Höweler + Yoon Architecture and Sasaki have announced the groundbreaking for new construction on 212 Stuart Street, in the historic Bay Village neighborhood in downtown Boston. The residential tower is a 19-story building containing 126 units with two townhouses and retail space on the ground level.
The 150,000 square-foot project designed by Höweler + Yoon in collaboration with Sasaki as the Project Architect, is located on a vacant parking lot between the Bay Village Neighborhood, and the Stuart Street corridor. Holding up 126 residential units, 212 Stuart Street is currently being developed by Greystar Real Estate Partners.
The design of 212 Stuart Street is rooted in the idea that the tall building operates at multiple scales in the city. When viewed from a distance, the building meets the sky with a distinctive silhouette and participates in the composition of the city's skyline. When experienced from the sidewalk, the building meets the ground and activates the streetscape in its immediate context. -- Eric Höweler, Principal of Höweler + Yoon.
The design of the tower acknowledges the two surrounding neighborhoods: the low rise residential neighborhood to the south, and the mixed fabric of the "High Spine" corridor to the north. In fact, Sasaki principal Victor Vizgaitis, AIA states that “Context, here, is everything. The entire genesis of the project came from looking for a way to moderate between two markedly different areas of the city”.
Divided into discrete blocks of 3, 4, 5, and 6 story packages, the building’s exterior facades put in place irregularly spaced opaque panels, alternating with recessed glass infill panels. Generating a relief texture, the vertical multi-story precast panels with a concave, scalloped geometry “create a unique optical effect, as well as some self-shading on the eastern and western exposures”.
Considering the explicit historical concern in the neighborhood, we studied fluted geometries as a way to express depth and texture on the facade. Fluted columns themselves were constructed by stacking individual sections around a central core […] This part-to-whole relationship satisfies the drive to maintain historical character, and yet the results are surprisingly contemporary. -- Eric Höweler, Principal of Höweler + Yoon.
On the ground floor, the lobby and retail spaces face the northern, more commercial side of Stuart Street, whereas the two walk-up townhouses are accessible directly from Shawmut Street. Inspired by the existing townhomes across the street, these units maintain an active residential frontage. Finally, the penthouse floor is a single-loaded organization with an outdoor amenity deck to the south.
Townhouses change the character of a tall residential building […] Particularly when they are well-detailed at their public face and set into a landscape that meshes with the city fabric, the building transforms from anonymous and controlled to something that feels personal and part of the neighborhood. -- Sasaki principal Victor Vizgaitis, AIA.
