ready. All right. Good evening. This is the April 7th monthly meeting of the Boston Civic Design Commission. It is now called to order. My name is Nim Love. I'm the chair of the commission and I'd like to thank the commissioners for donating their time, sharing a valuable insight in shaping the city of
Boston into a more beautiful, sustainable, and equitable city for all of its citizens. We're pleased to be meeting in a hybrid format with commissioners in the room and attending virtually. Um, we will do a roll call and let you know who's in the room and who is virtual in a moment. Uh, the open
meeting law requires I notify the public this meeting is being recorded. And a reminder to all in attendance, the proponents presentations will be posted to the project planning department's web page and a recording of tonight's proceedings will be posted in the city
of Boston's YouTube channel page. They should be posted by the end of this week. Commissioners present, please say present as I call your name. Danell Choy, who's with us tonight. Linda Eastley
believe is also not with us tonight. Diana Fernandez >> present. >> In person, Jonathan Garland, >> present. >> Joining us virtually, Shauna Smith, >> present. >> Person,
Commissioner Hassine, I believe, is not with us this evening. Confirmed. Kathy Codoritus not with us. Anmarie Lubanau present in person. David Manf Freddy >> present.
>> Katherine Morris >> should be joining in a little while. >> Okay. David Nagahiro >> present. >> David's joining us virtually. Laura Solano. >> Laura, I know you're here with us.
Do we have your phone working? We'll try to problem solve that in the background, but um she is with us virtually today. And Kirk Sykes, >> great. And myself, Mimi Bug. So with that, we have quorum. Um commissioners,
I need a motion to approve the meeting minutes for February 3rd's full monthly meeting. um meeting minutes on the 3rd. We had design subcommittee B on February 24th.
Uh design subcommittee meeting A meeting minutes on the 24th and subcommittee B meeting minutes on the 24th. Do I have a motion to approve >> and a second? >> Excellent. Um so I'm going to call those
present. Uh Jonathan Garland. >> Yes. Johnny Go Smith. >> Yes. >> And Marie Lupin. >> Yes. >> David Manf Freddy. >> Yes. >> David Magahero. >> Yes.
>> Laura Solano. >> He's going to try to recall. So we'll continue. Kirk Sykes. >> Yes. >> Myself Mimi Love. So, the meeting minutes are approved.
All right. Um, so we have a report from the review committee. Uh, before I pass it along, a reminder that as of January 1st, 2026, BCDC accepts live public comments only at project introductions. Tonight, we do have one project that
will be introduced and we will take public comments on 45 Townsen Street. The other two projects in front of the commission tonight for review and final recommendation, Longwood Place Phase One and West End Library will not be taking any live public comments. Members of the
public who wish to submit comments are encouraged to do so in writing by email, emailing them to bcdcboston.gov at any phase of the project review. Comments will be sent to comm commissioners before the next schedule meeting on a specific project.
With that, I think I'm going to pass over our report from review committee um for 45 Street. It's in Roxberry. >> Uh thank you, Mimi. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Seth Ryman, deputy director of design at the city of
Austin planning department and executive director of BCDC. Uh tonight we have one project for your consideration to review. A proposed project at 45 Townsen Street in Roxberry is seeking an article AEB entitlement. includes approximately 211,000 square feet of primarily
residential uses uh which is approximately 164 residential units in a combination of adaptively reused and newly constructed buildings. 124 vehicular parking spaces and approximately 96,000 square ft of new
and improved open space on a 4.85 85 acre site previously occupied by Radius Special Hospital and before that by the Jewish Memorial Hospital and Rehabilitation Center. The proposed project has been developed in compliance with the underlying zoning of the project site. Note that a previous
version of the project was submitted to the city as a PNS on July 12th, 2017. Uh I AG public and BTDC review commenced, but the project was subsequently paused in 2021. The currently proposed project was submitted to the city as a supplemental filing on
January 30th, 2026. Given the extent of design changes since this was last viewed by the planning department and the commission, the project is being reintroduced to BCDC. Planning department held an impact advisory group meeting on March 3rd and a public meeting on March 4th, 2026. The planning
department staff hosted a public review committee meeting on March 30th, 2026 and recommends that the commission vote to review the proposed project. >> Commissioners, we need a motion to review the project. >> So move a second.
>> Second. >> I'm going to call on every one of you. Jonathan Garland, >> yes. >> Donna Gillis Smith, >> recused. >> Amir Lubenau, >> yes. >> David Manf Freddy, >> yes.
Holly on Katherine Morris if she's joined us yet. >> Not David Nagahiro. >> Yes. >> Laura Salano. >> Burke Sykes. >> Yes.
>> And Nene Love. Um, do we have enough votes? We do. Well, we're short one. Well, for quorum, we have >> we have Okay. >> Excellent. We will be reviewing the introduction to that project later this
evening. >> And sorry to interrupt, but uh to Laura, no, unfortunately, we can't hear you or her audio >> on the on the phone. Mhm. >> Within um within her call she can click call in um and let her directly rather
than call those instructions. I can write them down in the chat. >> I think let's try that. >> So Laura, >> if you call in to the to the line to the phone number, you might get a direct connection.
>> I don't know if you heard that that she was there. Uh Lizzie will put instructions in in the chat box. >> Okay. Should we continue? All right. Then moving on to presentation for final review and recommendation. We're going
to start with Longwood Place phase one. This will be the fifth presentation of the proposed project to the commission following its introduction on May 6th, 2025. It's had three monthly meetings. um design subcommittees with the most
recent one being on March 24th of 2026. We had commissioners Gillis Smith, Hassin, Codorita, Nagahiro, and Salano were at the March 24th design subcommittee. And we have three commissioners that are
recused. Manfred, Garland, and Sykes. Um, Commissioner Man Freddy is leaving the room and we ask Commissioners Garland and Sykes to turn off your camera. Um, while we proceed the discussion, the planning department
staff that has been managing this pro project includes Jill Zeke, Arnan Schwashman, Yvon G, and Scott Slarski. I think some of you are in the room. Oh, thank you. and we will pass it on to the
proponent to present you madam chair commissioners. Thank you. Tonight we're going to show you a review of our process to date an update since the project introduction a year ago on May 6. Um, and then we're also
going to show you some of the recent updates just two weeks ago. We're going to go through each of our project components like we typically do. There are three buildings as well as landscape architecture. Um our project introduction was again May 6, 2025.
Um and in the middle of our subcommittee process, we had a sort of a pause to respond to um to respond to requests for supplemental information from the city, which we did in February. and Ben had a subsequent uh series of four public
meetings um and saw you all again two weeks ago at subcommittee meeting. As a reminder, this project is the long place phase one. It is the it is three of a total of five buildings that were
approved um as part of the approved PDA in 2023. And we just wanted to show a reminder of those some of those PDA design guidelines which have been our touchstone for the design of these buildings that we've shown you throughout this process.
>> So first of all going to start with landscape architecture. My name is Philip Dell. I'm a landscape architect and principal soaki. Um overall the comments have been uh positive. uh the reactions uh have mainly mostly been around how the scale and proportions of
each of the elements related to one another and how the landscape can create a sequential kind of sense of discovery on the site as a whole. You'll see here the the comments that we received before the May on the May 6th meeting and then since the subcommittee number three a
couple of weeks ago. Um we'll go through each of these um as we kind of go through the presentation. So here you'll see that May uh 2025 uh site plan all the different spaces from the main heart uh the river gateway the pocket plaza and the central
connector through the whole site and here in the next slide you'll see how that plan has evolved. Um if you click back and forth just a couple of times just to kind of see you know a lot of the open space has kind of improved green space. um there's a lot more kind
of consolidation of each of the zones and generally kind of really created more of a an experiential green space uh within the main house. Um, if we step into your hand, great.
>> Yeah, that's a zoom head on the side. >> Um, so to begin, we go back one to begin with the main heart. Um, some of the major changes have been the reconfiguration of the lawn. uh we've strengthened visual connections to each of the architectural gateways and
elements. Uh we've consolidated uh a lot of the area around the forum and we've designed a front push to incorporate an informal stage area and that really creates a complimentary approach between the architecture and the landscape. Overall the green space has increased by
20% and the lawn itself is the the framed lawn has increased by 48% from the PNF and these sections here we also took on board some of the comments from the commissioners uh in the last meeting of how we can really accentuate that
kind of bowl like experience uh with topography. You'll see here the front porch steps down into the heart itself to kind of transition from the retail edge of the R1 building. And then within the planters along the edge of the uh the heart will accentuate that with uh
topography to create that kind of ball like feature here between the pocket plaza between the R1 and the C2 building. You'll see that much greener pocket that much greener space. Here we also create that kind of uh transitionary edge between
pilgrim with that topography to kind of create a sense of arrival as you arrive in the site under the front porch uh from the meeting a couple of weeks ago. We've shortened that back bench to to make a much more open space, much more open feeling to that space. Uh we've expanded
the stage and the pebble around the column. Um and then also introduced a uh a strip of textured split space cobble pavvers that acts as a delineation for cane detection underneath the the the column itself
um within along the connector. One other comment was to consolidate a lot of the spaces together. So we consolidated the water feature the north of of the connector and then replaced some of the water elements with pebble seating so that it felt much more like a a a it
maximized that that element to the one kind of feature. And here you'll see that view. This is from this C1 is on the left. E2 is on the right. That idea of uh the pebble water feature kind of as a gateway which is similar to what's
happened happening within the heart. And so to unify the whole slide, we come back to the heart. This is where all the different elements come together. There's a really kind of thoughtful attention to detail of materiality um of the open space. really thinking about
how we can create a series of gathering elements and using different varieties and of seating elements so people can face each other people can sit along the edge of a space but also kind of come together. Um and so we'll move through the site. Uh here we're at the entrance of the main heart looking back towards
the LMA. Uh there are draws the idea that it draws you into the open space and this view is along Brook line and looking at R1 and behind and uh C1 to the right you'll see that will bring activity to the open space and this idea
of this kind of green threshold within the heart itself. As you move towards the entrance on the LMA here you'll see the R1 to the left. The idea is that the gathering zone really draws you in. The trees um and the the grove of trees acts
as an inviting space to draw you into the open space. But the the activity of R1, C2, and C1 all kind of creates an active edge as you move through the heart itself. This is kind of sat on the framed lawn. This is a space that you
can come and people watch, but creating a more of a kind of a a quiet zone to to visit. As we move through the site, this is the front porch and this will you'll see where the uh gathering grove under the next to the C1 forum really connects
with each other. So there's the interior and exterior open space and then under the R1 the informal kind of seating zone of the retail of of that building. As you again moving a little bit further away, looking back into the heart here, you'll see that kind of really active
edge looking back at that green buffer towards the LMA. So, the idea here is to really draw you into these spaces, create a green frame around Brookline and really create an inviting open space. One of the big comments was to
draw some of the elements that were originally in the PNF in the heart into other areas. So, this is the space between R1 and C2. This is a quiet reflective space with hammocks along the main circulation path. And then here we end back at the connector which you'll
see the the relationship between all of the three buildings. Um this does show the water feature uh on the ground plane that has now become a seating pebble because this is the previous rendering. But overall this shows how they all come together in a unified size.
>> Okay, we're going to move on to the building design updates. And when we saw you uh last year, when we saw you on May 6th at the project introduction, you really wanted us to look at how to find the right balance of architectural diversity but also a cohesion and a sense of place and a sense of unified
identity. So we worked a lot to refine that and also find more opportunities along the way to to amplify that. And so our design our overarching design piece really revolves around these primary principles. It's about creating a network of open spaces like Philip just
showed. It's about looking at each of the bases of the building and finding something in common in the way that they touch the ground architecturally, but also in program. They're all listed and they all invite um invite the public in and around them. Um we also are want to
create an invitation into the site with with with viewers and a way to see buildings move and turn away from each other to have light and air and sky between the buildings. And finally, a harmonious composition where the buildings talk to each other but are also electrical in terms of their use
and how they fit into the context of the LMA. Just one more layer here is is this sort of almost unconscious layer of identity or or of cohesion, but it's about having the same um glazing specification and very very um cohesive
and and and and consistent pallets and that they are this is this is a team of you know four architectural teams working together selecting materials at the same time in a way that makes sense together. >> I'm sorry. Emily, go ahead to the next
slide. So, I I think Emily and Phil both gave you a good sense of the overall composition focusing on C1 first. Starting with the se the the site plan. I think the first thing that you'll notice one's uh plan south uh anchors all the kind of major spaces the
connector on the top the heart has a nice conversation with the front porch and then a lobby entrance off the midstream or midwalk um street. Also note the addition of the vehicle which is a a kind of a secret
pathway that you discover as you work your way from Brookline back to Silver. The comments that we received really fell into two buckets. First bucket was to look at the facade, the fenestration, and the ask was it's looking a little
bit vertical. Readjust it, reweave it so it's a bit more horizontal. I think the board in general looked at the diagonal expression and said, can you comb uh the ends of the buildings down? And there was also a really good observation about the V columns pulling
the storefront back to allow enough space around that. And then uh finally in addition to that adding some uh extra views for the vehicle. So a series of before and after. This is the broad view of Brookline original facade. You can
see that vertical character and the diagonals. Next one, a little bit more of a a horizontal and vertical weave that calms things down and the elimination of the diagonals. Next, a view looking along Brook line.
Again, there you see the diagonals. Next view, taking those off to kind of calm the facade and really wrap the wrap the ends more so it's a little less of a kind of a shear between the the sides and the ends. Next, a view of the lobby
which kind of anchors the corner of the midblock road in Brooklyn. You see the pedestrian activity along Brook line. Complete transformation of that storefront. The cuts and angles marking the below midblock. Next slide.
The original below. You can see the proximity of the columns to the storefront. Next slide. pulling the storefront back, allowing for a bit more room, reimagining the patterning of the sophet so it has a little bit more of a
dialogue with R1. Beth made a note about the connection between the the sophet, the ceiling and the starfront. I think maybe uh Commissioner Love mentioned that. So, we do need to take a look at that. This view within the vehicle showing the
activity on both sides. The gentle topography leading you back to the connector operability orosity. The vehicle kind of starts large, compresses down, and then expands back out as you get to the connector. As
you hear two in the distance with a entrance to their lobby. Next slide. And then coming just to the edge of the connector peeking through. Anna will show you this view later as well. A little bit more of that story of how you
meander through the pocket park into Pilgrim. A detail of the storefront. This idea of creating a couple special bays so that each retailer can have a an area to customize while the rest of the
composition stays kind of uh controlled and unified. And then finally a view from the park at heart park. This is a really important corner operability into the forum which is a great public space. The building
lifts up to mark a a taller height again to have a nice dialogue with the heart and with our one. And with that I'll pass it to Anna. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Aneski, design director at KPF, and I'm going to walk you through the transformation that
C2 has undergone during the BCDC process and also share some new materials regarding the pilgrim experience as requested during the March 24th uh meeting. Uh as a quick reminder, C2 is located uh on the Pilgrim Road side of the site and it houses the ramps for the
entire project and by doing so it allows us to keep the rest of the ground floor fully programmable for other uh activities. Uh in terms of the overall building character, uh we really went through some major transformations from where we started originally during the
entitlement process. Uh we adjusted the facade character, we reduced the depth of the can levers to step have minimal steps um to minimize the effect on the heart and we ultimately land us with what we're showing now which is option six. Uh in this view looking from
Brooklyn you can start to see the impact of this adjusted flat reading. Uh on the left is the early building articulation. You can see the large flat surfaces on both ends of the building originally. And to the right is the current approach uh with a wraparound subtle grid that
helps to kind of reduce the dominance of these walls and ultimately help see who fits better into its context. Uh looking from the riverview, you can see the early version again. Um here we had a vertical articulation. We were picking up some of the materiality from the
contact, but the scale wasn't uh working out quite well. Um and this is where we are uh now. Uh we introduced these periodical breaks that helped us to align the scale of the building better to the context. Uh we kept the facade
really simple and restrained and created a dialogue uh with a scale of R1. uh at the ground plane. We're looking for articulation that kind of helps us to establish uh pedestrian uh scale uh and create permeability by opening up
that corner uh as a portal uh between uh the different spaces. Generally, the design language helps us to kind of reinforce reinforce continuity uh on all four sides of the building. And we'll kind of go through a quick um overview. Uh this is looking back from the heart.
You can see the chamfered corner and the two story reading helping us create a more comfortable edge in relationship to the heart and also have a better dialogue with T1. Next, um this is a view looking for from Midblock Road uh towards the main entry giving the
building a clear front uh door. Uh diving quickly into Pilgrim Road. So in essence right now it's a quiet street with a mix of residential and university buildings uh along with a significant amount of back of house activity. Uh in
our master plan we offer uh uh multiple through connections uh two Brookline as well as a pocket plaza and some street furniture. Architecturally, C2 facade is defined by these strong peers um uh
that's tied directly to the language of the building above. Uh we want to maintain that consistency and while we're continuing to refine the requirements for each of the mechanical spaces that will be housed along the facade next. Um, regardless of those
requirements, the goal is to make sure that we maintain a clean, organized and intentional expression using architectural screens and louvers as required. Next, uh, this is a view of the pilgrim street directly across from
where the future T2 will be. And in the next view here, you can see um, the Swift are building. Again, the rhythm of these spheres echoes Boston University's building across the street and we think generally creates a very comfortable
environment. Uh the north corner uh provides a relief from those mechanical spaces uh with a green buffer, a space for bike parking and some benches. Um this is a closeup of that condition. The perforated screen behind the bike
parking is uh air intake for the garage. uh large textural screen behind the bench is just open air for the gas meter. So there's no exhaust at the pedestrian level. Uh so those spaces would be comfortable for occupancy and uh kind of pedestrians walking by. Uh
and lastly here you can see the south corner of the silo facade and how all the building elements the slight stepping of the mapping the vertical reveal the grided facade and the rhythm of the peers come together to create this very rational and expressive
building. And with that we'll move to R1. So the residential building R1 is the smaller footprint on the site that you see here at Philip explain. There's a project that engages with the main heart and also a part that uh with the
near street wall on on road. Um since May 6, you've asked us to there there have been some smaller comments on the tower, but you really asked us to look at the front porch, make sure that it's cohesive, that it's that that it is designed in a way that's holistic and
that is clear. As a reminder, this is how the bathroom building has developed since the PDA. The the PDA design guidelines do suggest that there is a front porch in the project, but as you can see, we we've
bolted out as we've gone through to something that's more lifted and with an element that makes a very welcoming gesture um site. So, here's what you saw at the project introduction in May of 2025. Since then,
I'll talk about the tower first and then go to the front porch. We've we've introduced more defined, clear, thinner peers, which just kind of toggle back and forth as well as a darker metal to help with contrast and make the building
feel more elongated and a little bit lighter. That was one of the comments that they received throughout the our time with you. Uh zooming into the front porch, we started out with what we ultimately believed was too uh strong of a metaphorical gesture with the the
column and have since developed the front porch into uh a language that is more clear. The materiality is more cohesive. The gesture is more authentic to what the actual structural road path of the building might be. And this
subcommittee a couple of weeks ago, you asked us to go even further and look at the uh again make sure that the space is holistic architecturally particularly with the elevation of R1 here. And so we've reintroduced a brick spandre so
that there's a visual uh understanding of what holds the tower. We have reset this volume of the building to make this vertical lead even stronger. And we have cleaned up a lot of the architectural elements on the storefront, some of the
panel and projections to have a more cleaner, unified uh texture there. >> Emily, just over a minute left. >> Okay. We've been really intentional about the ceiling and how we might integrate lighting and we know that space is incredibly important here. uh
programming rather and uh Phil talked about this a little bit but we've also looked a lot at the landscape architecture and how to make a graduated stepping down from the front porch into the front part. is very important as the grading element of the site
and along the riverway. We've made a small subtle refinement along the mostly with the consistency of the material pallet as well as some of these horizontal data lines that connect and throughout the site. Um and finally
along Tilman Road looking at that um at the important nature of the street wall here softer gesturing uh opening into the site transparency at the lobby and finally uh Commissioner Madiro asked us to look at incorporating even more metal
into this elevation which we have tried here. of a study. Um, we don't we don't feel that it it makes the building stronger, but we we wanted to respond to that and have a chance review it. And with that very much your time.
>> All right. So, commissioners, um, >> uh, if I could interrupt before we turn it over to the commissioners, want to, um, mention that the planning department did receive one public comment letter, uh, directly addressed to the commission between the last subcommittee and this evening, and this was shared with the
commission earlier today. Uh, also want to confirm that Laura Sol, Commissioner Solar Solano, uh, can hear us and and we can hear her. Laura, you're I think you're on mute. Okay. But you can hear us.
Okay. And while you're trying to figure that out, I also noticed that Commissioner Mars Mars joined. Katherine, >> hello and good afternoon, people. Thank you, Katherine. Good to hear your
voice. And let's see if we can maybe try to unmute Laura. Lizzy while we continue to troubleshoot that. Maybe. Okay. >> All right. We do have a physical model. So I welcome those that are here in
person to walk around. Absolutely. >> I am um I think what we could do is just as a reminder I'll just say that commissioners Garland. Wait, nope. These are the huge ones. Gillis Smith, uh
Hassini, Codorita, Nagahira, and Salano were at the March 24th uh design subcommittee meeting. We don't have Commissioner Cassin or Cottoas with us this evening. Uh Commissioner Swan is having a little bit of technical difficulty. So it puts a lot of pressure
on Commissioner Gillis Smith and uh Nager to at least get us going. But we have others obviously commissioners who can comment and we should look at the model those present in the room. >> Can you hear me now? Yeah,
>> thank you. >> Architects, I welcome you to make any comments. I'm just with phase two. It's like, oh, >> I know you have. They're just interesting to understand the tightness too of the connector. >> Yeah, this is in terms of scale seeing
how small it is here. >> Yeah, >> there are um thank you for your presentation. I haven't had a chance to see I was not part of the subcommittee review. This is my first time seeing it in a while and it's come a long way.
wondered if the team could talk a little bit more about and maybe share some examples on the slides and presentations about your approach to creating a harmonious whole and actually even before that what is the phasing for the implementation of
this what will happen in what order and by whom? Russ, do you want to take the phasing question? >> Yeah, I mean, um, phase one is obviously these three buildings. Um, we'd like to retain the flexibility to pick and
choose. My guess right now is that um we will get the one big tenant for one of the two commercial buildings. And once we have that, we we build the entirety of the garage with the R1 building and
whichever first commercial building. Part of that is the garage is necessitated. >> You know, you do the entire garage first and then you pick which building you go with. The nature of the R1 building is such that it basically wouldn't support
a demo and a mode just for the one building. So I anticipate you do one commercial building and the R1 building at the same time. We have agreed with the city that effectively whichever building that is
and kind of think of all of the public realm from the midblock road all the way down to the border with Windsor as being produced with with that first building, whichever building it is, whichever building it is. All of the public realm, the parks that go with that, all of the
stuff along along pilgrim and along line that goes with that, it all those with the we're asking the the city to consider though, it all will look the way it looks on screen once phase one is completed in
its entirety. If we have to leave one building out for some further period of time, you know, the connectors directly next to that building and the access for construction, it would it would not make sense to do that in its finished condition just to not be destroyed at
any cost. >> And given what you know now, understanding there are a lot of things that are beyond your control, what do you anticipate is the timeline for completing that phase and also what are the anticipated tenant? This is the residential build, correct? Yeah.
>> So, >> if you if you if I had if I if I had if I had to, >> you know, put a paycheck on it, um I think this is a significant research medical or not uh um lab research
>> with a component of one of the hospitals in this building. Uh I anticipate this one goes first. The one was our one. That's >> for what time is. So the construction timeline all in >> Mhm.
>> four to five years. We we're trying to get it into four, but right now five is the best what we know now. >> So complete, you know, digging the hole for the for the for the garage and then completion of the the five years and R1
would fit within that R1 is a three year timeline. Next one. for the sake of the commissioners on the call, are there any photos of this model in the back of your appendix or anything that we could just flash? And if there's not, it's okay. I don't think we brought
photos in our appendix. >> Um, they are in some of our previous presentation. I could pull those up on the side while you're >> That might be just, you know, >> and this model is not a recent model,
right? doesn't represent the changes. >> So there are changes >> general mass right >> your question about what did we do to try to unify it and make it more of a
district. >> I think Emily's slide there did a good job of uh kind of starting the conversation. The first thing is that you look all the buildings are lifted a bit to open up the ground plane to make
it feel more porous, more welcoming. All the buildings in some way or another angle or facet and for the most part those angles are meant to increase the sense of the the whole open space
inviting you in. So cuts and angles in all of these buildings obviously informed the overall massing but their real purpose was to make the the ground plane in the public realm more welcoming. I think as you look at
the model the other thing to keep in mind is there there was a PNA that established the basic organization of two parallel buildings. Um the only other thing that I would mention about the model is I know there have been a
lot of comments about this juncture. Keep in mind that at some point in the future C3 the idea is that there is a kind of a winter garden that connects through. So I think that piece will make that space more interesting and I think it will
reinforce that that kind of linear uh >> determinance to it. That's right. >> Then I I should I think my question has more to do with the architecture of the buildings. I understand there's some mapping decision some major kind of
massing or sculpting decisions. It has more to do with the texture and architecture of the buildings and frankly also the relationship between the buildings and the landscape. We saw a lot of detailed imagery about the landscape, but the buildings um are broader brush moves and just and and
also the relationship between what you were creating here, which is a new district and ensemble, which again is a remarkable opportunity for anyone, but then the relation how these relate to what's around them and the character, you know, the general character of the community. And I do wonder if you guys
could speak to that a little bit because Amarie, these are some questions we had when we were engaging and first starting to see these concepts come in. And I think the team has responded a little bit to sort of how the buildings respond to the book lineage, right? And the sort of material pallet associated with the AMA and some of these larger
institutional buildings which have a much lighter palette. Um, and then how we're responding to uh the river lake, right, and the fence where you see more of the brick articulation and some of the red um element come through with some of the Windsor um buildings that have this sort of like burgundy color to
it. So, I'd love for you guys to sort of speak a little bit to I think that articulation um because they are sort of playing off of both sides in many way in a way. We always thought of C2 as a building that kind of bridges the flu. Um because
>> right one is facing Mongwood. It has a certain scale. It has a certain character. And for us there's buildings facing the park and buildings that are a lot smaller in scale and just have a lot more masonry. So I think we really use that opportunity to obviously try and
have a comfortable dialogue with C1, but really scale that to the scale of R1. And then some of these linear datms were established in order to bring down the scale of the overall message to the program and the scale of support. I
think she'll apply to that to what Arnold's referring to. These are some of the studies maybe you're referring to that we looked at early on in the project about how to how to make this ensemble very clearly connect to the context or connecting to
the data that exists in context. whether whether C1 goes first or CH C2 goes first for a period of time at least C1 as you're coming down Brook line it's going to be a real marker um and in some
ways we are conscious of the dialogue between those two buildings >> and even this this newer building coming online where you see many of the sort of darker metals coming through and I think that was a piece of feedback we shared in the beginning of staff which is maybe we lighten some of the the metal here
to, you know, have a transition more into sort of the limestones that um really dominate more of the LMA and and I think the team I think in your latest renderings are responding a little bit to that. >> So the one thing I wanted to talk about the the cohesiveness because I actually
do see you know the same issue in looking from above but I do want to talk about the cohesiveness that I find from at the ground level from the landscape because I'm just going to recommend we pull up a site plan. And I I think we should talk about the open space ground floor and then let's go to each building
now that we've kind of grounded the conversation on how are these buildings tied. If we could do that because you were at the last, you know, uh design subcommittee going on. But I actually don't want to start with the plant just yet because I want to talk about one of
the things that some of the views Emily from eye level of the different buildings around the around the heart because one thing that I think is quite interesting at the ground level is that each of the buildings in some way is kind of in my reading being somewhat
anthropomorphic and treelike and not and not in in sort of a a you know a way even even C1 one, you know, the sort of carving of the of the >> columns, >> more the architecture ones right now, Emily, I'm talking about and then and then >> um well, you know, the one of the forum,
the one of C1 at the corner, the one of, you know, the R1 just just really talking about the different, you know, I know they're different places, so that's that's why it's hard to see. So, but I do think that that that is quite an, you know, I think it's an exciting expression actually that that each of
these buildings is taking on in in a very abstract way that the edges are faceted. So you it's not only that you get kind of the the view of a treelike thing, but you can move in between the buildings and the structure
in an interesting way along with a lot of sort of abundant tree planting. So, I think that at the ground level, the experience is is um when I first saw the project, I didn't think that, but as it as it developed along, it seemed to get
both simpler and richer um the the experience. And so, I think even the moves between the last the last meeting and and now, >> um what I find to see is a visual disconnect between the site plan and these models is the shaping of the
ground floor. And this is why I wanted to go to the site plan really really reduces that length of you know um that courtyard in plan >> which we're not seeing in the model and I do think that there's some experience
at down at eye level that would be quite different than us you know being at bird's eye level seeing just these buildings from on top that central connector isn't as tight and linear of a space as it reads in this model. >> Yeah. And I don't know if that's I don't
know if it's because the well part of it is because at least C1 is pulling back >> from the you know the columns are aligned with the edge of the building where the where the facads are pulled back. Has the shape of the building of C1 changed since this plan or
>> the change has actually been pretty minor mostly at this end to make this a bit more narrower and then just refining some of those spring points to align more with either uh R1 or C1. And just
one other comment beyond what Mimi just mentioned what's happening in plan in terms of champering the building the at least in C1 and I think in in some really important points
on the electric building is also something that's happening a bit in section because it's it's kind of cutting up at an angle. So when you stand there, there'll be interesting moments where the the surface kind of reaches out to invite.
>> Yeah. And I actually wanted to mention the other aspect sort of related to that is that the soft that there's attention to significant soft which is an interesting way of thinking and I was wondering even in C2 in sort of the subtle rational way if there might be some you know some thinking about what
that underside of the socket around around um the heart is in the way that it is on the other on the other building. In case of that approach, this soft was also kind of derived from the expressions that were established
volumetrically at the edge. So we brought that language both here then down to the chambered corner and then to the connector. So there's a certain consistency of kind of materiality that relates to the rest of the building. But we've been in dialogue a lot in terms of
what is the right relationship for all the stuff that's both C2 to C1 and then back to R1 because I think every building is kind of trying to solve for a set of issues and we're a little a little bit more to go there. >> Yeah. But the conversation is very much
happening. I think volumetrically we appreciate what it creates space but I think in terms of actual articulation we're getting better. And and I I think also with seeing the model really is putting a ton of
pressure and question on on this this building because it it doesn't you know the plan is much better you know the views and then seeing this the tightness all of a sudden this becomes a really long space again and there's um
then the concern about wind that wasn't apparently the the wind issue within the corridor that we all expected is not really >> oh >> an issue but the wind issue was more at the ends right so then it makes me sort of wonder what's going to happen in that
in the next the next one in that comment too and I know this is not what we're reviewing but makes me want to take this one down and sort of let this be the foreground and these being the background so just thinking again a little bit of how this becomes an ensemble I I appreciate what you're
doing at the ground plane I'm just looking at and turn and I realize we're not you know the people we're not going to be seeing the bird side view. But I also just am that this model to me is very telling in terms of what is articulated by the other existing buildings in terms of how masking
relates to each other, how certain buildings like I actually think the, you know, the landmarks in our 41 um park are you know that that to me begins to speak a little bit out of an ensemble and then the tower and it just seems to me this is an opportunity. It it this
feels a little forced because it's it is trying to be the the foreground, the object, and then it it's a very tight circumstance. And and I do appreciate what you've done with ease. I can definitely see that. It's just where I and I understand what you're doing at
the ground. I'm just trying to see it in the architecture a few stories up in that kind of mid-range. And and it's also and I know my my colleagues know this. We see a lot of glass buildings right now. My question is always how do we know this is in Longwood and not the
seport or not Kendall Square and and I think that is your opportunity for architectural expression and identity >> and I think too something and Marie this model is just short of our latest approval right with the cancer hospital
>> and there is a relationship there right around um what that is introducing in terms of how it's hitting Brookline the sort of administration details the you know there's there's a lot there that can be done even with just glass and frit um that can I think
soften some of the elements here I agree I I want to invite the commissioners on the call to also participate um we ab absolutely have this model which is a helpful tool for us in the room but maybe we can also open it up to
commissioners so feel free to raise your hand I'm I'm trying to follow along And you can ask the proponent team to put the slide on any one of you know the topics you'd like to make sure that these corners are left.
>> I'm I'm not seeing any comments. I'm happy to jump in. Should we just go and then I was really just taking notes. I'm going to leave the landscape comments to our landscape, you know, commissioners, architectural commissioners. But, um, if we could just go to C1. I think the
thing I'm struggling with C1 is there's a couple of things. The whole guiding principle for this project is that you have a twostory high, you know, expression consistently along all three
buildings. And with with D1, you do it everywhere except the Valo and it's really a compressed space and I know that you're you know have technical issues that you're dealing with with a transformer X Y andZ but that is your almost your most important space which
you are denying your guiding principle. So, I think is there something that you could do and I if we can get to those interior Yeah. expressions, there's something that you could do to think about, you know, you might have to compress in
the middle, but if there's any more real estate we could get to get that reading to be stronger or be a little bit lighter, I encourage you to continue to look at that. Um, and I know I I know you're wrestling with the transformer
location X, Y, and Z, >> and that, >> you know, the first slide that I showed you showed that ground plane that was completely open. >> It's either all retail or the forum or the lobby. Part of the reason we're able
to do that is we took all the stuff that's usually supposed to be on the first floor, we put it up on the second floor. The second part of it is in order to make that cut through that parcel and through that building, it's
located between sheer walls and between the two elevator banks. So, it's kind of picking up a narrow slot, which I think is kind of cool. I I >> Yeah, >> I've always envisioned the Beetle as this thing that you kind of discover. You get a glimpse of it. But what's
that? I want to walk through there. Um I think we can look at uh so what it does now is it's sort of horizontal and then it >> reaches up at the two ends. >> Maybe another move to kind of soften that braid to kind of add a little bit
more volume, >> right? Um, but the the amount we can cut is fairly limited because at the end of the day, we don't want to split that uh second floor plan floor plan in half completely.
>> No, I understand that. I understand that. And I don't know exactly where it gets compressed in plan. From the perspective, it feels like it's more in the center of the plan. And I would I would leverage the higher height along
Brookline Avenue and then have it be more compressed towards Central Connector if that's an option. Yeah, I I don't know that having it raised up at the central connector is as important or equal. So that's just a comment. And
then just to stay with that second floor base there, the expression of the tower and these strong, you know, V columns coming down the tree analogy that you know was
being referenced here. It's such a strong idea. It's almost too strong in itself that I recommend you thinking about that storefront really being more simple. I almost want to see like an Apple store glass front. Like it almost goes away
and that transparency through the central connector is imagined or or more, you know, uh the expression of the horizontals and the spandrels. It it just seems to me
a little bit more than it needs to be. Um, and could that just be more transparent and more um the idea of visually connecting all the way through wants to be emphasized there in my mind. If you I would imagine too if you look at we don't have visuals kind of the
surrounding context but from what I imagine it is more likely to be vertical in terms of historic you know when you kind of look at the rhythm >> the expression so I think that seems a little contradictory so that's a way without changing your materials but
thinking about how do you respond to the context but also address the comment and also I think the idea of raising the entry your most public entrance is off of Brookline like that's the most distinctive building that really is your
gateway to this space this public realm that you're creating. Let it celebrate that rather than minimize it. So maybe I should just say the last couple things and then we can hand it over to the other colleagues. First of
all, Phil, I I actually don't have very much more to say about the landscape because I think you did such a good job for the last meeting that I do think the idea, you know, the comments that and you have been very responsive all the way through, I think, but I think that um the simplification of the connector,
of the consolidating of the open spaces, of turning the water features into pebbles, which fits a lot better with the landscape that you're creating in front of, you know, in front of R1. So, so it's, you know, moving along. I I think that that that that is um is
working well. And I think, as I said the last time, the it's gotten calmer and richer the whole the whole the whole experience. Um the thing I was quite concerned about last meeting was the program moving moving to C1 was the
program experience. And so maybe Emily, can you go to go to some of that? I really do appreciate a number of the moves along Pilgrim. I think that uh um I think having the seating along with the Viking area, the the green planting
on either edge, and I do think that the spacing is ex that the screens and columns are extremely elegant. In this particular view, it looks like there's something sort of artistic happening on that screen at the end. And I'm hoping
that that's the case because I think even if the super rational, elegant, well-designed, handsome, might get boring walking back and forth all the time. So, a little bit of, you know, a little bit of spice along that along that experience, I think, would be, you
know, would would help. Um, yeah. And and I said most of Oh, and also I just wanted to say one comment about R1. I can't believe how significant bringing that brick spandel back across the top has um has made to
the experience of of that going from quite a a complicated and disjointed to a kind of elegance elegant experience. It also looks like you you tweaked the columns too a little bit themselves. They seem maybe it's just a >> we did the top.
>> Well, yeah, we we actually heard it's color. just to be um >> straightforward, but we heard that the color might have been a little bit dull, so we just wanted to reinforce that it's crimson and it's pale and it >> Yeah. Yeah. But but I do think that that also has has made a big difference.
>> And Emily, did you push back the um ground floor? >> We pushed back volume. We pushed this back probably about two feet to to really let that vertical come through and feel that change plan. I'm gonna invite Laura Salano. Is that
good? I mean, you can chime in, too. Laura, you want to? >> Sure. Let's stay right where we are. Um I I appreciate um what has happened with the columns underneath the the residential
building. I think it's so much more sleek and starts to have the same language as the other buildings, but distinct enough that um it it really stands out. Um so I appreciate that. Um,
going to the central corridor. Um, I'm sorry, central connector. Can you clarify whether or not there are still water features in the central connector? Is that
>> Yeah, it's just it's just towards the northern gateway. In that last rendering, it was still showing the water beach just because that was an old rendering. is what was the now different paving or keeping out.
>> Yep. Okay, good. Um because I I really think that those are unnecessary. Um I'd rather you spend that money on trees, bigger trees. Um, so the the other thing is as you go
forward thinking about again, I think I made the comment last time about how looking I guess northwest the residential building kind of backs up and holds that corridor looking in that direction. But going in the other
direction, I think I would still study um the beefiness that you need in in those planters and in those pebbles just to make sure that you really do have kind of a similar weight. Um, I don't
know whether or not it's a scale thing or, you know, how close things are together or density, but I I think that's something that still needs to be um studied a little bit more, and you guys have had very little time to respond, so I'm confident that you'll do
it. One thing that we haven't talked about much is the Riverway Gateway. Um could could you could you describe that a little bit? >> Yeah. >> And particularly where it's going to
because when you see it in the perspectives etc. it it looks um looks like it's a walk to nowhere but I I may be wrong about that. >> Yeah. So that obviously connects to the entry to Windsor school. Um so what we
have if you think about the section between Windsor and R1 uh we have I think it's a 12 foot wide um uh uh side um pathway. Then there's a two-way bike lane and then there's a smaller
residential kind of uh pathway that's near the bike storage and the entry to to R1. But the idea is to kind of bring that bike, that two-way bike lane up towards the Windsor school and it's offset in a way to um give a little bit
of breathing room towards Windsor and that's been kind of coordinated in collaboration with that. >> Yeah. And Laura just to Laura just to add a little color here that was a really important part of the PDA approval. um when they got their master
plan approval, the Windsor school had as an abutter some specific requests um that the team has accommodated with with that. >> Great. Um just a couple of a couple more questions. So along that corridor, and I'm just going to talk in colors. I
understand the green is the bikeway going to the left of that. The tan, what is that material? >> Yeah, exactly. that that material there's is going to be the bike lane and there's going to be a four five foot
wide tree um buffer and then that is uh pavement. So that that will be the existing red brick um edge that we already have against the that building. >> Okay. And I wonder
>> Sure. Sure. And and I understand that we've um I'm not supposed to draw but I have to. So, is this planting or is that also a hard surface?
>> That would be a hard surface. >> Yeah. I'm wondering if you just want to maybe, >> you know, where that is. But I think the more that um the scale of that kind of path and thinking about what you're going to see
at this end and maybe that greening up would help um with that. So, something to to, you know, continue to to work on. Um,
um, back to the front porch. I also appreciate how you sort of gave up on that secondary uh, a set of stairs that went up to the uh, the terrace that's right around the building.
It feels so much more elegant now. And like you're really inviting people in. like the difference between these two is really pretty um the the column gets a place to come down to um that I think is
is really successful. Um and then back to the uh piccolo I'm sorry if we could go to that perspective that shows It's a musical instrument, isn't it? Um,
>> yeah. The thing that um I think Mimi's comment about the the way that this is pressed down so quickly, right? I mean, you're talking about, you know, five steps, maybe even less, and you get to that um compression.
I think that's important. But one of the other things that I think is not doing you any favors is the the texture of that that calls attention to itself. So if it were if it felt like it was a more
simple surface that you know got some shadows on it and wasn't necessarily called out with, you know, the diagonals, the diamonds, um you might want to consider that. um because I know that you have a lot of constraints
interior to that that um you know aren't aren't um obvious to those of us reviewing this. Um and that's that's really it. I think you all have been so responsive and I
appreciate it um a lot and you've you've always done it in um really clever and cooperative and collaborative ways. So, it's going to be terrific.
>> David Mega, I see your hand up. Yeah, I'll just make some a quick a few quick comments in that um I know there's been a lot of scrutiny uh through the five different meetings. You know, I remember going back to the videos, uh, the early ones, because I hadn't been, uh, uh, on
board at that point, but it was interesting to hear the the conversation early on about how these buildings were all going to work together. And, you know, having four strong uh, designers working together, I
can imagine was not an easy task uh, to find a common ground. And I think that's where it the success has come with all of the comments and criticism that has come with the scrutiny through the questions. I think it's really evolved into something quite, you know,
extraordinary. The comments of very subtle moves of the chamfering of all of the edges. Without that, I think it would be a very harsh place. And I think you've taken a lot of density and been able to allow these buildings to coexist in a very, you know, elegant way and how
they start to shape those spaces and being able to see, you know, daylight through those, you know, portals, I think, is essential. The idea of lifting the the uh the edges of each of the buildings I think has also been very very effective.
Um I think um that has also helped with the perception of being able to um you know the paracity through the site. Emily, I do appreciate you tried that one uh detail of going darker. I do agree with you that it does feel lighter the way
you have it currently. So, thank you for trying that. Um, it's and I I do appreciate that the the two buildings at C1C2 are able to coexist um comfortably. I think that was probably one of the greatest challenges I found with the
size and scale of those two buildings being next to each other. But I think allowing one to be a little bit more prominent and the other one to be, you know, elegantly um uh uh on the other side allows it to them all to kind of
coexist in a very comfortable way. So this is just by way of saying that I know there's been a lot of thought and a lot of uh scrutiny and a lot of really wonderful presentation diagrams that have gone into this. So, just wanted to uh congratulate the team for a very very
effective uh presentation and uh like Laura mentioned, very excited to see this as a you know, when you're going down uh heading into the Longwood. This has always been a very uh kind of over underwhelming location. I think the excitement of what's going to come is is
very exciting for the district. So, thank you. I still have a few more comments, but can I I I was I think I have all of my comments basically on C1. I think there is a comment about the soft that already came
up today, but I really think that's something that is a really good opportunity. We even just go to a site plan and you see all of the overhangs that are dashed in. There's a lot of sophets to to think about. Um, and you
were at one of them. Sorry, Emily. We had you going back and forth so much. >> Um, so many drawings. >> And I think that material that you have at the Zalo might not really want to be the same material that's on the underside of the sophets. Like that might want to be something really
special onto itself. And you know, I I um saw your sophets on the C2 building and I was like, this takes the coloration of the material and puts it underneath which could be a fine approach. And then Emily, the front porch has that lighted ceiling. And I
just wonder if that I don't know what the answer is. I don't want to pretend I know what the answer is. I just wonder is that light effect really um helping with the cohesion of the approach? Like maybe it doesn't have to
be lit from above, maybe it's lit from below, but there is something to think about and pulling all of these um buildings together from the unders sides of the ceiling. >> Great point. >> Yeah. If I could ask you, is there a way
then that could also speak to what's happening on the ground plane? So just imagine you've got the ground plane and then you've got this upper piece. So not just some how do they relate and how to point how how can that be a kind of common language that ties it together
but does not mean it's exactly the same everywhere. It can it can vary in places like the below for good reason. And even where the you can see where the front porch, the C2 and C1 overhangs all come together. I'm like, is there a
lighting strategy that you know they all incorporate a similar approach? Um that'll be interesting to see how that ends up happening. And then in C2, um I think the building has really transformed and it's it's very handsome. Um if we can go to slide 51. I saw I
noted slide 51 and actually I could I saw it in the model but you could see what's h you could see that there's a penthouse screen enclosure here that's pretty effective but it's not effective on the pilum road side and I just wanted
to know is that a screen what's happening up there was to push as much of the mechanical to the sides to minimize the shadow >> so it's biased in one direction compared to the Uh the intention is to have sunscreen
because there will be a lot of equipment out there eventually >> and I think just having just a little bit of a screening element to bring it all together to read at least volume versus >> every single piece of equipment being visible. Um we think it's quite
effective. I think whether the color needs to get a little bit darker or if it needs to get a little calibrated. I think that's the only way >> to be further developed. >> Yeah. >> Um it it almost Okay, I'm going to throw an
idea and I shouldn't do this but I am. Um, if you imagine this getting taller at this point and then getting taller in that rear point on Pilgrim Row, those are the only two points that you really need a higher,
you know, wall to conceal the the materials. I mean, the penthouse um, equipment. And I'm just wondering, is there something that could be more dynamic with how the red skin ends rather than being straight? Is there
like a little high point at one corner and at the other to mask the you know the equipment? It's just I'm throwing it out. Um you don't have to think about it, but I do think you need to think about the the enclosure a
little bit more and resolve it a little bit more. Those are my comments. >> One one more thing. I know we have to move on, but just as I look at some of the renderings of the buildings as ensembles, I'm draw I'm just wondering
about the datams, you know, sort of where can you, you know, and and maybe it is happening and I'm just not seeing it. But, you know, is this you know, is this the same a level statum, you know, and just because we haven't for good reason. We're seeing these as
perspectives rather than elevations. But I think that's another subtle mechanism that I can definitely see on the building that's the building C2 facing Silent Road. I can see that. But I'm looking for that continuity across all the buildings that are part of the
development. And again, not it does not have to be literal. It could be suggested. I think that's the piece that would help to begin to unify them. And and the more I think about it, the role of B1 as being kind of the upfront rather than background,
still being respectful to the surrounding content. >> We did spend quite a bit of time massaging each building and Emily has >> they do align. The short answer is they all do. >> We move the sandals so that they align.
That's something I definitely this model is very telling to me. When I see the other existing buildings, I can see those various datams and I think that is again how it begins to kind of knit together an urban landscape. >> I have a quick comment about the too if
you don't mind >> just that perspective that we were looking at earlier that uh Mimi had commented on. I think Mimi's comment is is right on. I just wonder, you know, to Laura's point,
if the texture of the second floor sophet stays the same, but as it comes down that the the actual texture uh doubles or triples, so that there's a kind of a a gradation of the way that detail comes
because I think the thing that's disconcerting is that the the detail doesn't break down as it gets closer to you and it feels very heavy as you're on top of you. So, you know, thinking about that one uh vertical surface, maybe going to a different scale, but keeping
the same shingling, but just breaking down the scale a little bit might help that transition. The other thing that was very effective, I thought on uh R1 was the idea that the glass was allowing that interesting kind of uh infinity to
the way it was working. So the idea the other idea was that this surface becomes something different so that you do see that plane going through so it has the illusion because I think as you're coming down the street the promise I know that we that's been taken away now
that the glass is gone but uh it was very interesting uh illusion that you created originally um but I'm just thinking there's different ways of dealing with that transition. And I do think Mimi is right on with the idea that it does feel very compressed very
quickly. Um, and there is there a way of breaking that scale down to allow it to transition a little nicer. Thank you. >> Well, commissioners, we're at about an hour and 10 minutes on this project. Um so uh perhaps before handing it back to
you for next steps uh just a reminder to all uh participating uh that as of January 1st 2026 BCDC is accepting live public comment only at a project's introduction. Uh so for this project as this is the fifth in uh uh session uh we
will not be taking live public comment today. If there is any additional public comment, uh, please email the, um, planning department, uh, project manager or bcdcoston.gov. >> All right, the commissioners, we do need to make a recommendation here. Sorry, I
keep trying to turn on my camera. Um, I will make a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Second. All right, I am going to call on everyone. Uh Jonathan Garland, >> it's refused.
>> We still need him to say he's recused. I believe just to get quum. >> I'm refused. >> Yes. No. >> I think because they're out of the room, they don't need to. >> Okay. Shauna Smith. >> Yes.
>> Um Amarie Lubau. Yes. >> Catherine Morris. >> Yes. David Nagahiro. >> Yes. >> Folano. >> Yes.
>> And myself. Yes. >> Awesome. Well, congratulations. >> Thank you. >> You are our recommendation is for you to >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Um, so as we uh reset up the room,
we'll take a 5m minute break uh and we'll rejoin at 6:30. Oh, there we go. >> Okay. Can folks online hear us now, >> Laura? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Great.
>> Okay. >> All right, commissioners, we're back. All right, so um we're moving on to the West End Library. This will be the third presentation for the project to the commission. It follows an introduction
on March 4th of 2025. Although it's been a while, the commissioners that were at the last design subcommittee include Jonathan Garland, David Aine, Amarie Lubenau, David Nagahiro, and Laura Salano and myself. That what happened on November
18th. Um I think since then, Commissioner Garland is recused from this project. And the planning department staff that has shephered this project is Megan Richards and John Stewart Fishbach. And with that, I think we're going to
turn it over to the proponents. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Good evening, commissioners. Everybody else in the room here and online. Uh my name is Andrew S. I'm a a senior associate at PA. And tonight will be presenting the updated design of the
West End library development at 151 King Street. Next slide please. >> So I'm presenting on behalf of the architects. We have two architects uh the architect of record and um the design architect design group. Joining
me um today is a co-development team uh Feration Affordable Housing, our POAP and Capital. And then to my right here is our landscape architect uh GG Swallow representing a D2 collaborative. Uh so
I'll start off reviewing what we heard uh last time and um talk about what we responded to, look at some materiality and uh library person and then I'll hand it over to uh to Gi to talk about the landscape and site design. Next slide.
So you see the uh the overarching uh our our reasons uh for this project in in the uh on the screen here. Uh just a quick reminder, this project was born from a 2023 RFP by the city uh with a goal to provide affordable housing and a
new uh west branch um going from 17,000 to approximately 20,000 square feet. And I think the slide is a reminder of the unique the project's unique location. Um and it looks to bridge various district conditions not only in the neighborhood but also our immediate surroundings.
Uh there are taller more institutional buildings built west and north and the smaller scale more traditional fabric immediately to our east of the lotus house histo. So as we move forward and and uh developed the design we we kept this in
in mind and um really looking to um advance the design of these things in mind. So as we look at more very sight specific um images uh just keep this sort of overall a image in mind. Um next
slide. So the project is addressing many important goals within a very tight footprint just a reminder. Um so we have about 10,000 square feet of library to accommodate a resident entry uh those uh pesky required critical infrastructure
things such as uh electric uh rooms uh transformer rooms and and fire protection rooms all while also trying to carve out and carving out meaningful experience space for the the library and the community. Um and then once you leave the ground plane uh the
manipulation and the mass and expression materials also addresses um many factors uh that I sort of uh kicked off with with the overall view. So number one we're looking to relate to the diverse scale of the built fabric
from large scale institutional buildings as you see on the left to the historic buildings. Um we're looking to prioritize and locate and express the community spaces in both the building and the surrounding site. So that's the yellow which is the library and also the
blue elements which were purposeful um on spacing in the facade and then create uh distinct expressions for mapping elements. They break down the scale and reinforce the idea of constructive fabric with different pieces coming together. So you can see um we sort of
uh split the the massing which could have been quite bulky uh to the advantage of creating two elements and also creating an outdoor deck for the residents um on the top of level five. Next slide. That's a little bit about the development and overview. So really
these metrics haven't really changed. Um the 119 units on the 14story building called levels of residential over the twotory um the twotory library and obviously resident entry. Uh there is
one little uh minor um uh adjustment to this uh program which is bicycle parking spaces slightly reduced by four. actually a nice suggestion by city staff and and and BTD to uh open up some more
possibilities at the uh the ground plan which as I mentioned before uh we're we're you know um trying to address a lot of issues um in that um next slide. So I guess first we'll recap what we uh
last heard at at DCDC. So really um the commentary was quite consistent overall and I think we're we're looking to summarize the three major topics here in I mean there's a lot of other great sort of detailed comments but overarchingly there there
was a concern that the color palette and the architectural expression were perceived as less cohesive than the earlier um the earlier um schemes. multiple architectural languages and material expression were noted as contributing to more uh institutional
character. Um then there was a a comment um throughout about facade clarity and hierarchy. Um the side proportions and color relationships were um were noted as reducing the um contrast between the um
um the elements making the hierarchy um of the frame and the info less visible. And then thirdly, although the the library uh scheme was generally praised, uh there was multiple comments that the
portions of the horizontal band and the lack of a a strong corner was contributing to the that Allen not being able to uh sort of visually support the frame above.
So from there we are actually um uh directed to uh not do an additional subcommittee meeting. We're directed back to the city staff. And so the last four or five months we've had many great meetings uh set up by the the city staff
and and the uh various stakeholders. And um the next slides will are what we're looking um to propose and a lot of it's really um related to uh simplifying and um making more
cohesive um simplification and more cohesive design. So uh I think the next slide might be a little easier to read just because you can see the before and after. So we
we greatly reduced the um color scheme. So in the realm of of making it simpler like the very first scheme, we didn't go all the way back to one color, but we did reduce um reduce it down because before we were had sort of um three or
four colors happening between the library, the front tower, the the three to five area, then the back tower. So, we really simplified that right down to the two uh color schemes. We have a lighter color scheme where the library
and the in the front tower can relate and and speak to each other and then the darker colors in the uh the three to five levels three to five in the in the rear tower. Another uh great improvement I think was
um just simplification. So, and really uh understanding frame versus infill. So we we took the um previously sort of complex vertical frame elements which were sort of varying in in size and profile as you went up the building.
Simplify that um increase the horizontal frame elements. Created a top cap um for the for the tower element and really uh work with the colors to really um express the frame the infill and the fenestration. And you'll notice the
fenistration as well. I think uh part of it was the rendering and part of it was potential color selection, but you can actually read the demonstration now. You can see that there are windows. You can see that um it's a residential project if you look at the images um from the
left to the right. >> And just to know you're about half time. >> Thank you. Um then we have a a slight on the next slide. So there's another minor element at the
corner here with the elevator. We actually reduced that height. So we left the frame. You can see that much better in this element. But here's a a sample of our proposed materials. You can see we have the cream color ACM and and the
corugated and then the um the burgundy and the and the and the corrugated relating to the the brick. So allowing the the basically sort of this L-shaped sort of interlocking um two elements that are definitely responding to their
individual elements. You know the the the library has a has a presence as a library. the the main street facade at level three to five as relation to the oldest house and then um going to the alternating materials on the the frame
above. Next slide. Just a reminder, we didn't really need to change here, but here's the contemporary looking um main area that we're closing to five. City staff said it was very important to maintain that through the design and our various uh
pricing iterations. So we'll have that in mind. Um, next slide. So upon the library facade a bit. So really easy to see here. So I think it was Commissioner C mentioned that might be good to to
bring back the corner. I think um the you can see that the the addition of the corner and also the uh increase of the the horizontal element really lets the library sort of carry the elements above. Next slide.
So here's a sort of before and after. Thank you Nate for doing that. That's um you can see the improvements here very clearly. Uh so in addition to the limestone elements that have been updated and revised, there's also work with BPL and the city on the canopy
design, uh the signage and making the sort of entry more real with the book drop and and you know accommodating a vestibule and all those things that that really make uh the project work. Next slide. Then we're asked to look at the uh the
uh the ceiling uh plane. We proposing to do a faceted uh ATM which uh kind of relates to what the design we're looking at for the canopy of the of the library to tie those two pieces together. And then at floors one and two, we're
actually proposing upgrade to a a box a concealed fast box rib panel um just to those areas that are sort of that are in within touch and and visual range will be a little more refined than the corrugated panel above.
Next slide. And then here's the materials of the library. We have two um types of granite. one for the base of the the nice limestone and then one um the darker one for the uh elements for the planters and the courtyard base. You can
see the updates here with the signage and the canopy a little more clearly. You see that faceted design which going to look to carry over to the residential uh socket. And then finally, just a real quick um note that we did um
review the the the fence design. So, we landed on a sixft fence. Final design uh has not been determined, but this has an opportunity to create a custom art element that will tie back to the library's mission of the West End's history. And then I'll hand it over to
Gigi to talk about the website. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, just to remind everybody the overall diagram of the site, but we have a lot of different things going on in a very small site, lots of different uses all coming right up against each other. Um,
uh, next slide, Nate. Um, and this is the plan where it stands. And we'll zoom in, but just wanted to show you this overall so you can see along the top the east side of the building. Uh, so you can see the whole expense of the site. Um, next slide.
All right. What we heard when we were last um with you all um were uh comments about uh concerns about pedestrian safety and service access. So vehicles coming in and out of the site and when that would happen uh and how. Um
definitely everybody still has on their radar screen this um the relationship with Otis House and their open space um and what that will hopefully be. Um and in general the um planting there was an ask for more planting um especially at
the southwest uh southwest corner where it says highway easement um over on the left there where there were bike racks. Um and then the discussion about the entry stairs and the west side stairs um which are on the left and um some
discussion about consolidation of plers on the east side. Uh there were questions about um the night uh night landscape and the lighting scheme and how that was going to be working. And then there was a request for cast in place concrete paving at the library
front and the residential entrance. Um next slide please me. Um so the um the service uh the vehicular access to the site has been um clarified and that is really that there's uh pretty much nothing that comes onto onto the site
except for in um when there's a need to get to the um transformer room at the back which would be very infrequent. Uh all of the other um you know trash moving operations deliveries all of that is actually remains out on Cambridge
Street. Um the plaza you can see that our our relationship to Otis. We are still keeping our site open and kind of welcoming to the relationship with Otis House and FOA is continuing to coordinate with Historical England on
what is happening on their site. Um for the um landscape and entry experience, the um you can see we've added planting off of that southwest corner of the building. Um we removed bike racks from there uh to get a planting bed in that
location. Um the stair configuration, the west stair and that south stair remain the same. It's very tightly tied to grading constraints because of how Cambridge Street falls from the right to the left on this on the screen. Um and you know the the sidewalk has already
exceeded accessibility. So um how we tie in with that is is quite tricky. Um and um up on the on the right hand side we've consolidated planters and bike racks. Um uh uh the site lighting we'll
show you a rendering of that but we um we are working on a you know comprehensive plan that's being developed to keep this a safe and and well open space. Um there will be security cameras also. Um, and then the front, the paving at the library
entrance is now cast in place with um some sort of a score pattern to it. Um, we do still have large format pavers at the residential entrance on the right, but we've reduced the um contrast in those. They were higher contrasting colors before.
>> GG. One minute. >> Okay, next slide, please. Um, so this, um, diary just is how everybody's using getting in and out of all the various sentences. And I'm going to go fast. Um, next slide, please. And
then layering on top of that, um, how the service components, uh, and again, that vehicular service is pretty infrequent. It's really for transformer access only. Um but you can see um library van and trash youngsters um which we are certainly happy to get into
in more detail uh in a few minutes if anybody wants. Um next slide. Um this is just that rendering again that's showing from chemistry. And then the next slide, please, is um the nighttime rendering, which is really just um highlighting at
this point that we're looking at fixtures that wash surfaces as opposed to having, you know, a lot of really visible fixtures and trying to create um out in the landscape a consistent kind of even glow to the site so that there aren't, you know, kind of dark hidden
spots. Um and uh next couple of slides, we can literally just flip through these. These were we had talked last time about having some use diagrams. So, we did a series of these that you've probably all looked at. Um, yeah, keep going. Let me just flip right through them. I don't
want to go over time, but those are all the different scenarios, which again, we if anybody has questions, we can go back to those. I'd love it if you could just do that really quickly. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Can you go back, Nate, to the beginning of those? Great. So, this would be the everyday
scenario. Um the sidewalk is um actually widened from what it is currently as you come from Otis House on the east and move to the west. Um and so we feel as though the traffic moving around, there's that large granite block wall at Otis House that the pedestrian traffic
coming um along Cambridge Street will be um there'll be better flow of of traffic there. And you can see the various routes um to the front door of both the residential and the library itself. Um and this has all of these have on them
the bike lane on Cambridge Street which is um raised 3 in from the vehicular traffic and then there's also then a 3-in curb from that bike lane up onto the sidewalk. Um next slide.
Um, and this just shows the, um, library van. We are, you know, making sure that there's just enough room for that van to be able to get up onto the sidewalk for book deliveries. And then, um, also um, the library uh, needs some maintenance
access. So, that van will be there um, every day at some point. We hope not for very long, but um, we are, you know, we wanted to really make sure that we got those two street trees. So, we've um you know, just squeezed that in. Um next
slide. Uh and just the idea that there's this open plaza on the side that um the nice thing about having that fur cut is that you could use it for a special event. So, you could get a food truck in there or you could that there is that access plan absolutely needed and could
really support some fun programmatic things in that space. Um next slide, Nate. um this is just moving in and out. There would have to be um you know staging kind of within the building or on the site and then the truck is on the
street and for for quick load which is we hope it can happen. Um and then the next slide is what a trash pickup looks like. So, um it was important to the library folks that the um roll out dumpsters that come from towards the
back of the building that those not block the library van space because it could be at the same time of day even though trash pickup will be at low traffic times. Um we need to make sure that we could get dumpsters staged while also leaving that spot for the library
van. Um so that's trash pickup and I think that's the last one. All right. I think well with that commissioners we can open it up to comments. We don't have a model. So um any can
raise their hand or unmute themselves and start conversation. >> I'm happy to start then. I think this is a great project. I think we've actually been excited about this project since the beginning. I think there was a lot of conversations the
last time in in design subcommittee about the complexity of the entry drive. I think you've solved a lot by having all of the deliveries and vehicle access along Cambridge Street. I do think that'll come with some logistics, but I
trust BTD and the design team to to work through those. But I think the building itself is very it's very handsome. I'm glad that the color palette continues to be something that you're you're focused on. The detailing, you know, looks
really exciting. I I I think it's going to be a great project. Uh so I just want to, you know, commend the team for um working through all of our comments and continuing to wrestle with the ground plane and all of the logistics. Maybe
there's two really super nitpicky comments um that I have and it really gi the last site plan where you were showing the materiality of the ground plane. >> I do think it's a little disappointing that you went to concrete and I I assume
it might be for value engineering reasons that the entrance to the library >> No, it was it was requested of us. >> Um okay. Yeah. It just seems like such a nice opportunity to take those stairs
and have a plateau that is a little bit more formal than the actual sidewalk. Um that's it, >> right? which if we're if we're you know really pushed to concrete test and place we would try and at least score it
differently but we would prefer to see more like what we're doing at the residential entrance which is you know a large format favor but you can get color contrast and maybe there's something a little bit more special about that about that um
concrete mix. Maybe there's a little sparkle dust or something that you could put in it to make it seem a little bit >> better than just concrete. Great. >> And then the other I it's just a more of a question than a comment. The bike racks beyond the gate, the service drive
gate, are those for the public? Like who uses those? >> Those are um residents and any I mean any guests of residents would be able to um be able to open the gate for them to use those. But um that's why we you know
really wanted to make sure we kept um forward and we have a couple down at the um at the street still um at the kind of continuity strip along the street. I think we ran into um the library pickup
library van and trash >> that sweeps out um some more of the bike cracks that have been there before. >> It just seems like a place that's not going to be very accessible to the public. So, I was just around that. So, that might be something to continue to
think about. How can we get at least a couple more spots, >> but I see that Katherine has her hand raised. >> Yes, >> you want to. >> Good, good evening everyone. As the sun is hitting my face. Um, so on this slide and page 3435
as well, just I'm understanding uh the kind of public realm open space I see the the um uh what do I want to call them? Uh the barricades, if you will, um that are
there. And I'm wondering um >> for events for small vans that want to to get into the other park or food trucks, are they going to have to go up on a sidewalk or is there a ramp I'm not seeing that allows for uh smaller vehicles to turn in if
they're going to service that area for an event. I'm just trying to >> Yeah, there is there is a Yeah, there is a curve cut there. Um and there will be ballers. They're pretty faint on this, but there are three. I don't know whether Nate you can curse or point those out. Uh there are ballers there
and um one or two of those would be removable and that would be managed by POA. You know that the ability to lay those down or we're not sure whether they're a lay down or a retractable or a pull out, but um those would be moved for for driveway access. So, if I'm
coming if I'm if I'm a small business that's been hired as a food truck to come in, I'm coming down the street and I'm turning, am I going on the sidewalk to get to those ballots or is there a ramp there? >> There's a curb ramp, but you're having to or curb cut, but you're having to
cross the sidewalk there. >> Okay. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Is it Is it a curb cut or more of a mountable curb? >> Well, that's true. I guess it is an audible curve now that the bike lane's there. So, it's a 3 inch and a 3 inch.
So, it's already curve. >> I think one of the things that you know we worked a lot with this proponent team and BTD and disabilities um was really discouraging vehicles from from turning into this, right? Um because we found
that uh the swing of most vehicles would wind up not only blocking and affecting one lane but affecting two. Yeah. There was a lot of debate about do we bring trash and other service vehicles into this alley and I think for a variety of reasons um safety uh being among the top
of them we really wanted to expand the public realm increase safety for pedestrians and bicyclists and so most of the loading activity is meant to be from the street and then on very controlled occasions right when management is able to organize it uh
would vehicles come back uh into that rear space and the, you know, area that's currently parking uh for the Otis House. Uh the Otis House has in mind uh future renovations um that, you know, are not yet fully baked enough, but the
idea is that this would not necessarily be parking for Otis. >> Mimi, I have a question. Can you go back to the image with the comparison of the before and after on the King Street elevation? And first of all, I completely agree
this is a a really good project and I think um that the after is g is um in your words a greater clarity. Um, and now that I'm looking at it again, I
I like the fact that the uh building got lighter and um I I think that the relationship to the Otis house is really important, but it's really important at the base of the building and um bringing up the lightness up through those top
eight floors, I guess, um really I think really helps a lot. I wanted to go back here because I wondered and now I'm not sure. Um, so I'll say it anyway, but um I wonder you you made the point that
there was a clarity between the frame and the and the background of the frame or the panel of the frame or inside the frame. And I wonder if um you need that one extra color um on the tower on the
top eight floors. And maybe you do now that I look at it again. Maybe you do because you I do think there is a greater clarity. I think the frame reads much stronger on the right. And if you took that call it a dove gray away, you
probably blur it again and that would that would not be good. So I'm going to and and actually what now that I look at it more closely, what you actually did was it kind of reversed what happened on floors two, three, and four. and um
softened what happened on the top eight floors, the color and clarity and and that's that's really a nice change. So I think and I think that the David scene's comment about the corner was a good one. The building really does want to come
down to the ground on that corner. There's a you know the visual sense of a lot of weight above. Um so I I think you've um I wasn't here for the last meeting. just your first one I guess and
um uh I think you've responded to the comments that you related from the last meeting very well. >> Can I say a few things about different look at it from a different direction? No, that's either way. Fine. I I it's good for me
to keep my brain busy. Um so, but this actually is sort of helpful because one of the issues that I have with walking down the street from the top side is the chance that you're going to hit this half concrete, half brick. Um, and I and
I I know that the idea of this, you know, you could pull it back, which you might not want to do, or you could pull it and and maybe you're leaving that for the library parking truck. But the other thing could be to just have a consistent van along the edge of the street, a
consistent brick band along the edge, because I think there is an awkwardness when you're when you're when you're coming along. >> Um, >> I think that happens twice. It happened in the corner you're pointing out. And then it happens on the end too when you just got this little sliver of
>> right. Yeah. Yeah. Unless the sliver what I was saying is maybe the sliver goes all the way along too if you want to just have a brick. But but either either way. Um how how much of this paving is permeable?
>> Um not determined yet. Um I think in the we especially in the the kind of access lane and the open space along the top there. Imagine that that could all be permeable. Yeah. >> Um I think obviously at the res entrance you're undercover. So um not so much. But um
>> yeah, I think out at the at the library entrance um I think it's the you know perpetual accessibility acceptable that kind. >> Yeah. No, I I was nodding my head. I knew where it was coming from. Yes.
The answer. Um, I guess what I think is that the whole passage along the service lane seemed to me a missed opportunity because if it's only really being, you know, it could be used for special events, but but
I understand you need it. I don't know if you've pushed your limits of what the transformer truck needs. I mean, does it also have to be a fire truck? Does it have to be firetruck? So, so I I I those guys are moving really slow, so I would try to push it
as much as possible. I also I know you want to keep the Otis um parking lot open, but maybe there's a possibility of putting an island along that edge so that it feels more like a green space, like you're moving through a green space
if you can. And then I think once you get behind the gate, maybe you really start having fun with that. Like maybe that becomes some sort of like you know resilient surface that there can be play space or you know or painting like games on the ground or you know different
different things because it is you know it's it's a residential project. This is affordable too. Affordable project in the city probably a bunch of families and you know having some play space that's directly associated with you know
with your your building I think would be really important and obviously it has to be designed in a way that it can allow the transformer access. I don't know how emergency if you could move stuff out of the way or not if there is but still I think you could really sort of play with
that and develop that a lot more both in terms of its permeability but really in terms of its programming um idea. So, those are my main comments. >> I have a comment that Laura's hand is
off. So, Laura, you want to go ahead? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> I have to start learning sign language. >> What makes you think I don't know? Um >> so thank you for the presentation and um
I wanted to ask something um take the discussion that Shauna just had a little bit further. So previously that corridor was being kept open for service uses whether they're trash cans
or you know something to do with the um the uh you know mechanical for the building and so none of that is going to take place anymore. Is that right?
>> Except for the mechanical Yeah. And the and the the dumpsters get rolled out from uh from the kind of back half of the building as well. Um the series of dump >> but if they're rollable they're
relatively small. Um, >> so I I do have to ask, so if you've limited that, why why isn't there more green space along that? >> I don't know, Nate. Do you have the 12
foot lane diagram? We had another exhibit that was >> Yeah, that shows >> shows Yeah. Right. So, what we did do was consolidate um with that 12- foot required service access. We we played around a lot with
sliding that closer to the building or further away and where you know where you had to kind of what's left um which you can see is more like about 8 feet. Um yeah, and we found that when we broke it up and split it on both sides of the service lane, it felt you just couldn't
get a kind of robust enough scale of planting. they just became these little slivers that I think within that space felt small. So, we consolidated that um with the kind of social space uh on the building side and pushed the the access
lane all the way to the property line. >> Right. So, all the way through. >> No, but you have the diagram of going all the way through. Uh I don't know whether when we uh you know if you go Nate to the over let me just see if it's
on the overall the zoomed out if you go back to the full site plan. Yeah it's on that very first there we go that one. Got it. So So a question do you imagine that
um residents would use that space like you were talking about flexible spaces. So, um, was that imagined to be sort of back a house or or someplace that people could occupy
>> back where on to the left of this image where the service vehicle access becomes kind of gray. We don't envision people using that space because because it is all all kind of the access lane. >> So, we don't envision people
there. Okay, I get it. So, but there but there are if you look at this diagram for instance on top of that service vehicle access maybe there's you know a place to get some green that you know from afar
you'd see it behind that >> behind yeah we are trying to plant um that side of it you can see here in the plan we're trying to plant uh as much as we can along that edge there's actually um part of Otis house there's a big historic
granite block wall there that we wanted to do some low planting in front of. And then even further back, that's actually a um a I believe it's a it's an MGH building, but um where they've asked us to keep off of it a little bit. So, we
have planting going in there as well. So, we're trying to maximize the green back there so that it's uh there's some relief to the paving. Well, you're coming to something else that I'm um a bit concerned about in front of the library, which is the
smallness, the thinness of those planters. And then also cutting benches into those areas. You have benches in the building. And I don't know that you need the benches that are right across from them that are in the, you know, the
passage area. And I do think it's important to give passive seating in these kinds of places so somebody can wait, right? You can't wait by the front door necessarily because you may not be
seen by your Uber. Um, but I'm wondering if you could think about removing those benches that are in the planter to give a little more breathing room for the planting, but also think about on the um
public side of that to make that, you know, 12 in wider so that it could be someplace for people to sit. Now, I know that that has a gradient to the top, right? you're striking it level and because of the way the paving works and
the grades in front of the building that it goes from larger to smaller. But I don't think that's a problem because you're also talking about kids, right, who could use a smaller height bench. But I I I would encourage you to to
think about that so that there's a little more public waiting room, hanging room in that um in that area. And maybe even if you're going to narrow the beds as you do, maybe the ends of those just
become big blocks, you know. >> Um, >> so and and maybe this can go up the it can go up a little bit. If you if you wouldn't mind going back to the plan for just a second.
So, you know, maybe these areas become solid so that you can, you know, face out either way. But um a minor thing that I but I think sort of makes it a little more neighborly as well. Um,
and then looking at that 12 foot diagram, I'm wondering if the planter beds um leading to the residential and next to the residential entry if those could be made wider again for the same reason
just to give plants a you know fighting chance. um you know there it it's the curse of the city right that you just don't have enough soil volume um but I really appreciate what you've done over
on the right side out of the secured reading garden um because I think that has double effect which is it'll be nice for people in the garden and also just a nice way to kind of frame down that
entry into the library. And I would second thinking about whether or not the pavement in front of the entrance itself, so the the sloping up piece and then to the boundaries of the steps that that might be made um a better uh
looking and you know, richer pavement. Um but other than that, you know, I think you've you've worked with a really tough space, really tough um with a lot of competing um a lot of competing interests. And so
I I I think it's going to be terrific. Um and just a few more dials to turn, I think. >> Thanks. Can I just read one statement that just sort of follows? >> Sure. And then we'll pass it to Kirk. >> Which is that I actually you you said you weren't imagining that backspace to be active and I think that's you should
imagine that as your backyard, you know, because I think it's in the way that you have your secret li your secured secret library garden. This is the secured kids play garden. And I think it's really like, you know, obviously you have to get the transformers from it, but it's really a pretty amazing opportunity. It
does because it's safe and it's sort of fenced away and it doesn't have to have the same sort of formality. >> Same program that does. Yes. >> And Mimi, can I add something to that? >> Sure. Go ahead. >> Yeah. Just going back to the paving issue, the the um also just looking at
the the introduction of concrete and it seems a little arbitrary in terms of where it happened. So maybe that can connect to the crosswalk, but I'm just looking at that neighborhood brick has so much of the has so much to do with the identity and character. And is there an opportunity maybe as you follow up on
some of my colleague suggestions about the space that are off the immediate public realm to reintegrate some of that color just to begin to subtly >> knit the two together so this doesn't feel quite like it's just dropped in as
something very different. And I think that's a really wonderful opportunity for some texture and visual interest and ways to also pick up the fact that the building too is toggling between brick. Great.
>> Do you want to wrap us up? >> Sure. No, no. I I think first of all uh the comments around the public realm uh are spoton and and and very comprehensive. So uh all the discussion of what is a fairly limited uh public
realm in its own right I think uh are great and should be taken to heart. So I think I'll take us a different direction and that is just to say and maybe pick up on uh some some points that David made. Uh this building's trying to do a lot, you know, it's trying to mitigate
many datimms, lots of chromas, uh many different uh vintages of of uh surround and I think the changes you made are are actually excellent. I especially from this view um I think
it's a much better comprehensive uh organization and and I get what you're trying to do and I think you'll keep refining it. So I don't have a lot to say except to say it's an important project trying to do a lot of things in a very critical place in the city and
and I'm very supportive of what has been done to make it better and and the things that have been suggested. So thank you. you. Any other commissioners? All right. Um, here in the room,
if you just go to your opening slide with the view of the city, I think the next time you present this, you have to put the map general building that's going in that is really missing this view >> and they'll pick up on some of the
colors and textures. But um just wanted to make that comment. Um we don't have public comments today. My computer died, so I'm just looking at the front of the camera, but commissioners, if we don't have any
other comments, we do need to make a recommendation. So if I can have a motion, >> I'll move that we approve send to the board. Do I have a second? >> Second.
>> Second. >> Excellent. All right. I'm going to call on each one of you. Um Tana. >> Oh, yes. >> Um Amarie Luvenau, >> yes. >> David Manfred, >> yes.
>> Catherine Morris might be muted. >> Thank you. David Nagerro, >> yes. Laura Solano, >> yes. >> Scythe, >> yes.
>> And myself, um, yes. And with that, our recommendations from the commission is to continue um onto the board. So, congratulations. >> Thank you. Project. >> Thank you. Okay. We'd like to invite the 45 town
team up. And I know we're running a little late here, uh, folks. Um, but we are close to forum. So if folks have to leave, please let us know. >> I'm recused. Do I need to come back? It would be great if I didn't.
>> Um, >> if nobody's I'll wait. >> I'll I'll wait. You can text me. I'll definitely >> read and the windows are great for you. >> And do you guys have uh are you sharing
your presentation as well? Yeah. Okay. And I see that Commissioner Garland has returned. >> Correct. Should we get going? I know there >> Yes. So, you need to log on to Wicked Free Wi-Fi and join the Zoom meetings.
But actually, I think we may have your material pulled up. Lizzy, do you have the 45 pounds in? >> And we'll have planning department comments first. >> Yes. >> And then the presentation and then urban. >> This is the one that uh was sent to us
about an hour before the meeting. And yes, we will start with uh planning department contact. >> All right. Excellent. Um I I don't have much to add other than we're on to uh review a new project 45 town street in
Roxberry. Um the planning department staff that has been reviewing this is is Jean Yangju James Valentine and Scott Scott Larski. Um believe with us today. Thank you. Um and we're
going to have planning department present some comments. the proponent will present their um project. We'll have some urban design comments and then public comments. Um so just be mindful as we um
try to wrap up this evening within the next 45 minutes or so. >> I'll sign it pass on to the planning department. >> Thanks Amy. Uh good evening commissioners. Ted Schwarzburg, uh, assistant deputy director for planning review and, uh, as folks know, I I
usually join to help present new projects. Uh, so I'll present a little bit on the planning and zoning context. Uh, this is a former hospital facility, uh, that hasn't been in use for a few years. Uh, it's on four, uh, lots, uh, but this is considered one project. Uh,
the zoning here is a Townsen Street community facilities subdist. And in Roxberry, we have community facility subdists primarily for uh traditional land uses that were schools, hospitals, uh and other institutional uses. And uh
key to the review tonight uh are that uh the dimensional caps are at 45 ft and 2.0 F and multif family use uh which is proposed is an allowed use. So, uh, the proponents are, um, here to present a
project that follows all of our zoning regulations. And, uh, as the commissioners are reviewing this, I'm happy to chime in, uh, if you have any questions about, uh, where the zoning limits, uh, come into play. Uh, and then about the neighborhood, uh, this is in
the fabric of of Roxberry. So, um, this is primarily triple- decker, three uh, three family woodframe uh, homes. uh to the north uh which is on the right side of the page and uh to the left of the site is uh one uh small cluster of
multif family residential that uh exists and directly above the site. Next slide please. And just to situate you in the neighborhood and uh sorry it might be a little hard to read but uh this is uh uh very close to some great transit
resources. So this is walking distance to Jackson Square uh with uh Orange Line and MBTA bus service. Uh so that's in the upper right or upper left uh corner of the image here. Uh and then just off the image uh on the upper right side is
Nubian Square. Uh that has a lot of bus service. And then uh this is just off of Washington Street. And uh the bus 42 runs up and down Washington Street. And uh something good to keep in mind uh as as you uh review uh the site uh slides
that my urban design colleagues have prepared uh is to think that this is a very urban condition uh with a lot of transit resources uh even though right now the buildings fit in a sea of parking. Uh so with that I'll hand it off. Is it Seth or June that's presenting next?
>> Thank you for the train. >> Thank you Ted. So yes, this is a former hospital site with very challenging topographic conditions with elevation changes of approximately 40 to 50 feet with the low end at pound towns end sort of rising as you go left on page. Um
there are inaccessible natural areas with a lot of ledge and cliff conditions, large areas of impermeable vehicular surfaces today and sloped conditions along building edges. Uh there is vehicular access from both uh Towns or sorry from Townsen Street. Uh
other access points Harishoff and Dennis Street are to be pedestrian andor emergency vehicle access only in response to resident concerns. Uh and with that we've concluded our preface slides. Uh Lizzie, if you could bring up the proponent presentation. Uh and team
you have 15 minutes to present. Um and just ask for next slide to advance. See if we can get that larger on page. Let's pull up. Uh good evening everyone. Um thank you uh for joining us and thank
you for your time consideration. My name is Ped Davis. I'm the project manager for Kenzie Invest Company. I'm joined by Steve Moral is our lead architect and Michael Brian is our landscape consultant. Um with this project uh and this new design, we've taken a very different approach. Uh we had a lot of
feedback from the community. Uh this this area is home to the Gearson charter neighborhood association as well as NE me association and a very vocal um IG. So uh we took all their comments from
the previous uh uh previous designs uh and use that really to guide uh this this updated design. Um one of them that they requested was a zoning compliant project. Uh they wanted a maximum of 166 units uh which is aligned with the
surrounding uh zoning density. Uh they wanted one to one parking. Uh they wanted a max they wanted to minimize construction impact on the neighbors. So this property is full of Roxberry pudding stones. Uh so the
previous uh design would require a lot of blasting uh which is something the neighborhood did not want and the community did not want. So, um that was definitely something to be in consideration. Uh they did not want uh any access to Denison, which is on the
back side of the property. Uh and they did want pedestrian access to hair shop. Uh no, no vehicular access, just pedestrian. Um so taking all that into consideration as well as uh economic considerations um you know the cost of
construction has gone way up materials are way up and all that we started looking at well how can we achieve everything they're asking uh don't make something that makes sense um we look at the hospital uh the infrastructure is
sound very high ceilings big concrete structure wide floor plan so we we we decided to take a look at if we can make it re reuse this building. Um, and so that led us to an adaptive reuse uh with some additions to really
um make this project work. And with that, I'll leave it to Steve to kind of walk through how the design uh evolves. Thank you. Um my name is Steve Moral. I'm architect. Um I just wanted to kind of reiterate what was said about the um
the neighborhood. We're in the um house the neighborhood is founded by some large important city federal affairs but our our site fits you know pretty much in the heart of that but street itself is an important roadway that that traverses the neighborhood and so we have kind of a prominent location. It
also um shares the the street with Hroio Harris Park, but it's in I think that that park with it um this pastry around them be um approaching our project. Next
slide. The neighborhood contract as it was stated is is a lot of um one and two family homes. There are um a multitude of multif family apartments in the neighborhood. Um, you know, most of them are all on brick, along the window, three to four stories. That kind of
speaks to a little bit what our project will end up being. Um, so, um, the top the top three are are really across the street and next door. So, you can kind of see what the context of what we're working with. Next slide. This is the existing conditions of the
site. Um, it's a new building. It is functionally designed for hospital use. Um, for the hospital, parking is prioritized. So there's a you know vast amount of asphalt um entries were inside the lot and there was nothing on the street exposed ledge in the right of the
site as was explained and the building doesn't really fit the scale of the neighborhood. So we'll have to um do lots of paper. Next slide. This is a little bit of a site analysis. So the challenges we're going to the site is the seat slope comes up from down into the rear. It just difficult um
to traverse especially when considering accessibility. Um, and the building access is limited to really, you know, where the building can use the site. Um, but there are some bins that have to be used. The height of the building and the train allow for really beautiful views
of the city. Um, the construction doesn't require a ton of effort to transition to residential and the limited construction. In fact, when um both during construction, given the amount of the space that we have, they
don't need much uh you know with the neighbors. Um some challenges for the adaptive reuse that we'll be addressing is um currently there's no access to the buildings on the street. Um difficult to park on the steep grade.
um for accessibility will always be an issue throughout the entire project and um alleged is you know a concern that we have but the adaptive reusability just kind of minimize the need of very much removable. Next slide. This is um section of of the property
that I cut through the primary building. It's really just for a diagram but you can get an idea of where we are. Section tell the story of site access and how you can take advantage of the architecture to facilitate the movement through the site. There are important locations where the floors of the building intersect with the site. So at
Fountain Street um on the right of the building right of the slide um the ground floor aligns with the public pedestrian way where there are direct opportunities for residential community interaction. Moving up levels in the building and moving away from the street leaving the intersection thing on the left connected with the neighborhood interaction on the street which creates
a sort of tiered layered organization focused more on the resident only area. Next one. You're just over half past time. >> Uh so let's look at the building. Um the history of the site. Um the primarily
we're kind of highlighting the buildings that u we'll be using for the property. Uh there's a hospital on the site since 1929, but most of those buildings are no longer there. And we're dealing with buildings that were built in the 50 in the back was built in uh 1987. That
warehouse building that's not highlighted in the back. That's something that was coming down. Um and um it was built in 1966. Um and we're dealing with the dator building over here which is um really already situated for residential use. We're a little bit ahead of the game. Um
all this have not not been in use since uh 2014. Next slide. Um so how do we adapt institutional building to multif family residents? Um we talked about this the zoning two lot. So, we're kind of um looking at one
building on each of the two um two lots we have. Um the demolition you see in red is u challenge, but it's to adapt the building. There's um one structural bay on the fertile building um extension to allow light into the interior to make um the
footprint more conducive to uh residential single story boiler rooms that the that will need to be will be removed aren't very usable for what we're doing. um the warehouse building itself will come out which didn't work anyway because of the fact there's no
one building on the site and um where I have a smaller newer on one story edition um we're moving on one story edition is in the interior part that has peers in the courtyard that really is very useful for what we're doing um the additions to the
site you can see them outlined on this slide the twotory part the first one only see the third floor addition the rest of the building. There's also a four-story addition with widen and narrow spine providing three units. And then the courtyard primarily we're adding a 45 foot four-story addition to
the dormatory. This park needs underneath the and this bridge to provide access to the highest point of site. We'll be adding a a lookout amenity. Um one of the significant items is the removal of the perimeter fences which are there now that will allow the
project to better fabric. Next slide. Um this slide shows a breakdown of the building and general view. All 62 units are rentable. Um and we are providing an array of interior amenities to the residents. Um the addition of zone building completes an access strategy
via a complete campus that allows movement to different areas of the site taking advantage of pedestrian walkway connecting the two buildings. Here though we can see the layers or tiers that can be used to organize the site. Um along town there is a landscape area with a small garden that creates a a
sort of front porch to the property where there can be interaction between the residents and the neighborhood. There al there are units with direct street access in this area as well as primary entrance to the development. We've introduced uh street trees which enhances the street shape and provides some curve feel while that was missing
from the time was at the hospital. for um we'll move as we move back into the site you can see site enhance enhancements and gardens that have different levels of indirect indirect access from the streets as well as others that are more private. Next slide. Um here we can see um how the layer and
peers are starting to be instrumented. The elevation shows a clear view of how the building interact with the site. Um along you can see where the building entrance and ground level units can access the gardens on the street. The facade is looking ahead with new materials to contrast with the brick to
present a human scale at the street. Um, but there was once a building that turned on the street are now opening up to the street. Uh, on the south elevation, you can see a tier that allows building entry. This tier pulls back a little from the front porch like interaction at the front of the building, but still maintain a level of
community interaction. Example, there's an accessible parking for the while there's accessible parking for the building here, there's also parking for car share vehicles and be accessed by anybody in the community. Um the entrance center to a primary amenities for residents. However, there are also community activity rooms which
are used by neighborhood residents. The design of the building reduces large glazed openings into the residences to allow light into the spaces. The existing hospital strict windows near the interior of the building uh somewhat dark. So we're trying to um alleviate that. Uh we were however cautious of the
building existing building didn't want to lose much of the building design and history and let much of the existing grooming be exposed throughout. Uh primarily we are enhancing the existing use of requirement stance and metal panels for action. Next slide
at the BU's new addition you can see how we continue to use the large gray building providing ample light to the residences. Um and at the main a building along the profile of the site contour the tearing of the site is very visible as it moves back from the street
and engage the building. Next slide. So, um, the first set of slides shows the front of the building with the street trees and you can see how it contrasts with the interesting um building. We're trying to kind of work
with the shapes in the form of the building, but we're introducing some new some new openings, some new ways to kind of just the interior of the building, but the exterior. Next slide. Um, more rendering. this the side entry
at the first tier with a ramp um moving up from the street to this to this tier. Um I just wanted to point out the power lines here. We we will be uh having to um there will be power lines renderings don't show them but we're going to have to address them. We're going to have to
be careful with um as we go ahead with the design. Let's be cognizant of them especially as we design the tea tree and and things of that nature. Um next slide. These are views in the rear of the site um of the dormatory building. Um you can
see that the existing building is kind of a patchwork um of different types of materials and we're kind of trying to create a cohesive design with the landscaping and um the architecture. Um you know you can see we're kind of we're kind of creating a small oasis in this
neighborhood and you can see we are presenting that there. Um, next slide. Um, so these are just some views of the main entrance off the street. Um, and the enhancements we're making to the
street gate. Um, the test kind of the two buildings which is kind of key with the building. Next slide. Here you can see the site improvements in context on the site. uh those yellow
entry points to provide access to the area of path and the sidewalks that meander around the site. Um similar to the way they were kind of mirroring the way that um talk to similar things um and you know how we kind of meander way
around putting up cropping about two minutes left I'll let you >> next slide please. So I'll be very quick um just reorienting the all to the site with bird side view. Um again the strategy for the landscape comes as
these tiered systems which emerge out of the need to grade the site in order to meet the interest of the building. Uh so one of the important things that we wanted to emphasize is this idea that there's this kind of interface between the front of the building which we kind of considering the porch and then as you
go further into the site you have then a more private secured residence. Um the strategy for the actual site is keeping um it completely free of fencing and allowing for kind of full maintained connectivity to the residential fabric which means that the security comes actually through accessibility. Full
site accessibility is acquired through the building which means that that public interface and the porch becomes the front area where community and residents are able to come together. um especially with the introduction of street trees and when I'm kind of considering our putting stone continuity of material um which kind of continues
the interface of putting stone frontages around the neighborhood that go all the way up to Harris Park and then also in that first tier the parking lot as well where community ride share and bike share access will be as you go further along the site then that becomes more private access. Um, next slide please.
And then kind of going and reorienting back to what was used. That front three images, top left, top right, and bottom left. Consider the front view of the site from Townsen Street. So, this again is really where the public interface comes along. The front image at the very top is in front of where now are the
nurs's dormitories. Uh, so those would be more lawn conditions for the site. And then as you move along more spaces to linger where again in these front entrance gardens here are opportunities for residents who are living there to use the space but also a lot of people are walking to use the area. Again tell
the streets very visible. So the opportunity slow moving traffic and also provide shade during the warmer months. And then as you progress further into the site in our bottom right image as you can see you have more of a reclusive space for residents to take care of an outdoor amenity which will also pair with the garden space and then the
overlook that situates itself at the back of the site. Um and then in terms of surfaces a lot of work is being taken care in order to reduce asphalt on the site with more opportunities for infiltration into uh grassy nles and also spaces in the parking lot to also think about um retention there for
water. Next slide, please. You can finish up. >> Yep. And then lastly, just considering planting for the site um in order to contrast kind of some of the standard pages of the materials, really thinking about bringing color into the spaces where the front is situated in the darker purple uh in order to kind of
navigate folks along the site and then bringing flowering species and new conditions into the site where you can see in the lighter purple the shade of where new planting will happen. Everything else is considered existing or residential access. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. And we'll
turn to staff slides uh very quickly. Uh so if we bring those up, of course, adaptive reuse presents challenges and opportunities and requires thoughtful and uh site and building design strategies to achieve an accessible welcoming welcoming and well integrated development within the surrounding
residential neighborhood and building off the architectural integrity of the existing buildings. Um we are uh very much interested and have started talking with a proponent about enhancing the legibility uh and the prominence of the entrances especially from Townsen
Street. Uh the development's prim primary public entry should better announce itself along the towns and face. Uh and we're also looking particularly at the larger addition to building B. Uh, can the citing amassing of that addition be configured to
improve the residents entry experience, create additional landscaping space, and reduce the visual presence of surface parking? Next, please. Um, of course, uh, this is incredibly challenging from an accessibility standpoint, as Michael and Kim were
saying. How can the accessible routes along the site's uh, topography be designed as a sequence of meaningful experiences for residents and visitors? Um the Townsen Street front yard uh which the proponent has focused a lot of time on um to I think to solid effect uh
should continue to be publicly accessible with access to the building and units lining the streets. They do have ground floor units there. Um there are uh some very nice underwire street tree plantings uh and reconstructed Roxberry pudding walls uh which we feel are strong elements and we feel like
this can be further developed and sort of wrapped around some of the key public edges um as this develops. outdoor amenity spaces, wanting to make sure that we we clarify and understand the intended public versus semi-private or or private character of each the dog
walk, the gathering decks and gardens and further study the pedestrian desire from Hershoff Street terminus to various resident entries. Next please. Um for the adaptive reuse of the existing building and site. Uh really looking to better understand the
distinction between what is existing and what is new and really can the architectural solution retain the legibility of the existing architecture uh and allow the new volumes to read as distinct. Uh and we'd love uh as we continue to work with a proponent to
explore strategies where existing fenistration materiality and architectural details um are discreet in their relationship to the proposed additions. With that, turn it over to commissioners. Uh maybe uh Lizzie, we could go back to
the proponents presentation. >> All right, commissioners. I'm without my laptop, so feel free to raise your hand on the Zoom call. I'm sorry if I can interrupt because we are uh nearing quorum. May I make a suggestion that we uh make a motion to vote now just in
case one or two people drop off? >> Absolutely. So, uh commissioners, I need a motion to send to subcommittee or um another motion you would like to make. >> Make a motion to send.
>> Sorry. >> Thanks, Kirk. And I'm going to assume that David is second. So with that, I'm going to call on everyone present. Uh Jonathan Garland, >> yes. >> Uh Shauna Gillis, which is recused from
this one. Uh Amarie, >> David Manfred, >> yes. >> Katherine Morris, >> yes. >> David Nagiro, >> yes. >> Thank you. Laura Salano, >> yes. >> Kirk Sykes,
>> yes. and mute myself. Yes. Um so at a minimum you're going to go to subcommittee, but we do want to um give you comments that you can uh work with the planning staff on in the next uh time between our
meetings. So with that, thank you. >> Would you like to kick us off? >> Sure. Sure. Uh, thank you and thank you for the presentation and also thank you for addressing a building that's been a
a bit of a blight on this neighborhood for quite some time. Um, I have the unique experience of having had our daughter live across the street when she went to UMass Boston with a bunch of roommates and so I know the site very
well. And um a couple of my comments come out of that knowledge which um which which hopefully you can address some of them. First of all, Towns and Street is an extremely fast street and I don't know what traffic calming uh you
will bring to bear, but in the um macro public realm where your um main entry on towns and for vehicles exits is also a very difficult blindish corner. So I I don't have an answer for
you. It's more a a statement of um the current circumstance. The other thing is uh would be about the lighting strategies along the front yard and and how you will animate that. The uh the buildings across the street that you showed are fairly dense apartments
populated by a lot of people who are young in the at the moment. And so, you know, there in terms of eyes on the street, uh, I think we want to think carefully about who's home, who's out, who's at school, and how are you trying
to secure that front yard. And then my last comment before I turn it back to my fellow commissioners is is maybe about hierarchically prioritizing facades. Um, you know, this building has sat here for so long in its current condition that
it's begging for a statement of rebirth and it still feels very institutional mostly because of the massing to me, but I feel you may do some more uh creative and innovative things say on the Townson
Street facade and maybe on the facades where you have more vegetation and screening uh maybe that warrants a slightly different approach. So I I'm guess I'm looking to encourage you to differentiate the different masses in
their treatment as they present themselves to very different conditions in their context. That's it for me. Thank you. >> Thanks Mark. >> Can I just ask that we go to a different drawing? I think Lizzie um you're you
have control and I just want to site plan where we Hey, that's great. Why don't we just leave it here? Go ahead. >> I'm going to pick up exactly where where uh Kirk was. I wonder um given the scale
of surrounding neighborhood and and it's mixed. I get that. Um there's triple deckers and there's duplexes and then there's some multif family three or four story. Um there there's a lot of
different things but this is the oddity by far. Uh and um I wonder if your approach shouldn't be when first of all by the way I should have started with this. This is incredibly ambitious and I
applaud you for taking this on. Uh and and um and I'm sure that um I don't know I I never even knew this building existed. I've never heard that name before. U I'm happy that Kirk knows it so well. Um but like a lot of these
medical healthc care kind of things um everything kind of gets connected and congealed to everything else. And I I want to without taking on greater scope because I understand this it's got to be
this going to have lots of financial constraints around it. I wonder if you don't take on strategies of how you separate the pieces because it feels like you're you're touching every surface which is ambitious. You're um
but necessary but they're staying very congealed. They're staying very con very similar as I wind my way around all of these different faces. And I wonder if you don't take a strategy of saying there's four buildings here. There's the
one that's labeled and I don't mean you might say it's five or six, but um there's the nor the the dorm building edition which is the new building and then there's the what is the other one? building and then there's one on towns
in and then that one that says um main building is actually three buildings >> and and when you sort put the dates up they were actually built at different times. I wonder I I'm not trying to demolish anything. When I say pull it apart, I want to pull it apart visually,
not tangibly. And um instead of instead of using three or four materials and colors and textures all around it, pick out one material and texture on building one and a different one on building two and a different one on building three
and proportions of windows. Um because you have when you showed the black and white elevation, my first reaction was, "Oh my god, there's so much going on. I can't understand that." And then when you showed it threedimensionally, I got it. You know, the the elevations aren't
helping you, by the way. But um but I got it. I got what you were doing. You creating bigger openings. You were getting rid rid of the ribbon windows. Um you wanted it to feel of more less institutional, more domestic proportions of of solid to void. All good things,
but I wonder if there's and and I'd love to see when you come back, show us a typical floor plan that where the entrances, where the cores are, how many core I can't figure out how many cores there are. Um, so I'd like to know and I
wonder how many entrances there should be. More maybe creates other security issues. I don't know. But I I'd like you to think about visually separating the pieces um without demolishing anything. I'm not
saying make separate buildings. I don't want to add elevators. I don't want to add stairs. I know that's going to get us all kinds of financial constraints, but I think there's an opportunity because you I mean you you're you're touching every surface. So So let's
think strategically and say there's five buildings here and think about it. It's five buildings. Not that there has to be five entrances and five cores, but you visually use the building exterior building materials that fit better into your surrounding context. And and I I
completely agree with I the comments um that Kirk also made about uh you know the site is almost compelling you to separate these parking levels out and build those ret. That's a good thing. that's helping you uh and it's helping
you get scale in there. Uh and so I think you can push that even farther. But I I this is this is a very big undertaking and not easy. Um but I think it it's real opportunities to do something really special.
>> Thank you, David. I'm going to pass on to Jonathan Garland. >> Excellent. Um, evening all and I I just would absolutely build on both Kirk and David's comments and uh more poignantly to to David's um you know I I also
applaud you for taking on this is a bold endeavor. I think the very first slide showing just the grading in the topography is is a challenge and then on top of that the adaptive reuse um challenge is is equally
uh you know uh something something uh to understand. Uh and so I I also think that that you know some of the I think the biggest challenge is going to be what what can you do to kind of dismiss the iconography of an institutional
medical use and counter counterbalance that with a residential place or a village or a place where people can look and feel and act as if they're at home. Uh, and so almost like if you were to pull out a blank, you know, piece of
trace paper and and imagine that this site were not already an institutional campus, what a housing development might look like. It might look like multiple buildings with, as David pointed out, decent amount of space between buildings. And what I mean by that is
even looking at the dorm building and its addition. Um I think perhaps you know seeing some daylight through that between that and sort of the main larger building uh could be something that you study. Not saying that you go there because you may have some operational
constraints to that, but at least seeing in subcommittee as it goes forward um the ability to understand why not you might be able to go there because when I look at uh one of your slides that showed like the pedestrian bridge that you see along Towns and Street, that
alone starts to really get me thinking again back into that institutional realm. I don't know if you have if you have a pic I think you have one of your slides that shows it. Um, but just taking elements like that and asking, you know, does that really fit what feels like or could feel like a
residential place to be? Um, and then also establishing uh a punch window rhythm or rhythm again that that feels like a residential. I think in some of the elevations the sill went almost to the floor. I think in a living condition you may have the sill a
bit higher so you can almost put a a sofa or something up against the exterior wall. just really challenging and disciplining yourself to see. Yeah. Like this image in the lower right with the pedestrian bridge. When I look at that, I'm still feeling institutional and and medical use campus. Uh so what
can you do along the lines of really pushing the envelope to get this thing to feel residential? And and I don't think it's just architecture. I also think it's the landscape. I couldn't quite get a full grasp on the open spaces or what I would call qualitative
open spaces. And you know, just because there's a plethora of surface parking today, I don't know that you have to keep that same ratio of parking. That's probably a larger multi multimodal question. But can there be buildings that have directly adjacent open spaces
and backyards and and multiple backyards to again not to to get rid of the uh large medical building with a sea of parking concept and bring it into a residential space? It's a big challenge, but I think the discipline of
challenging every thing that's on the site and looking at it through the lens of economics as you have to, but also through design to see does this fall into the civic institutional court or into the residential court and seeing how that might help the design.
>> Thank you, Jonathan Laura Salano. And then I'll pass it on to Katherine. >> Um, I believe Katherine was before me. Um, Katherine, do you want to go ahead? Otherwise, I'm I'm happy to >> No worries. I know it. It's getting past
our bedtimes. Totally fine. Um, I want to uh want to double down on all the commissioners. Um, I I want to lift up um I love ambitious projects. I think that's what defines our city and and our
neighborhoods. And given that this is in Roxberry, the heartbeat of Boston, it's a building that's been sitting for a very long time. So you have you have community that has experienced this building and and many variations of
decades, generations have moved throughout. And there's a real remarkable opportunity to signal the future with this this um with this this place. And so, you know, to the point
around um you know, there's ways to move from this being a medical facility to being one that not only the people who are living in it, but those who surround it feeling proud about where this building and this space is going.
you know, whether that's the art itself or or what you plan to do with the massings, but there's a real creative opportunity you can create to signal the future for this community that's going to be with this building for a very long time that I just want to lift up for you
all to think about, whether that's the facades themselves, um, or any other aspects around the space, but you have a real creative moment, um, and historic moment in this community to make a difference. Just want to lift that up. Thank you, Congress
Laura. >> Um, you know, I am on this commission. I'm always uh lamenting the lack of topography and um I think I I um have met the challen you have met the
challenge for sure. Um, this is such a difficult site and in all aspects, the buildings, the topography, but I would encourage you to kind of
reverse how you're thinking about this and use the topography in really powerful ways to res to have the building respond to the topography. not just the topography responding to the
building. And I saw in those, you know, in those sections that, you know, you've got stepped portions of the building. But I, you know, I wonder if there's another um
another way to think about this and it has to do with a crosssection that is perpendicular to the long axis of the building. I I wonder whether or not there's some way to, as Jonathan
said, kind of flip the narrative of the green space being closer to the building and getting that to coagulate around the building. So, I think it will make the building stronger. Now, I I understand
that I'm asking for a lot, but I think the place to begin is to come back to us with a plan that shows us exactly what the grades are in each of these levels because right now there's a lot of
terracing going on on the site and you know, it's almost as if the the parking is trying to navigate over that. Um, but I don't really understand where walls are, where spaces could be connected or whether or not they're disconnected and
they'll never be connected. But, um, there's tremendous opportunity. But just as an exercise, I suggest you sort of reverse and think about the topography as being a driver. um and then come
together with the building and the topography because you you in this kind of project you cannot ignore either one. There's no smoothing out that topography with the grades that
you have. But again, just helping us to understand how that's working here will allow us to give you much better comments, I think, on this and make the um the process of, you know, meeting
with the commission go more smoothly. Um the other thing I wanted to ask is the number of parking spaces. How many are required or allowed? uh by zoning and you know so how did the
numbers um come to be with the parking? >> Yeah. So it's 124. That's a 75 parking ratio. Uh it's actually a real point of contention. Um the neighborhood is requesting one to one and that's been
the the biggest opposition um in the community meetings is they want more parking. We initially did have more parking. We've scaled it back u because of that parking ratio. So, we're going to have a hard time doing any less than what we have. >> Yep.
>> And technically uh >> Laura, I think Ted was gonna jump in. >> Uh the the community process not withstanding, which is very important, but uh the the zoning allows uh the ratio to be determined through the ADB
process. So, uh, the ratio is what, uh, staff, uh, come to conclude, uh, and and we we also appreciate the community conversation that's happening out there. >> Yep. Yep. So, how many spaces are there?
>> 124. >> Do we know? >> And how many units? >> I'm sorry to have such a short memory, but it's it's a little it is really close to my bedtime. Um, 64.
>> Say it again. >> 164. >> 164. Okay. Thank you. Um I I think that um you know, I think I've said enough. It's it's hard to to uh comment except
in very broad ways now. But again, bring us back a plan that shows building entrance elevations. So, finished floor elevations, you know, elevations of the parking lot. And by the way, I'm not asking you to bring back a grading plan.
Spot grades would do it. Um, just to kind of get a sense of um what's going on with the site. So, thanks very much and thanks for taking this on. Laura's comments are are great and I
would encourage you and I'm really not trying to spend your money build a model. >> Yeah, it can be really simple. It could be chipboard. It could be styrofoam >> because I feel the same way Laura does. I don't understand, right? >> And and I think what she's getting at is
really important and is the simplest model massing. Don't worry about elevation. get the massing right the relationship of the buildings to the site right you can make it really dumb and simple we'll understand it >> I I think that that's sort of what comes to my mind as the number one thing is
figuring out how to represent this as simply and clearly and we understand economics as a piece of this for your design cost but help us and you understand the relationship between buildings and landscapes I was also thinking is there the ability with the
technology today to create Alo a series of building plans so that you see the landscape that's immediately adjacent. So I I absolutely a model would be fantastic that some way because I also really was taken David by your comment about you know are there how do you
think about the buildings and are there um ways I guess in my mind there's a little bit of the imagery or strategy of you know how does how do the buildings relate to the landscape? How do they relate to the neighborhood? How do we translate something that has been
institutional into something that relate that that speaks to its new residential purpose that relates to the neighborhood? I'm a little agnostic at this point. This is what I'd love to see you explore about does it then sort of recede or is there also an opportunity
for this to be like a village on a hilltop or something. I I think there because you're at the beginning stages there's opportunity to explore it but absolutely understanding the grading how that affects entrances and then and then also just understanding the broader
strategy of legibility of entrances hierarchy of entrances how you move through the landscape what is public or not and just having a little bit more clarity as to where the ledges are I've been looking at Google trying to figure
where the ledges are where you're clearly getting clear direction from the neighborhood or the residents about access points parking and I'd like to understand a little bit like what's driving their insistence on one to one and and you know is there some room for negotiation
with better understanding about how the site will be used and who will be what what's the unit mix we haven't talked about the mixed units so you know does that affect the demand and then also so thinking about precedent just are there precedents out there that
you can look for and also how does that then inform the cladding of the building that I see I think there's some bigger broader design moves to make first but how do you then you know think about recladding the building to achieve your
intended design and um visions sites but again applaud the fact of reuse and how important this is for the neighborhood of Roxbury I'll just I think you're hearing comments in two categories. The simple
category is we are so confused about this project and it's a communication drawing effort that we need your help in guiding us through that conversation. I even think something simple as naming your buildings one, two, three, four,
five, or name it the dorm building, the you know pedestrian building, whatever you want to name them. We just need to be able to name buildings. So, it's really just a information piece. I also think the ground floor plane, if this
was a flat site, we would definitely ask you like for a noly plan, what's happening on all the first floor levels as it hits the exterior grade. This one you might have to have like two or three plans that kind of cut through to show
us where are your amenity spaces, where's the public activation versus the exterior just so we understand what's happening at the ground plane. So one is just pure information. I I think David, you're right. The elevations were like I was like, whoa, what am I even looking
at? Um, and so we just really need to understand graphically what buildings we're looking at when you're showing us drawings. Um, so that's just the information graphic comment. I think you're also hearing comments about how you distinguish each of the building
that I that David you started and I really support that. You know, to be very simplistic. this is, you know, the dark building and this is the light building and this is the horizontal window building and this I don't know how we distinguish it, but I think it
might be helpful for each building to have a different characteristic rather than the blend that you've done like everything kind of looks the same and it even makes things more confusing um to navigate. I think there's something that could be really special with the space
in between. It seems like you have to have cards in that center zone. Um, I don't know if that's true or not. And we could keep cars to the perimeter and and have only green space in that center zone. Would that help you think of that dorm building addition in a different
way, a different angle, for instance? These are questions that I have, but I think we need more information and we need you to help us parse out these buildings before we can get to that level of discussion. And and I would add
I pay attention particularly the the the view on the right. I think use that as your guide as you develop whatever your model your plans because what I really like about it it it immediately I'm still grappling with what's the context
around it. We all know generally it's a neighborhood. you showed us general examples of a typology, but there are different conditions around each side and I think it's it's really important that you maintain that information as
you continue to develop um your responses to it and I think that will also give you cues as to how you differentiate between different assets. I'm really struck by the two, if I understand correctly, Townsman Street, you know, there these two kind of
longitudinal buildings that have sort of a sense of formality to them. So, just there there's some I think just some simple analysis of how going back to help us understand what's going on in each building. No doubt they have different some different characteristics
as well. And how does that begin to inform some of your design moves? Doing a lot of adaptive reuse. Myself as an architect, that often begins to give you clues as to what's possible or not possible, where things you maintain continuity versus where you have
differentiation. >> Can you go to slide 17, Lucy? I just also want to just say that I think there was a very smart comment. And I think it's by you David that not every surface has to be touched. I think you know maybe towns and becomes your most
important elevations. There's something charming about the characters of the original buildings that I actually like that I'm not sure I would, you know, try to go against them so hard. Maybe lean into some of the characteristics of the
buildings and then spend the dollars on the ones that are really more public facing. But Laura, I see you have your hand up. >> Yeah. And I have a very quick comment. Just as you all have talked about the buildings and you know, I think you were
talking about an Noli plan. Think about the landscape that way too. So when you come back to us, don't bother with putting trees on. Just do green versus paved. Um and that will help us a lot. Um because the otherwise the trees are,
you know, they hide things, they're distracting. It's so simple is good. >> Okay. Should we turn to public comment before? >> Yes, we have to turn to public comment. >> Okay, Lizzie, do you have those?
At this time, we'd like to invite any members of the public in attendance who may wish to contribute public testimony to raise your digital hand and we will call on you. If you're calling in by phone, press nine on your dial pad to activate the raise hand function and star six to mute unmute yourself. Please
state your name and any relevant project affiliation information. And please keep comments to two minutes. I believe I see one hand. Oh, that's Laura. >> That's Laura.
>> I'm gonna lower Laura's hand. >> Um, is there anyone else who would like to contribute public comment? Okay. Not seeing any, we will close public comment. >> Voted. >> Seeing as we we have already voted, we
will see the project again in May. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. >> Um, commissioners, we're not done. We have one more vote and that is to adjourn this meeting. If I can have a motion. >> So move. >> Second.
>> All right. I will call on the remaining commissioners. Jonathan Garland. >> Yes. >> Um Amarie, >> yes. >> David Manfred, >> yes. >> Katherine Morris, >> yes. >> Laura Salano,
>> yes. Kai and myself, Mimi. Well, yes. Um, good evening everyone. Thank you for being with us this late into the evening. I thought we had good um conversations this evening.
Productive comments. Well done me.