News
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,…
Arrowstreet among BostInno’s 50 on Fire
Arrowstreet was named a winner in the design category at BostInno’s 50 on Fire Awards! The recipients are driving the innovation economy in Boston (and beyond), and were grouped into 10 categories. A panel of judges comprised of industry-specific community leaders and influencers chose the 50 winners from a pool of 200 finalists; winners were announced at a celebration with…
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…
Brooklyn Boulders Queensbridge, NY Opens
Brooklyn Boulders (BKB) has opened their fourth location in Queensbridge, New York, joining the other locations in Brooklyn, NY; Chicago, IL; and Somerville, MA. Queensbridge has Brooklyn Boulders traditional climbing and bouldering walls, personal training facilities, and Active Collaborative Workspace, but takes things one step further as the first to be located in a luxury, high-rise apartment building. At BKB…
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…
Great Marsh Resiliency Planning
The North Shore’s Great Marsh Coalition kicked-off its Living Shoreline Project by hosting the first in a six part workshop series at the Salisbury Public Library last Friday. Through an interactive community workshop, the Coalition and several partnering organizations built upon the Great Marsh Symposium which took place earlier in the month. As a guest speaker, I worked with residents…
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…
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…