PERSPECTIVES

The exterior vision for 232 Old Colony is taking form as exterior facade treatments near completion.

The broad face along Old Colony Avenue folds mid-block to present a building mass in-scale with the surrounding context. This facade is clad with dark gray and wood-tone composite panels that evoke traditional neighborhood textures while utilizing the finest contemporary construction materials and methods.

Brick facades incorporate a ubiquitous Boston building material made simply and excitingly modern through rich detailing. Varied-depth stack bond ties window bands together, and a dynamic mural of offset units dances along the busy public sidewalk.

For more details, and sales information, please see 232oc.com.

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RODE was in Haverhill last month to meet with the building department for our second project in the downtown area. We are very excited to collaborate with Traggorth Companies  on the historic 87 Washington Street building.   The adaptive reuse of the long vacant space will bring commercial amenities and apartments to the dynamic, urban downtown.

During our visit, we had a chance to stop by Quinn’s Canine Café, the newest commercial tenant at JM Lofts, our first project in Haverhill. The space looks great, and we hear that the city and surrounding town residents are thrilled to have a specialty pet bakery. These three commercial tenants at JM Lofts, Quinn’s Canine Café, Battle Grounds Coffee, and Casa Creatives Photography, demonstrate the energy and potential for the revitalization in Downtown Haverhill.

In addition to new commercial spaces drawing people to the city, the first Shoe City Pro Circuit cycling race took place in July and passed in front of JM Lofts, and there are some fantastic photos from Casa Creatives Photography.

Keep an eye on RODE for more updates on 87 Washington!

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This past winter, the West Broadway Hotel team had the opportunity to build the firm's first model room.  Ahead of the full interior build out of the Cambria hotel, located at the gateway into South Boston, our team was able to construct a full scale mock-up of the typical hotel room.  Model rooms are an important part of the process for a hotel build - ensuring client, brand, and operations approval before building and furnishing a hotel room multiple times, in this case 159 times.  

The experience of building a model room for this size of project was incredibly helpful and informative for the building of the remainder of the project.  It was a great test run for all project participants and trades to complete final system coordination and practice how they would complete the construction for the entire roll out.  The project team had the ability to predict problems or complications that may happen in the field and make adjustments accordingly.  With such a tight footprint, every inch counted within the guest rooms for both the guest experience and the success of the operations team.

While framing and plumbing was going in surrounding the model room location, as soon as you passed through the door into the unit, it felt as though you just checked in for the weekend, right down to the room service menus, coffee and tea selections, and linens.  

Once the model room was completed, the owner, hotel brand, and future operations team were invited to visit the room and provide feedback to the design team.  In an effort to make the full roll out as successful as possible, RODE made updates to the drawings and room pieces.  Overall, the exercise of building the model room was a great success as it gave the entire team an opportunity to make any adjustments before building the final rooms, reducing the amount of changes made in field and improving the future guest's experience.  

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Last week, RODE principal Kevin Deabler had the opportunity to speak with students at Cathedral High School for the biennial WilmerHale Career Day. Kevin has volunteered at the Career Day the last 8 years as a way to help prepare students for success in their future. Throughout the day, Kevin met with Cathedral students and discussed why he chose to become an architect and the greater good that can be achieved through design. His discussion directly relates to RODE's philosophy of  “building where we live” and how as designers, we have an opportunity to make a positive impact on our communities, and greater Boston, through thoughtful architecture and design.

Last week, RODE Architects had the pleasure of joining Illuminate lighting group at Rosie's Place, a women's shelter in the South End, to prepare meals for local women and children. Together, RODE and Illuminate helped serve 132 lunches and begin the prep work for that evening's dinner. Since opening in 1974 as the first women-only shelter in the United States, Rosie's Place has provided hot breakfast, lunch, and dinner 365 days a year to poor and homeless women and children. They also support the community by providing a safe and nurturing environment that allows women to maintain their dignity, seek opportunity and find security in their lives through a broad range of tools and services. These include a food pantry, emergency housing, advocacy services, and health and wellness care. The RODE team genuinely enjoyed being able to give back to the community and support the people in their neighborhood in the South End.

If you are interested in volunteering at Rosie's Place, head to their website to learn more: http://www.rosiesplace.org/volunteer

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