News
Collaborative Environments: Past and Future
My son went to visit Battleship Cove in Fall River with his Boy Scout Troop and we all had a chance to spend the night on the USS Massachusetts. It was quite an adventure and a lot of fun to explore. As a “Navy Brat” myself, it brought back memories visiting the ship where my dad used to serve. He was a lithographer, and as part of his shop, there was a small drafting and design contingent. The group was particularly useful when needing to come up with a quick design for a repair, especially while out to sea on a Destroyer or Submarine Tender. Sketches and plans would then be conveyed to a foundry floating in the middle of the ocean…
TedxSomerville: Movement
Recently in Somerville, TED’s “Ideas Worth Spreading,” were in full motion, with a local twist! Located at the Arrowstreet-designed Brooklyn Boulders rock climbing gym, TEDxSomerville’s Movement-themed event was a 6-hour long series of talks and performances by local community members. Aptly located, the event centered around the theme of “motion” – from physical to mental and individual to communal.
Living with Water: The Urban Implications
As co-chair of ULI Boston’s Building Resilience Task Force, I am joining other ULI members in a design charrette titled Living with Water: The Urban Implications, on May 8th…
Snapshot Inside Our Studio
Since moving into our studio in Post Office Square in February, we have been settling into our new space. The office design better accommodates the working style of our studio, with open site lines and work areas, and plenty of communal work spaces to accommodate collaboration and full plan sets. Our conference rooms especially have been teaming with activity, as the views have been helpful to some of our clients as they meet with business partners to discuss their projects. If you haven’t been by, we hope to see you soon.
Affordable Housing Development Competition
My students celebrated the end of their semester last night at the awards ceremony for the FHLB Affordable Housing Development Competition. Over the past six weeks they have been working with Donald Alexis from the Caribbean Integration Community Development (CICD) along with architecture and policy students from Harvard’s Kennedy School and Northeastern to design an affordable housing proposal in Mattapan…
Hampton Business District Breaks Ground
Yesterday we broke ground on the Hampton Business District at Gabreski , a new business and technology center on Long Island. With almost a half million square feet of office, warehouse, and showroom space, as well as a hotel, the project will offer a home for the growing number of businesses looking to set up shop in the Hamptons.
BSA Business Model Charrette
The Building Systems Committee at the BSA recently held a charrette on the business of architecture. The charrette was part of a larger symposium titled The Changing Ecosystem for Design Services, which included presentations by American Institute of Architects’ economist Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA and Phil Bernstein, FAIA. Both presenters discussed current trends and new modes of collaboration that are crossing the traditional boundaries of practice…
Go Red Sox!
If we have to work during Opening Day at Fenway, at least we have ice cream.
Governor Forum on Energy, the Environment and the Innovation Economy
On March 23rd, I attended the Governor Forum on Energy, the Environment and the Innovation Economy at Faneuil Hall. The forum set the stage for Massachusetts Gubernatorial candidates to provide their position on sustainability topics affecting the Commonwealth as well as discusses opportunities to elevate sustainability goals…
Healthy Places – the Getty (Part 1)
Pat Cornelison and I went to Los Angeles to attend ULI’s Healthy Places conference, a very interesting conference on an important topic. I will post about that experience in a separate blog post, but first, I’d like to comment on something else…