Boston – The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) and the Boston Society for Architecture (BSA) announced the awardees for the Mass Timber Accelerator Program.
Mary Ellen McCormack, South Boston
Mass timber, short for massive timber, is an umbrella term for structural wood products joined to form larger panels, It is considered to be an environmentally friendly alternative to carbon-intensive building materials like steel and concrete. Launched in September 2021, through a grant funded by the USDA Forest Service, the Softwood Lumber Board and the ClimateWorks Foundation, the Mass Timber Accelerator Program is designed to promote mass timber building practices in Boston and the New England region.
150 Center Street, Dorchester
Awardees will receive $25,000 of financial assistance as well as technical assistance from WoodWorks, a nonprofit committed to providing free resources and technical support around the use and advancement of mass timber. Awardees will investigate a range of mass timber building practice applications and assess related building design, construction, environmental and cost feasibility, and benefits.
Selection Jury members include Kevin Naranjo, USDA Forest Service; Ricky McLain, PE, SE, WoodWorks; Jennifer Hardy AIA, BSA rep.; Richard McGuinness, BPDA deputy director for climate change and environmental planning; Barry Reaves, BPDA director of diversity, equity, inclusion; and John Dalzell, AIA, LEED fellow, BPDA senior architect for sustainability development.
Selected Projects:
- 110 Canal Street, Bulfinch Triangle – Quaker Lane Capital with CBT Architects: a 7-story commercial office building.
- Eliot Church, Roxbury – Leers Weinzapfel Assoc. Architects and Eliot Congregational Church: a 4-story affordable housing project.
- 401 Chelsea Street, East Boston – ThoughtCraft Architects: a proposed 6-story building that will include 40 units of mixed-income affordable housing with ground floor retail space.
- Mary Ellen McCormack, South Boston – Winn Development, Boston Housing Authority, and CBT Architects: a redevelopment of a public housing project in South Boston that will add 302 units of mixed-income affordable housing.
- 150 Center Street, Dorchester – Trinity Financial and ICON Architecture: a transit-oriented development that will add 81 units of mixed-income affordable housing next to the Shawmut MBTA Station.
- Suffolk Downs B16, East Boston – Elkus Manfredi Architects and The HYM Investment Group: a planned 8-story building that will include market rate and affordable housing over ground floor retail space.
- Q Communities at Suffolk Downs, East Boston – DiMella Shaffer Assoc. Architects and Project Q Communities: also part of the Suffolk Downs development, a proposed 8-story building that will have 215 units of senior and assisted living housing.
The selected projects are at various stages of review, including concept design, by the BPDA. A second round of funding to support additional projects will open later this year.
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“The time value of carbon necessitates an immediate focus on reduction of embodied carbon,” said Jennifer Hardy, senior associate at Payette and Mass Timber Accelerator juror. ”Mass timber is one of the few high-impact building materials that has the potential to act as a carbon sink. Each of the projects selected in this competitive program showed a depth of diverse team knowledge, innovation and resourcefulness that demonstrates why the Boston architecture community is leading the industry in sustainable building practices.”
