held Arrowstreet’s first bake-off this week, and the results were delicious! We are a competitive group, and there were thirteen entries in the “no-rules” contest, from truffles, madeleines, and macarons, to ice cream, cakes, and tarts. The whole office was eager to try everything and we gathered in the kitchen after lunch for the tasting. The line stretched down the…
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…
Adaptive Migration in Urban Planning
Last week, I attended the 3rd annual ACCO Rising Seas Summit, which brought more than 300 professionals together to highlight the interrelationships between sea level rise, climate change, and extreme events. One topic discussed that is particularly interesting was adaptive migration, which looks at the affects an influx of new residents would have on an outside community if they were…
Jordan Zimmermann presenting at ABX 2015
How resilient is East Boston? The Urban Land Institute (ULI) in conjunction with Neighborhood of Affordable Housing with the financial support of the Kresge Foundation, have conducted a Technical Assistance Program (TAP) to study the impacts that climate change has on transportation, utilities, and planning. Find out what they learned from Arrowstreet’s Jordan Zimmermann, along with Michelle Landers, Phil Giffee,…
Edward Mazria at the BSA
Monday night, I attended a talk by Edward Mazria hosted by the Boston Society of Architects. Mazria is the founder of Architecture 2030, an organization which has created a path to reduce carbon emissions so that we do not reach the point of no return on climate change. Architecture 2030 promotes solutions to climate change through the design of the…
10 PO Square Community Service Social
Carr Workspaces hosted a Community Service Social for the tenants of 10 Post Office Square. This event was dedicated to supporting local nonprofits and the Arrowstreet team enjoyed socializing with some of our neighbors as we gave back to the community. Team members took part in activities such as making blankets for the homeless while enjoying light refreshments. The event…
Countdown to ICSC RetailGreen
Boston saw its first snowflakes last week, and somehow ICSC RetailGreen is only a month away. RetailGreen is the largest gathering of sustainability-minded retail real estate professionals in North America and runs concurrently with ICSC Centerbuild. The two conferences bring together nearly 2000 people in one hotel in Phoenix to wrap up the year in retail development. I’m proud to…