Over the past few months, Arrowstreet has been holding an in-house photography contest, and our finale party was last Friday night. Initiated by Principal Sean Selby, the contest was another way to encourage everyone to explore our new neighborhood, allow the entire staff an outlet for their creativity, and throw in a little friendly competition for some prizes.
Arrowstreet participated in Daylight Hour today by joining thousands of other organizations in turning off the lights in their day-lit office spaces for one hour from noon-1:00. With the beautiful sunny weather in Boston today we went even further and kept the lights off all day in most of the office. Arrowstreet has a highly energy efficient LED lighting system that uses 42% less power than typical offices. But when there is ample daylight in our open studio we want to take advantage of turning of the electric lighting system and saving even more energy.
- Players maneuver their way through Revere Beach.
- Claes Andreasen sets up the 8th hole.
- George Tremblay uses the ground breaking shovel to make his way out of the sand trap.
- Players must choose between the "High Road" and "Easy Street."
- Will Su gets a better angle by standing on the table.
- Resa Gray sets up Revere Beach.
- Justin DiCristofalo takes a shot at the principals on the 8th hole.
- Jon Neal sports the winning green jacket.
This past Wednesday night saw the return of mini-golf to Arrowstreet, with friends and family joining us to play a round of 9-holes around our new office space while enjoying drinks and Chinese food. Our staff volunteers signed-up solo or as teams to design one of the eight possible “holes” designated on our office map, with the 9th hole being played on a Wii in our Voodoo Lounge. Each team had a $15 construction budget, and as in their day-to-day work, creative, green design was encouraged. Competition was fierce as each team was eager to take the bragging rights that go along with the coveted title of Best Hole.
On June 17th I will be chairing ULI’s Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) for the Town of Westborough to explore development opportunities for the site of the old Westborough State Hospital and advise the town on potential future uses. The day will include a site tour, stakeholder interviews, a planning charrette, and a public presentation of our findings at 6:30 pm.

Please join us on Monday, June 16 at 5:30 to learn about the new wayfinding program we’ve been working on for the BPL. I will be speaking with Bob Lowe and Nathan Hall of APCO Signs. The event is being hosted by SEGD Boston and will include a tour of the new wayfinding program, as well as the amazing art & architecture at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library in historic Copley Square. This event is free and open to the public.
When reading a recent article on DesignBoom, I was reminded of an in-house competition held at the new Arrowstreet studio to name our conference rooms. The article covers how the Spanish graphic design studio, Tata&Friends, created a series of posters called Rock Band Icons, which graphically represent famous rock bands with black line symbols on a bright yellow background. Viewers are invited to see if they can name the band based on cleverly grouped pictograms…
As a participant on the BSA’s Committee for the Advancement of Sustainability, I wanted to share some information about a free forum on June 19th. The committee promotes a sustainable agenda beyond the immediate focus of architectural practice, and engages other organizations in a dialogue that promotes sustainable principles. This year our task has been to organize a forum which will focus on empowering municipalities across Massachusetts to develop sustainable strategies for buildings, infrastructure, and planning…
Arrowstreet staff ventured across the river and into Cambridge to tour the 450 Kendall Street (Parcel G) project, which is currently in the middle of construction. The project is a new, 68,000-sf, five-story office/lab building with retail space on the first floor…
I had the privilege of acting as co-chair for one of the four sites in the ULI Living with Water: The Urban Implications Charette. This event provided an opportunity for a broad range of professionals with diverse expertise to discuss and strategize resiliency strategies related to sea level rise and inland flooding. The goal of the event was to develop real strategies related to planning, design, and public policy to address ongoing and future impacts of climate change…
Three members of the Arrowstreet team – Matt Rice, Pat Cornelison, and Larry Spang – will be speaking at ABX (Architecture Boston Expo) sessions taking place in October. Information is provided in the post; official registration will open at a later date…
Recently in Somerville, TED’s “Ideas Worth Spreading,” were in full motion, with a local twist! Located at the Arrowstreet-designed Brooklyn Boulders rock climbing gym, TEDxSomerville’s Movement-themed event was a 6-hour long series of talks and performances by local community members. Aptly located, the event centered around the theme of “motion” – from physical to mental and individual to communal.
As co-chair of ULI Boston’s Building Resilience Task Force, I am joining other ULI members in a design charrette titled Living with Water: The Urban Implications, on May 8th…
I am speaking on the topic of sustainability for a webinar hosted on May 7 from 2-3pm by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Shopping Centers Today magazine. This is part of a new series of short retail events, called SCT Live, to be held in targeted regions throughout the country…
The Building Systems Committee at the BSA recently held a charrette on the business of architecture. The charrette was part of a larger symposium titled The Changing Ecosystem for Design Services, which included presentations by American Institute of Architects’ economist Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA and Phil Bernstein, FAIA. Both presenters discussed current trends and new modes of collaboration that are crossing the traditional boundaries of practice…

If we have to work during Opening Day at Fenway, at least we have ice cream.

On March 23rd, I attended the Governor Forum on Energy, the Environment and the Innovation Economy at Faneuil Hall. The forum set the stage for Massachusetts Gubernatorial candidates to provide their position on sustainability topics affecting the Commonwealth as well as discusses opportunities to elevate sustainability goals…
Last night, Arrowstreet sponsored CitySprouts annual Dig It! event on March 13 at the Liberty Hotel from 6-8:30pm. The event celebrated garden-based learning and raised funds for the organization’s program in Boston and Cambridge public schools.
On Thursday April 10th, 2014, I will be joining a panel at the Making Spaces Work …Overtime concurrent session at the Urban Land Institute’s Spring Meeting in Vancouver, Canada. The session will take place from 2:45pm – 4:00pm…

President Barack Obama was at the Arrowstreet-designed Artists for Humanity EpiCenter last night. It’s exciting to see the building and the program continue to attract attention not only from the local community, but also among significant players on the national and international stage…
Notwithstanding this week’s winter storms, steel erection has topped off at 450 Kendall Street in Cambridge today (formerly referred to as Parcel G). Biomed Realty is the Owner, John Moriaty & Associates (JMA) is the Builder, and Arrowstreet the architect for this jewel-like building in the heart of Kendall Sq…
Last November I headed to Philadelphia to attend Greenbuild 2013, an annual conference dedicated to the green building movement. Attendees share ideas, learn from industry experts, and develop new ideas to advance this movement. The 10th annual conference was attended by almost 25,000 practitioners, manufacturers, contractors, government officials, citizens, students, and more.
Edward Mazria gave a presentation I particularly enjoyed. Mazria is the founder of Architecture 2030, an organization focusing on buildings, the largest consumers of energy in the world, to address and reverse climate change. The 2030 Challenge sets targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions…
Each year, my family and I form a pie team for Community Servings’ annual Pie in the Sky fundraising event. The event, which has just completed its 21st year, raises money to provide meals and nutrition to the critically ill and homebound in Massachusetts. Community Servings provides meals to more than 800 individuals and families across 18 towns and cities, in support of its founding goals: to help its clients maintain their health and dignity, to preserve the integrity of their families, to provide nutritionally and culturally appropriate meals, and to send the message that someone cares…
- Scott Pollack leads the tour
- Scott Pollack leads the tour
- Going over the project highlights
Here are some photos of the recent NEWiRE tour of the Chestnut Hill Square project we’re working on for New England Development. As a member of the project team for a couple of years now, I enjoyed hearing from NED’s Doug Karp about the project, and hearing feedback from attendees about the project’s design. And we even received a reward for attending – the retailers contributed to amazing gift bags, Wegmans provided beverages and light appetizers, and the evening was capped off at neighboring Capital Grille. Some of the stores are open now, with more opening this month and Wegman’s scheduled to open next spring (2014).
Arrowstreet’s glamorous red carpet crew recently held our annual bowling outing at Lanes and Games in Cambridge. This year the HollyBowl Tournament shed the spotlight on the entire Arrowstreet community. The event started with a fried feast and Hollywood-sized cake and then segued into an all-out race to the top. Whether a bowling enthusiast or complete newbie, everyone gave it their all and had a fabulous time.The tournament setup split the teams into divisions A and B based on their first round scores. The two divisions then battled it out for the number 1 spot. Team 9 (Jonathan Garland, Stefan Chaires, and William Su) took the spotlight as the champs of Division A-List (despite the usual good-natured protests and jokes). They were properly decorated as superstars during their victory photo shoot. Following them, Team 3 (Kate Bubriski, Stephanie Tyll, Greg Triplett, and Jon Neal) was crowned the Winners of the Losers – that is, winners of Division B – and posed for the camera. HollyBowl was a great way to spend our Friday afternoon and was a reminder that everyone at Arrowstreet is a star.
I’ll be helping lead a project spotlight tour tonight of Chestnut Hill Square with NEWiRE. The event details are below; I hope to see you there…