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Volunteering at Brooke Mattapan Charter School
Last Tuesday, I participated in a Green Apple Day of Service event with my colleagues, Will Su and Katie Ferrier. The Green Apple Day of Service (GADOS) began in 2012 as a chance for schools, organizations, and communities to participate in a day-long service project aimed at creating healthy, safe, and productive learning environments. GADOS projects occur around the globe on a day in September every year. This year, the Massachusetts chapter of the USGBC helped organize events and raise money to provide grants to projects; Arrowstreet provided grants to support four local GADOS projects. Find out more on the Green Apple website…
The Greybarn Housing Concept
Arrowstreet has been working with Rechler Equity on designing a new housing brand, called Greybarn, to be developed on Long Island. As native Long Islanders, the Rechlers’ long history of developing all sorts of project types on the island stems from their strong passion for local causes. They want to create a series of new communities that are carefully designed for, and in-tune with, the interests of people living on the island…
Congress Square Launches
Related Beal announced today the launch of Congress Square, formerly known as “The Block on Congress.” Related Beal acquired the properties in 2013 and is repositioning and reinventing the entire city block in the heart of downtown Boston, creating dynamic office space and marquee, desirable retail. Related Beal has enlisted Arrowstreet to serve as the architect and to redesign the Congress Square buildings into a dynamic 24-hour mixed-use environment bringing bold vision to an iconic business address…
LEED v4 Part 1
I wanted to follow-up on my post about Greenbuild 2013, with a closer look at the new version of the LEED rating system, LEED v4. This new version is perhaps the most thorough overhaul in the rating system to date. LEED v4 includes new market sectors such as hospitality and data centers, an increase in the number of prerequisites, an increase in the credit criteria for several credits, new impact categories such as climate change and the addition of new credits such as Demand Response.
Photos of Rechler’s Corporate Headquarters
I visited the corporate headquarters Arrowstreet designed for Rechler Equity in Plainview, Long Island with architectural photographer Robert Benson to capture images of the space. As you can see in the photos, we had perfect weather to capture the exterior at both dusk and dawn. The breathtaking office space is located in a former industrial building…
Public Sound Installation
Through the end of this week (Friday), there is a striking public art installation of light, glass and sounds emanating from a storage unit standing at the edge of the sidewalk at 1140 Boylston Street. Created by a Berklee Student, it captures the sounds of abandoned MBTA tunnels. For those of us working in the Financial District, it may be…
Healthy Places – Part 2
Last blog post, I talked about the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the dichotomy between Richard Meier’s building and Robert Irwin’s garden. Rather than choosing the traditional figure-ground relationship between building and landscape, Irwin’s garden poses a very different relationship that has, reportedly, engendered some conflict between Meier and Irwin.
PACE Bill Update
I wanted to give an update on my previous post: Property Assessed Clean Energy. PACE is a way for property owners to fund energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. The PACE bill, now retitled Senate Bill No. 2255, has been voted in favor by the MA state Senate and referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. It is…
Andover Inn Voted Best Hotel by Northshore Magazine
We completed a major renovation of the boutique Andover Inn at Phillips Academy a few years ago; recently, they were awarded best hotel by Northshore Magazine.