Michael Barnes, Publisher
April was World Landscape Architecture Month, an international celebration of landscape architecture. I hope you will join us in congratulating the 2018 BSLA Design Award winners, celebrated this month.
Our condolences go out to the Moyles family. BSLA President John Christopher Moyles died unexpectedly while skiing in Stowe, Vermont. He was with his son and close family friends. He was 56 years old. Visit http://bslanow.org/professional/chris-moyles-asla/.
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A special shout out to Moe Finegold, FAIA, for earning ASIDNE’S AD20/21 HOME 11th Annual Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was announced by the American Association of Interior Designers New England (ASIDNE).
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Clippership Wharf, rendering TAT
“Climate change and sea level rise are two of the most important issues facing cities like Boston today,” says Michael Liu, Vice AIA, NCARB, president and principal at architecture and master planning firm The Architectural Team, Inc. (TAT). Liu recently spoke on the topic of “Urban Futures: Designing New Commercial/Mixed-Use Projects in Historic Cities,” at the Exchange Conference Center, as part of Architectural Record’s panel discussion series Record on the Road.
Drawing on his current work at Clippership Wharf, a 12-acre, four-building mixed-use community taking shape on the East Boston waterfront, Liu’s presentation explored the creative design approach and aggressive 100-year resiliency strategy that seeks to absorb possible storm surges while also improving public access to the water. Joining Liu were moderator Cathleen McGuigan, editor-in-chief of Architectural Record; and panelists Katie Faulkner, AIA, LEED AP, president and founding principal of NADAAA, and Kishore Varanasi, principal, director of Urban Design at CBT.
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(l-r) Martin, Zeigler, and Woodhouse with previous Dyer Brown owner-stakeholder Roger Shepley
Approaching its 50th year in practice, the national architecture and interior design firm Dyer Brown recently announced the completion of a major transition of ownership and new roles for its three principals Brent Zeigler, Rachel Woodhouse, and Tara Martin.
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Greater Boston’s booming market shows no signs of slowing down according to JLL’s Greater Boston Q1 Submarket Insight reports. Corporate expansions have been a boon to developers, and by the end of the quarter the city of Boston’s 1.4-million-sf development pipeline was 95% preleased with a similar story unfolding in Cambridge: the 1.3-million-sf pipeline is 61% preleased. With the only remaining blocks of new construction concentrated in the suburbs, the market’s 70% prelease rate is the highest of any primary office market across the country. “With no signs of slowing in the near term, we expect to see more of the same through the remainder of 2018,” says Julia Georgules, New England Research Director for JLL.
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Luxury homes have gotten even more expensive this year. In fact, ZIP code 02465 was just ranked No. 2 on realtor.com’s list of luxury neighborhoods with the largest price increases for its 60.4% price increase to $2,219,000. The top three neighborhoods on the list — Santa Monica, Calif., West Newton, Mass., Palo Alto, Calif. — had price increases of more than 50% year over year.
