海角视频

Boston Seaport District

Boston, USA

Boston鈥檚 Seaport District represents one of the most transformational regeneration projects in the United States in recent years.

Unlocked after a decade of development and $22 billion of public investment, Seaport is now home to an ecosystem of more than 350 companies, from global leaders in technology and biotech, to ground-breaking start-ups.

In the heart of the district, WS Development is transforming 23 acres of land, composed of 7.6 million ft² of residential, hotel, office, retail, entertainment, civic and cultural uses, as well as signature public open spaces. The scheme represents the single largest active development project in Boston鈥檚 history.

海角视频 has been engaged to provide multidisciplinary consultancy across a broad range of services through multiple phases of the regeneration project, from the beginning of the concept design. Our teams have worked particularly closely with architects Gensler and Morris Adjmi on a series of landmark tower blocks 鈥� One Boston Wharf, 111 Harbour Way and 400 and 350 Summer.

Boston鈥檚 Seaport District stretches for 7.6 million ft虏 (23 acres) across 20 blocks.

It includes 10 acres of public open space and 3,200 new homes as well as 2.8 million ft虏 of workspace.

The scheme represents the single largest active development project in Boston鈥檚 history.

The One Boston Wharf Road Tower will reduce the overall building鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions by 90.1% below the state鈥檚 already stringent Stretch Energy Code requirements.

5.1 million pounds of CO2 emissions will be eliminated annually in the running of the Tower.

Challenge

A central part of WS Development鈥檚 Seaport project, One Boston Wharf Road / Seaport District Block L5 Tower is a 707,000ft² mixed-use building that will be home to the city鈥檚 largest net zero carbon office facility.

海角视频 is working closely with the wider design team to achieve this breakthrough in energy optimization. This bold effort speaks directly to the City of Boston鈥檚 pledge to be carbon neutral by 2050.

The 17-story tower is designed by Henning Larsen and Gensler to evoke the Seaport鈥檚 rich maritime history. It will house 630,000ft² of modern office space that will be entirely occupied by Amazon, solidifying the company as a major presence in the burgeoning district.

The building will also feature ground floor retail space and a new performing arts center comprising of two live performance venues of 500 and 100 seats, respectively. The building is situated in front of a 1.5-acre park that opened in 2021 as the epicenter of Harbor Way, a new pedestrian-friendly artery designed by James Corner Field Operations, that will connect the heart of the Seaport to the water鈥檚 edge and provide the district with new public green space.

Upon its completion in 2024, this one-third-of-a mile pedestrian promenade will connect the Seaport development to Boston Harbor. Our audio visual (AV) team has also recently been working on The Singing Trees, a piece of immersive public art that connects Bostonians with the nature around them in Harbor Way. For the L5 Tower, a key challenge for the client was designing the building to meet net zero carbon aspirations. The team was also designing to reach Massachusetts鈥� stringent Stretch Energy Code requirements and the City鈥檚 Article 37 process as well as the Seaport district鈥檚 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (FSEIR) requirements.

Solution

The net zero carbon status for One Boston Wharf Road will be achieved by eliminating fossil fuel-fired heating and hot water systems. In their place, all-electric systems will be powered from newly developed renewable sources. These measures will reduce the overall building鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions by 90.1% below Massachusetts鈥� stringent Stretch Energy Code requirements and eliminate 5.1 million pounds of CO2 emissions annually, aligning with the City鈥檚 Article 37 process as well as the Seaport district鈥檚 FSEIR requirements.

The nearby 111 Harbor Way Tower (which had the working name of L4), also the work of Gensler, is conceived to respect the authentic industrial context of the Seaport neighborhood, with a timeless aesthetic. Part of a four-building block surrounding an urban park, the 525,000ft² tower includes 15 floors of modern workspaces as well as two levels of retail and underground parking.

The 18-story building is designed with human-focused elements, including outdoor terraces on alternating floors and the 鈥淧aseo鈥�, a vibrant street-level interior public promenade lined with shops and a central amphitheater.

Cultural and placemaking interventions have been key to the success of the regeneration, including a program of 500+ free public events, as well as the provision of 10 acres of public open space, including three parks.

Blocks P (now named 400 Summer) and N (now named 350 Summer), being designed by Morris Adjmi Architects (with Stantec Boston as architect of record) are both focused on laboratory and office space, with some retail. Block P has already leased by Foundation Medicine. We worked closely with the design team to adapt the plans from those initially conceived as purely offices to accommodate the growing market for laboratory spaces. This included a significant shift in building services, as well as complex engineering interventions such as increasing floor heights to incorporate bigger MEP systems.

Value

Boston鈥檚 Seaport District is witnessing the transformational regeneration of a great swathe of the city鈥檚 harborside. 海角视频鈥檚 broad range of experts across multiple disciplines are working closely with the wider design teams and the client to help enable a dramatic rebirth of this part of the city into a vibrant, cultural quarter.