“The wharf park was designed to accommodate multiple uses and gatherings, ranging from intimate lunches on the extensive seat walls to large crowds for the summer concert series,” explains John Copley, principal of Copley Wolff Design Group. “Additionally, the gathering and lounge spaces needed to be buffered from the active pedestrian circulation across the park. This was achieved by a simple grade change between the different spaces, which, in turn, allowed for elevated views to the Harbor from the various seating areas.”
The project was finally put on a firm path to realization with the acquisition of the development by Boston-based Related Beal Co., which took the forward-thinking (for Boston) position that the provision of parking was not a necessity in an urban environment with proximity to multiple modes of public transportation.
“We want to be a responsible developer, leading the way with respect to what the new Boston will look like,” notes Bruce Beal Sr., chairman of the company in an interview with The Boston Globe.
“We feel that a responsible development doesn’t add significantly to the city’s traffic burden by adding a multistory parking garage.”
It was perhaps another insight that the real potential of the Hoffman Building lay not in continuing its use as a multi-tenant class B office building but in finding a single tenant who could benefit from its unique visibility to create a powerful corporate architectural image and leverage use of the landscaped wharf plaza in a symbiotic public/private way. The developer found such a user in Converse Inc., which decided to make 214,000 square feet of the Hoffman Building its new world headquarters.
But such a statement required more than the custodial refurbishment of the existing structure. While The Architectural Team’s master plan called for the demolition of the undistinguished 131 Beverly Street half of the Hoffman Building and its replacement with a new residential tower, the development of the remaining structure, which was to become the Converse headquarters, needed an additional design element suitable to its now prominent location. This was accomplished by the removal of the previous 2-story addition and its replacement with a sleek new glass structure whose simplicity of design provides a striking counterpoint to the muscular brick detailing of the original building on which it sits.
In a departure from its usual attitude toward signage, the city permitted Converse to incorporate its name on a major rooftop illuminated fixture, the letters include the signature Converse star. The sign, in part because such displays are rare in Boston, becomes an important landmark along with the glass addition on which it sits, particularly at night when both are illuminated. The two work as important gateway markers to the approach of the city from the north of Boston.
The transformation of the Hoffman Building from an anonymous industrial presence to an iconic urban landmark was enhanced by a second addition on the wharf itself, a 2-story music studio and public entertainment venue called Rubber Tracks. A unique public amenity that Converse has created at other of its locations, Rubber Tracks offers free recording time to music artists and a venue for live outdoor entertainment. The Rubber Tracks wharf addition is so designed as to provide a stage where musicians can perform for an audience on the wharf plaza below and concerts have become part of the active programming of the wharf.
If it was the happy coincidence of being at the center of several important changes in the city fabric around it that made the transformation of the Hoffman Building viable, it was the recognition of its veiled potential by city planners, developers, corporate tenants and designers that made it possible to fully realize. While few projects enjoy the combination of advantageous contextual developments that Lovejoy Wharf enjoyed, there are no doubt many such opportunities to leverage the potential of existing structures if one looks for them.
Materials
Exterior Brick Cleaner: Prosoco
Exterior Brick Mortar: Lehigh Cement
Terrace Tempered Glass: C.R. Laurence Co. Inc.
Ninth-floor Terrace Pavers: RoofBlok
Terrace Metal: Reynobond and Morin
Ninth- and 10th-floor Metal Panels: Alucobond
Converse Sign: Poyant Signs
Charred Wood Siding: Delta Millworks
Unit Pavers: Unilock
Entrances: Dorma
Revolving Door: Boon Edam Inc.
Windows and Curtainwall: Kawneer
Glass: PPG
Retail Glass: Pilkington
Concrete Floor Sealer: Dur-A-Flex
Intumescent Coating on Exposed Columns: Isolatek
Interior Signage: Mohawk Sign Systems
Retrofit Team
Master Planner and Architect: The Architectural Team Inc., Chelsea, Mass.
Developer: Related Beal Co., Boston
Landscape Architect: Copley Wolff Design Group, Boston
Structural Engineer: McNamara Salvia, Boston
Interior Designer: Jennifer Carpenter Architect, New York
Wharf Engineer: Childs Engineering Corp., Bellingham, Mass.
Civil Engineer: Parsons Brinckerhoff Engineering Services, Boston
MEP: AHA Consulting Engineers, Lexington, Mass.
Geotechnical and Environmental: Haley & Aldrich, Charlestown, Mass.
Acoustical: Acentech Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
General Contractor: Suffolk Construction, Boston
PHOTOS: Gustav Hoiland, courtesy The Architectural Team Inc.