2020 Building Preview: TAT Unveils 5 Big Things We’ll See This Year | The Architectural Team – Archinect

The nationally active design firm TheArchitectural Team (TAT) has announced five valuable projects and trends that will impactAmerican cities this year. From the first U.S. property for global hospitality group Raffles, tolarge-scale public housing transformations and 1 million-square-foot Rust Belt landmark, thesenew and in-process works reveal the power of innovative design solutions to makecommunities more livable, more exciting, and more resilient.

As we enter the new decade, our designers and clients alike see a growing emphasis onprojects intended to keep neighborhoods affordable, and an interest in both time-tested andnew design solutions to address housing shortages, says TAT principal Robert Verrier, FAIA,NCARB. We also anticipate important milestones for major projects transformingurban cores, a renewed resurgence in smaller cities, and forward-thinking approachesto resilient waterfront developments.

Building on these ideas, here are five stories that will play out through 2020 and beyond,according to TATs experts:

1) The affordability puzzle: Keeping neighborhoods accessible

In growing cities nationwide, the displacement of longtime residents has emerged as a majorconcern. "To keep neighborhoods affordable and accessible, says TAT principal MichaelBinette, AIA, NCARB, were working with developers, non-profits, and public officials toexpand or redevelop existing affordable and workforce housing developments adding moreresidential units while preserving affordability and dramatically enhancing livability."

As an example, Jay Szymanski, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP points to TAT's redevelopment of one of the country's oldest public housing communities, SouthBoston's The Anne M. LynchHomes at Old Colony. Work is now underway to add a further 301 apartments to the 285residences built since 2011, which replaced midcentury superblocks with a series of attractivemid-rise buildings and townhomes. In nearby Roxbury, the firms redevelopment of the 1950s-era Whittier Street Apartments created a new amenity rich, mixed-income, transit-oriented multifamily campus with 210 affordable units out of 386 total and an emphasis onoutdoor community space.

Other soon-to-open projects will serve specific populations that often struggle to find housingand support. TATs 102-unit Residences at Brighton Marine, for instance, is leasing witha dedicated focus on veterans and their families, and offers 86 affordable homes including anumber of apartments set aside for formerly homeless veterans.

2) Adaptive reuse, prefab construction help address housing shortages

Faced with a persistent shortage in housing supply across the U.S., architects and developersare responding with solutions that demonstrate the continued value of adaptive reuse, and thebenefits of new approaches including prefabricated and modular construction.

Across the northeast, TAT is reactivating formerly vacant or underutilized structures as newhousing. In Attleboro, Massachusetts, the firm has converted a historic jewelry factory into 93units of senior housing called Sterling Lofts, offering important rental options for the statesrapidly growing over-60 population.

At Bostons R o p e w a l k , a previously vacant landmark rope factory will soon offer 97 rentalapartments the sixth historic residential conversion by TAT within the Charlestown NavyYard redevelopment. InBoston's South End,100 Shawmut maximizes the potential of its siteby adding a seven-story contemporary addition to a historic warehouse, for a total of 138 newcondominium units. Integrating adaptive reuse and new construction is a great way to addresshousing shortages while respecting a neighborhoods character, says TAT project managerTom Schultz, AIA, NCARB. Were able to create value for the community by preservinghistoric fabric and looking to the future at the same time."

Other cities are exploring highly efficient approaches to infill development, includingprefabricated construction. In Quincy, Massachusetts, TAT is transforming a parking lot into a15-story, 124-unit tower called Chestnut Place where locally fabricated modules havedramatically increased speed to market for these much-needed homes.

3) New residential and mixed-use opportunities transform urban cores

"With new air rights developments, hotel towers, and uniquely positioned residentialproperties, many urban cores are set for major transformations in 2020 as closely watched andlong-awaited projects reach major milestones, says Michael Liu, AIA, NCARB, a principal at TAT.

For example, one of Bostons biggest real estate stories in a generation, Fenway Center, willsoon cross a watershed moment with its first phase approaching completion and its secondphase on track to kick off this year. TATs design for this 1.3 million-square-foot air rightscomplex adds housing, commercial office space, and retail uses while decking over a majorhighway and reconnecting three neighborhoods with new green space, public art, andpedestrian and transit connections. The first phase, Bower, offers 312 apartments, 37,000square feet of retail, and 12,000 square feet of public open space.

A hotel boom continues, too, with one of the northeast's most eagerly anticipated mixed-usetowers - the Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences, designed by TAT for theprestigious international hospitality group and developer Trinity Stuart LLC. After a fall 2018groundbreaking, the 33-story high-rise is now under construction, transforming a prime cornersite into a regional destination as the first mixed-use Raffles property in the United States.

Design teams are also unlocking new opportunities in dense, built-up areas where large sitesare hard to find. In Bostons historic Beacon Hill neighborhood, TAT's A r c h e r R e s i d e n c e s reimagines two six-story former university buildings as a single, 172,000-square-foot residential property topped off with a pair of contemporary penthouse additions and asweeping landscaped roof terrace.

4) On the rise: Smaller cities poised for resurgence

Identified by commercial real estate services group Commercial Cafe as one of thecountrys fastest-growing Rust Belt cities, Rochester, NY is on a path towards a new era ofsuccess. One of the linchpins of this recovery is Sibley Square, the TAT-designedconversion of a 1-million-square-foot former downtown department store into housing, acommunity marketplace, and high-tech workplace environments. A major indoor market is setto open within the phased, WinnDevelopment-led project this year.

Smaller gateway cities like Worcester, MA, are on the upswing too, thanks to projectslike Courthouse Lofts, TAT's conversion of the historic Worcester County Courthouse into117 units of housing. Nearing completion, the Trinity Financial-led property also holds a first-in-the-nation museum celebrating local icon and pioneering African-American cyclist MajorTaylor.

5) New waterfront developments boost resiliency, enhance public access

Increasingly vulnerable, flood-prone urban waterfronts remain desirable sites for newresidential and mixed-use development. Forward-thinking design teams are taking a holisticapproach to these projects, employing hard and soft approaches to shoreline design, strategiclandscaping, and elevated public use areas. The result? Properties that can absorb stormsurges while enhancing the public realm and long-term viability.

TATs recently opened Clippership Wharf, a 12-acre, 478-unit mixed-use complexdeveloped by Lendlease in East Boston, has garnered national attention for this approach,which also offers residents and community members access to a harborwalk, beachfront areaand floating dock with a kayak launch.

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2020 Building Preview: TAT Unveils 5 Big Things We'll See This Year | The Architectural Team - Archinect