The Next Generation in Design

From left to right: Tearar Chan & Gabriela Gayoso, Meghan Krieger, and all three in 'SGA' pose at a recent construction site

Three Studio G staff graduated from the Boston Architectural College over the weekend, with awards and commendations.  They have all worked tremendously hard, especially in the past year, juggling their school projects and Studio G’s busy work load. 

From exploring cultural identity in America, to a critique of Boston’s continued segregation in the context of designing a public library, to a design for a mixed use development integrating housing, commercial space and urban farming, they have explored intriguing and important topics.  We are all proud of them!

Tearar Chan recieved her Bachelor
of Interior Design, as well as a
Practice Achievement Award,
Degree Project Commendation, and
The Greene Interior Design Degree
Project Studio Award for design
excellence for her project,
Cultural Epiphanies in Physical Space:
Reconnecting Khmer-Americans
to Cambodian Identity Through
Exploration of the Krama.

Gabriela Gayoso received her Bachelor
of Architecture, as well as a Degree
Project Commendation for her project,
Architecture of Social Enlightenment.

Meghan Krieger received her Master of Architecture, as well
as the AIA Henry Adams Certificate of Merit (M.Arch
Salutatorian) and Architecture Thesis Commendation for:
Urbiculture: Manipulating the Building Envelope to Create
an Architecture of Inclusion in a Multi-use Commercial/
Residential Urban Farm in Roxbury.

270 Centre Street Happenings

270 Centre wins 3rd place in Atas' commercial walls category.  Today the project also celebrates the opening of all the retail spaces: Gail's Cafe and Grille serving a wide variety of food from fish to rotisserie barbecue, Jackson Square Laundromat, and the new home for X'posure by Noel hair  salon.

Sturgis West Rolls Into Town

What are those huge large gift-wrapped parcels making their way over the Bourne Bridge this week?  They are Sturgis West coming home to Hyannis all the way from Pennsylvania.  The first shipment of thirty modules is crossing over the Bourne Bridge en route to 105 West Main Street this week.

The manufacturer’s set crew to erect the first third of the building during the week of May 21. The sequence is carefully choreographed: first the roof modules will be lifted by cranes and placed on top of the second floor modules.  Then the first floor modules will be placed on top of the foundation, and then the second floor modules will be placed on top of the first floor. 

Once the building modules are assembled, the Scanlan crew will install the mechanical and sprinkler systems, and complete the exterior cladding and interior finishes.

Stay tuned for future updates as the Sturgis construction continues.

By Tamar Warburg, Studio G Architects

Sturgis West: Breaking New Ground

With Studio G’s assistance, Sturgis Charter School in Hyannis is breaking new ground in the construction industry for its second campus.  The Sturgis West design team travelled to Liverpool, PA this week to tour the modular construction factory that is building the new Sturgis School. In order to open the new school by September, the foundations and sitework for the new building are underway on site while the floors, walls and roof are built in an off-site factory, IDBS.

As engineer Alan Behrent said, “Henry Ford would be proud.”  Sturgis Owner’s Representative Michael Moynihan and Studio G Architects Tamar Warburg and Steve Michener were amazed to see 150 workers swarming across the school’s 96 ‘modules’, installing framing, insulation, electrical conduit, drywall and windows. 

This month, the modules will be loaded onto trailers and trucked 400 miles, through New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and across the Bourne Bridge to arrive at the school site. After months of planning, design, and shop engineering, it will take only three weeks to erect them on the West Main Street site.  Then JK Scanlan Site Supervisor Mel Dishman and project manager Tom Shevory take over.  Their crews are poised to install the exterior cladding and interior finishes, and will complete the construction of the new school this summer, so that 400 students can enjoy a new school next fall.

Stay tuned for future updates as the Sturgis construction continues.

By Tamar Warburg, Studio G Architects 

Sustainable Communities and Urban Agriculture Presentation with NEWIRE

At Studio G we strive to seamlessly integrate architecture and landscape. But what happens when you build within the urban context of concrete and high-rise? How do we blend interior and exterior environments in a way that supports and reflects the project’s programmatic needs, while responding to the site in a valuable and sustainable way?

During a recent presentation to New England Women in Real Estate (NEWIRE), on April 24, 2012, Gail Sullivan addressed this issue, focusing on sustainable communities and urban agriculture.

Defined as the cultivation, processing and distribution of food within a city, urban agriculture is a critical element in the creation of sustainable cities. Urban agriculture helps create a network of city villages where people can live, work and play. It can provide jobs, support and services for people in need, while ensuring access to healthy food, outdoor space, and the social network we all need for healthy, balanced lives.

Architecturally, the potential for integrating agriculture into the urban fabric is huge. Gail discussed a range of options, including rooftop and vertical gardens, creative structures for hydroponics and aquaculture, urban beekeeping and poultry programs, orchards parks, and adaptive reuse of industrial and commercial buildings for farming practices.

Studio G is continually looking for innovative ways to incorporate agricultural elements into our projects, and we believe that widespread implementation could become a major contributor to the economic, environmental and social sustainability of our cities.

New England Women in Real Estate is the region’s leading professional organization promoting the advancement of women within the commercial real estate industry. To learn more visit: http://www.newire.org/

NYT: Lush Walls Rise to Fight a Blanket of Pollution

We at Studio G love to see the New York Times cover topics like green walls in polluted urban centers.

It's very much our philosophy in designing the green, living walls of 270 Centre St. in Jamaica Plain.  The living walls benefit both the physical health of the surrounding neighborhood - turning carbon dioxide into oxygen - but also provide physiological relief and refreshment for the residents.

Massachusetts Revises MBE/WBE Participation Goals on Public Building Projects

As of January 1, 2012, Mass.-funded building construction projects, including state funded municipal projects, must meet the new Mass. Minority- and Women-Business Enterprise (MBE and WBE) participation goals. For design projects, the new goal is 17.9% combined MBE and WBE participation. The new goal removes the previous individual mandates for MBE and WBE participation and requires “reasonable” representation of both on projects, offering greater flexibility in establishing a project team.

Studio G Architects is a certified WBE by Massachusetts, with experience as prime design consultant with DCAM, DHCD, municipalities, and charter schools on a variety of projects. Studio G is also recognized by the Small Business Administration as a Woman-Owned Small Business. 

We welcome opportunities to join larger teams as a subconsultant, as we have on several projects. With NCARB-certified architects and licenses in numerous states, we are able to work in any state. 

To learn more about the Mass. participation goals, see http://www.mass.gov/anf/property-mgmt-and-construction/design-and-construction-of-public-bldgs/revised-mbe/wbe-participation-goals.html

270 Centre was featured on Radio Boston today on HUD cuts challenging innovative public housing projects