Project Description
Working collaboratively with the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, the firm artfully combined adaptive reuse and new construction to transform the site of the beloved former St. Kevin’s Parish school and church building, vacant since 2008, into the Uphams Crossing mixed-use campus. The 102,000 square foot project provides 60 units of workforce housing and another 20 units of permanent affordable housing for formerly homeless families. Designed under the new Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code, the project features an Energy Recovery Ventilator which provides tempered fresh air to each apartment. The air exhausted from each unit circulates through a mechanical unit that extracts the energy and reuses it to temper the incoming fresh air, saving on energy usage and providing “healthier” air when it is not conducive to have the exterior windows open. Additionally, the former school building features a resident lounge, fitness room, community meeting space, a computer lab and other shared amenities as well as office space for the onsite resident service coordinator hired in partnership with St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children. TAT’s transit-oriented plan for the campus, a prominent site on the neighborhood’s main artery, capitalizes on its walking distance to bus and commuter rail services, Hubway and onsite Zipcar, as well as helping to connect the surrounding vibrant business districts.