Project narrative: Leveraging a participatory design process supporting a multifaceted mission and creative spatial solutions, the architecture adapts the historic interior to create vibrant and transformative community spaces for Latinx youth and families. The project delivery method embodied a participatory ethos which prioritized an understanding of individual identities, community, and their position within the resulting spatial identity. These spaces create a spatial framework which provides flexibility with use and programming over time while breathing new life into the organizations mission to ensure the youth in their neighborhoods have enduring access to enriching transformative experiences that improve their lives and communities.
Project location: Boston, Massachusetts
Firm name: Studio Luz Architects
Completion: 2021
Project type: Institutional Building Renovation
Project information: Renovation/restoration
Size: 6,457 sf
Client: Sociedad Latina
Jury comments: This project is all about smart and impactful choices. Despite a small scale and budget, it addresses all the Framework for Design Excellence criteria very thoughtfully, taking sustainability and energy goals seriously. The spaces are understated, but warm, inviting and well suited to their use, and offering value to the neighborhood the project serves. It is light and airy, with a calmness that is emphasized by small moves (such as circular acoustic panels, natural materials, neutral palette, and transparent walls). The project engages very nicely with the historic building. This project unlocks future possibilities within an existing structure by focusing on all electric conversion, as a key driver of programmatic resilience.
Images/Photographer(s): Studio Luz Architects; Josephine Sittenfeld; Hannah Latham
General Contractor: Haynes Group
Developer: New Seasons Development LLC
Civil Engineer: Meridian Associates
Structural: Roome & Guarracino
Mechanical: Allied Engineering
Electrical: Allied Engineering
Plumbing: Allied Engineering
Acoustics: Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Inc.
Consultants: Code: AKF Group; Construction Specifier: Putnam Associates; Fire Protection: Allied Consulting Engineering; Building Envelope: Copeland
