ISSUE 1: ISSUE 2:2017 2021
now next +next now+ The Archer Residences combines two existing buildings, The Archer and The Donahue – both of which formerly served as classroom and administrative offices for Suffolk University. The Archer building, the original Suffolk University School of Law, with its cast-concrete decorative panels, is evocative of the Classical Revival architectural style popular at its time of construction in the 1920s. The Donahue building was built in the 1960s and featured a Modernist brick design. TAT designed a new façade for The Donahue, inspired by the minimal nature of Mid-century Modern design with broad expanses of brick, accented with ribbon windows. Conjoining the buildings into one structure and adding a penthouse level results in 172,000 square feet of residential space, with 62 condominium units. The new building is designed to achieve LEED Silver Certification.
Avalon Marlborough | AvalonBay Communities | Photographer: Camille Maren
BEST PRACTICES FOR DESIGNING MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL UNITS Sterling Lofts | WinnDevelopment | Photographer: Joel Howe
The planning and design of individual units form the fundamental building block upon which resident retention, resale value and positive end-user experience are built. With decades of experience across all sectors of the multifamily market, TAT has perfected strategies for ensuring unit layouts serve both the client’s vision and the end-users’ needs. This requires a strategic and nimble approach, balancing a multitude of competing considerations: • Ensuring quality and controlling cost • Creating community and enabling refuge • Designing efficiencies and developing a unique expression of the project
Avalon Sudbury | AvalonBay Communities | Photographer: Camille Maren
OPEN-MINDED
CHALLENGES
MARKETS
One development group might prioritize efficiency and maximizing the amount of open living space, with minimal interior circulation; another may put greater emphasis on the sequence of arrival, delineating clear public and private zones within a unit; our role is to develop a coordinated, creative and buildable design that meets the client’s aspirations for the ROI.
Historic adaptive reuse developments such as mill buildings, a popular base typology for residential conversion, often have very large floor plates. Units, by necessity, will be deep relative to the ideal in terms of access to light and ventilation. Effective design can overcome these challenges by creating an interior study/ workspace that occupies square footage in the middle of a unit, necessitating less direct sunlight which can be required by code for bedrooms. Similarly, borrowed light over the top of a wall can help alleviate lighting challenges.
Knowing the market, both in terms of physical setting and target demographic, is essential. The resulting design solutions will vary depending on the project site and type. For urban locations, a living space’s view corridors take into account the potential for future development to ensure long-term market value. Flexibility in unit design allows for adaptation for a different demographic as an exitstrategy, should the market shift.
Ed Bradford AIA, NCARB, LEED AP Principal
Thomas Schultz AIA, NCARB Associate
Scott Maenpaa Project Manager
VARIATION
PERFORMANCE
DIMENSIONS
Incorporating a variety of unit types can respond to limitations and create market value in projects with dimensional challenges. Unit distribution is a three-dimensional puzzle where increased efficiency within a structure can mean the difference between a project that is viable or holds too few units to work financially. Solutions such as stacking duplex units over flats in a multi-story building can reduce circulation requirements and lower construction costs. Unit programming and layout is a reiterative process. Studying the various ways that units can come together in any given context is fundamental to project feasibility for our clients.
There are holistic benefits to prioritizing the design of efficient and functional layouts. At a time when the building industry strives to address the dual problems of housing affordability and environmental degradation, it is important to recognize that an efficient unit plan can contribute to projects that cost less to build while maximizing environmental performance.
There are certain core principles and dimensions that set the baseline for success. In a unit where the kitchen and living room form a single volume of common space, a 17-foot minimum unit depth is necessary from the exterior wall to the kitchen in order to accommodate both a living and dining area within that zone. Similarly, a primary bedroom often has a minimum 13-foot bed wall. In this regard, it is essential to test furniture arrangements along with considerations including the locations of power and data outlets, as well as light fixture locations, to confirm that all rooms can be reasonably furnished and accommodate the intended functionality.
Michael Breau Project Manager
Yat-Cheong Yip Senior Designer
Brooke Shea Project Manager
THE ARCHER RESIDENCES This project joined two historically significant buildings to create the first fully amenitized, full-service luxury condominium in Beacon Hill. The design of the Donahue building facade is an example of contextual modernism. Ribbon windows on the upper floors of the building form a “cornice line” which aligns with the adjacent brick residences. The building’s smooth granite entry faces the rough granite apse of a church across the Temple Street Park. The Donahue incorporates street-level access to residential units, accented with bronze and granite, taking inspiration from the surrounding residences. Thoughtful design attention has been given to the arrangement, texture, material, and color of the architectural features and The Archer’s relationship to its adjacent context. Unique to Boston’s historic Beacon Hill neighborhood, the scope includes below-grade parking and an expansive rooftop terrace.
Interior Design: LDa Architecture & Interiors | Photographer: Ed Wonsek
+next WE INVITE YOU TO EXPLORE A SELECTION OF PROJECTS UNDERWAY, RANGING FROM NUBIAN SQUARE IN MASSACHUSETTS TO ALEXAN WESTCHESTER IN NEW YORK.
01. NUBIAN SQUARE Location: Roxbury, MA Client: Cruz Companies Renderer: Magician Studio
03. RESIDENCES OFF BAKER Location: West Roxbury, MA Client: B’nai B’rith Renderer: TAT
02. THE RESIDENCES AT BEL MONT Location: Belmont, MA Clients: Northland Residential Renderer: TAT
04. ALEXAN WESTCHESTER Location: Harrison, NY Client: Trammell Crow Residential Renderer: MOTIV Design Architect: Beinfield Architecture
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“Reborn as the first full-service, white glove condominium in the historic enclave, The Archer Residences exudes a brand of charm entirely appropriate for this district of cobblestone streets and Federal-style rowhouses.” -Jeffrey Steele, Forbes Magazine Client: JDMD Owner, LLC Photographer: Jack Vatcher