Boston, United States
2020 - 2022
Enterprise Research Campus
Located on the Boston side of the Charles River in Allston, the Enterprise Research Campus (ERC) will bring together various research disciplines in a new hub for creativity and innovation. Jointly led in collaboration with Studio Gang, alongside landscape architect SCAPE and local planner Utile, the plan envisions a dynamic urban landscape with diverse scales of streets and urban spaces, designed to enrich the pedestrian experience.
Project details
Client
Tishman Speyer Harvard Allston Land Company
Status
Adjacent to Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex and Business School, the development of the ERC will transform an underutilized industrial site into an active mixed-use urban hub, home to laboratories, offices, and residential, hotel and conference spaces, designed to deepen partnerships between industry and research.
Envisioned as a premiere high-tech life science hub, combining art, business, science, and engineering, the 14-acre ERC innovation district will include dedicated research, learning, and community space, with 900,000 ft² of dynamic mixed-use program, featuring 263,000 ft² residential, 440,000 ft² labs/office, 196,500 ft² hotel/conference.
“The design for ERC creates opportunities for essential intersections between academia and education, community, health, and social impact, as well as creativity and enterprise. This has been a collaboration between the project team and community to take this project from a plan to an architectural design that will shape the urban environment of Allston,” says Daniel Baumann, Partner and Design Director.
At the core of the project plan is a dedication to nurturing a diverse community, ensuring everyone feels a sense of ownership and belonging. This translates into an ambition to create a welcoming environment for students, visitors, employees, and local residents alike, strengthening comfort, connectivity, transit, and accessibility. The plan is informed by several guiding principles that include expanding Boston’s innovation network, weaving nature into the fabric of the campus, and activating buildings at the ground level to create vibrant streetscapes with indoor and outdoor social areas, local retail options, arts, and culture.
“The design for ERC creates opportunities for essential intersections between academia and education, community, health, and social impact, as well as creativity and enterprise. This has been a collaboration between the project team and community to take this project from a plan to an architectural design that will shape the urban environment of Allston.”
Daniel Baumann
Design Director, Partner
Connected and green
Organized around a vibrant east-west green corridor, the ERC design will connect Allston to the Charles River for university affiliates and the wider public. With multi-modal bike and pedestrian paths, the shared-use paths and Greenway aim to reduce car traffic and associated carbon emissions, while providing greater connectivity between the campus and broader Allston community. From intimate sheltered spaces to large civic plazas for programming throughout the year, the Greenway will create seamless links between the district’s new buildings, prioritizing user comfort.
This network of connected green spaces, shaded by a robust canopy of trees, will offer a refreshing microclimate that will help reduce heat during Boston’s hot summers, while in winter, the stepped massing of the taller buildings will allow sunlight to penetrate the ground plane, minimizing energy demand. Biodiverse vegetation aims to revitalize the former industrial land, providing habitat for migratory birds and enhancing the city’s air quality, while bio-swales and retention tanks integrated into streetscapes and open public spaces will capture rainwater to be reused for irrigation.
A new vision for lab design
Within the plan for this new urban and academic zone, our team has designed the One Milestone East building (East Lab), a 234,000 ft² life science building that will anchor the southeastern point of the Greenway. The building will offer flexible labs and offices, a range of shared indoor and outdoor tenant amenities, in a design informed by biophilic concepts, providing ample access to daylight and nature.
Prioritizing comfort, transparency, and connection, the East Lab will be linked to the West Lab, designed by Studio Gang, via a central social connector, a flexible communal space that will provide amenities and collaboration spaces for both lab buildings and their tenants.
“One Milestone East is designed for innovation and performance. With the backdrop of the picturesque Greenway we seamlessly integrated adaptable floorplans to ensure direct access to expansive landscaped terraces and an array of amenities that encourage interaction, encounters and exchange.” Daniel Baumann, Partner and Design Director.
Program elements will come together to form a highly efficient floor plan, consisting of an L-shaped lab section and supported by flexible office spaces. The transparency of the façade will allow for direct natural light to filter into the spaces, visually connecting them to their surroundings. To mitigate the solar, wind, noise, acoustic and environmental impacts of the building on the surrounding community, the lab building will serve as a visual and acoustical barrier between the District Energy Facility and the residential buildings north of the Greenway.
Contact
All contacts
Daniel Baumann
Design Director, Partner
Veronica Varela
Associate Principal
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