Showing posts with label 226-232 HIGHLAND. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 226-232 HIGHLAND. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

BIG NEWS !!! E+ //226-232 HIGHLAND RECEIVED AIA COTE TOP TEN AWARD

E+// 226-232 Highland Street Townhouses
Great news to share on this Earth Day!!!

Our E+//226-232 Highland Street Townhouses received a national level award-the 2015 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment Top Ten Project.

The jury cites the project as "an example of both high performance and high style".

Check out the list of award winning projects at the 2015 AIA COTE Top Ten project website.

Monday, February 2, 2015

TWO HOBSON AWARDS FOR E+ ROXBURY!


Hobson Twins!
Photo Credit: Deb Grossberg Katz | ISA

On January 29th 2015, Urbanica Design and Interface Studio Architects received the highest honor, the Hobson Honor Awards, in two categories for the E+ 226-232 Highland Street project:

For more information, visit the Awards website:

Kudos to ISA team for this award winning project!

Monday, September 8, 2014

TWO FOR TWO: BSA Awards!

226-232 Highland Street E+ Townhouses, Photo Credit: Sam Oberter
Urbanica in partnership with Interface Studio Architects have won 2 Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Awards for the 226-232 Highland Street  E+ Townhouses project.

The project has been chosen for recognition on these two categories:


Stay tune for details!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

URBANICA NAMED AS A BOSTON GLOBE GAME CHANGER


Boston Globe Game Changers Magazine Cover, July 15 2014

Urbanica was selected by Boston Globe to be this year's "Game Changer", a designation for any corporation (private or public), academic institution, health care provider, nonprofit, or startup with a Massachusetts presence in 2013 that accomplished something remarkable or cool. According to Mark Porthier, the Boston Globe business editor, the inaugural 56 Game Changers are the embodiment of that definition, and the Globe is eager to highlight their tremendous contributions to the economy and Massachusetts’ status as a hotbed of innovation.

Urbanica was selected based on its accomplishment at 226-232 Highland Street E+ Townhouses, where the firm turned a vacant lot in Roxbury into four energy-efficient homes that generate more power than they consumed. The $1.5 million project on Highland Street was Boston’s first energy-positive residential building and inspired the city to want to build dozens of similar carbon-free units.

“It was a prototype to understand how the technology works and determine market demand,” said Kamran Zahedi, president of Urbanica. “It was a good experience for us and now we’re trying to bring that kind of housing to different neighborhoods.”

Click [HERE] for the rest of the magazine at Boston Globe Game Changers site.

Friday, April 4, 2014

LEED PLATINUM DEDICATION CEREMONY FOR 226-232 HIGHLAND STREET


226-232 Highland Home Owners together with the Deputy Director of Urban Design, Prataap Patrose; BRA Senior Architect, John Dalzell and President of Urbanica, Kamran Zahedi.

Photo Credit: Boston Redevelopment Authority

On April 2 2014, Urbanica and the City of Boston celebrated the award of the LEED Platinum certification for the 226-232 Highland Street project. The 4-unit townhouse project, which was completed in 2013, is Boston's first LEED Platinum E+ (energy positive) residential building.

According to the write up by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, "the BRA Deputy Director of Urban Design Prataap Patrose joined with Kamran Zahedi of Urbanica and the new homeowners of 226-232 Highland Street in Roxbury to celebrate the award of LEED Platinum for the building. 
...
Kamran Zahedi of Urbanica spoke on the success of this project and future plans for similar energy efficient developments. Several of the project's homeowners were present at the ceremony with their families and one homeowner, Ted Resnikoff, shared how these homes fulfilled his family's vision for a sustainable urban lifestyle.
...
Over 60 attendees, including neighborhood residents, area builders and designers, representatives of NSTAR and National Grid, and City Officials attended the dedication ceremony, which was followed by in-depth tours of a recently completed unit."

For the complete article by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, please visit BRA's [NEWS & UPDATES] page.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

LEED FOR HOMES PLATINUM x 4 = AWESOME


 

226-232 Highland Street LEED for HOMES Certificates

Some awesome news to share!

Our 226-232 Highland Street E+ Townhouses have successfully achieved the certification level of "LEED for Homes Platinum" as established by the U.S. Green Building Council  in the LEED Green Building Rating System and verified by an independent green rater.

We would like to thank all the core team members who worked tiredlessly on the project:

  • Daryn E., Brian P. and Kara M. from Interface Studio Architects
  • Evan S. and Declan K. from Placetailor
  • Michael S. and Will D. from Conservation Services Group
  • Kamran Z., Cheryl S. , Shawn P., Justin K. and Andrew W. from Urbanica

The combined expertise and knowledge of the team turned the lofty dream of building a cluster of Net Positive LEED Platinum homes into reality. The project is one of the first residential project in the City of Boston to achieve this highest level of achievement within the LEED rating system.

In fact, technically speaking, these are actually four LEED for Homes Platinum Certified projects located along the same street -- a concentration of LEED for Homes Platinum projects that is just unparalleled elsewhere in the world.

We plan to publish a series of blog posts that will highlight the design strategies employed throughout the project.

Monday, November 25, 2013

URBANICA IS ON BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL


The Resnikoff family hanging out in their beautiful kitchen
Photo Credit: W.Marc Bernsau, Boston Business Journal

Mary Moore, reporter from the Boston Business Journal, wrote a fantastic analysis on the up and coming neighborhood of Roxbury. Mary wrote "that the area has witnessed significant resurgence as hundreds of millions of dollars in public and private sector projects come to fruition in the neighborhood's core and on its fringes". This has lead to the growth of median prices far exceeding the rise in values across Suffolk County and across the state. Two of our projects, 226-232 Highland Street E+ Townhouses and the Parcel 9 Melnea Hotel and Residences were featured in the article.

A couple of our home buyers at 226-232 Highland Street, Ted Resnikoff and his wife, Suleykan "discovered this hidden jewel" of a neighborhood that is mere minutes away from downtown Boston. The energy efficient project is slated to be LEED Platinum certified and the houses actually produces more energy than it consumes, hence the term "Energy Positive". The quality finishings, the modern contextual design and the sustainable aspects of the project helped in breaking new ground in sales prices. In return, the buyers were able to get more value for their money with new construction, more living space, lower comparative prices, room for future capital appreciation and most importantly, the opportunity to live in a strong historic Boston neighborhood.

While there are concerns that long term residents will be pushed out due to gentrification, the fact remains the as Roxbury progresses with new developments of market rate housing alongside other bigger institutional developments around Dudley Square and Northeastern University, the long term prospects of the residents will greatly improved with locally created jobs and wealth.

In fact, this is the driving principle for our development of Parcel 9 Melnea Hotel and Residences--a multi-million dollar mixed use complex that boast a 145-room hotel, 50 apartments, retail and community spaces. The hotel and retail components will help create local jobs while stimulating the surrounding micro-economy. In tandem with the developments at Dudley Square and Parcel 10, we believe that these projects will create the momentum in rejuvenating the area and help this amazing neighborhood reach greater heights.

For the full story, please visit this Boston Business Journal article, ["ROXBURY'S CHANGING FACE"].

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

HELPING HANDS: A SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT TO NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL COUNCIL OF CARPENTERS!

We would like to express our gratitude to the New England Regional Council of Carpenters for their assistance in the construction of the 226-232 Highland Street project. We are grateful for the cooperation and help from Mark Erlich, Lyell Hamm, Tom English as well as the US Framing crew. Union carpenters and apprentices had worked on Boston's first Energy Positive homes in various capacity.

We also would like to give a special shout out to the whole team of young and energetic apprentices who were able to apply their classroom knowledge in a real world setting for helping in the installation of the fiber cement siding, hardwood flooring and interior drywall. More than 125 of the Council's members worked on the Highland Park site, contributing their skills while gaining valuable training in the green building sector.

Working with the city of Boston and Urbanica, apprentices and instructors provided  union training and union skills while allowing carpenters to learn more about the latest ways to make building and living more energy efficiently. The skills and knowledge they learned and used will benefit them directly, as well as their future employers and the entire building industry.

Please enjoy the short film produced by the Council on their great contribution to this project.


Monday, September 16, 2013

226-232 HIGHLAND ST TOWNHOUSES

Pardon for the lack of posts in the past few months! Been a very hectic year at the Urbanica office.

As they say, a picture paints a thousand words, so please check out this short movie on the year-long process for the construction of 226-232 Highland Street at Roxbury, Boston, MA. Please enjoy!

Friday, September 6, 2013

RIBBON CUTTING EVENT AT 226-232 HIGHLAND STREET


Councillor Tito Jackson speaking at the E+ Highland St Ribbon Cutting Event, flanked by Urbanica's principal Kamran Zahedi; Director of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development, Sheila Dillon and E+ home buyer, Professor Janice Griffith
Photo Credit: Stephen Chung, Urbanica
On August 27, 2013, Urbanica had a short ribbon cutting event at Highland Park to celebrate the susbstantial completion of the 226-232 Highland Street Energy Positive townhouses. The invited guests include Boston city officials, local elected leaders, home buyers, neighbors, consultants and subcontractors.

Here are some photos from the day's festivities:



Friday, August 30, 2013

226-232 HIGHLAND ST IS IN THE PRESS!


Screenshot of the Boston Globe article by Casey Ross
Some publicity and press for the 226-232 Highland Street project! Check it out!

Click [HERE] for the Boston Globe article by Casey Ross.

Click [HERE] for an article by Patrick Russo from the Boston.com.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

RIBBON CUTTING AT 226-232 HIGHLAND STREET



At long last, this labor of love is reaching its final lap!

Please join us for a ribbon cutting on August 27, 2013, 10am at 226-232 Highland Street, Roxbury, MA.

Here are some preview photos as teasers, enjoy!



 

Clockwise from Upper Left: New Pavement, Interior, Final Landscaping and PV Installation 

Friday, February 15, 2013

WINTER STORM NEMO VISITS THE NORTHEAST

Look at the amount of snow!

Construction Manager Evan clearing snow 
Construction Consultant Declan covered in a few feet of snow
Neighborhood Kids Having Fun Sledding Down Highland Street

Monday, December 10, 2012

We have a foundation!

We have the foundation in place for 226-232 Highland Street!

Note the staggering and the stepping that needs to happen for the building to fit the site and slope.

Some photos to showing the progress.



Wednesday, December 5, 2012

We are now official!

Our Boston E+ job sign for the project is now up and running, we are official!

226-232 Highland St Job Sign

Friday, October 26, 2012

GREAT THINGS ARE COMING


Stay tuned for major updates on our 226-232 Highland Street project! Great things are happening next Tuesday!

Friday, October 12, 2012

JOB TRAILER DELIVERED!


Site Trailer at 226 Highland St, Boston
We got our job trailer delivered this week, a step closer to ground breaking!

Friday, June 22, 2012

UPDATES ON E+ HOMES: 226-232 HIGHLAND STREET

226-232 Highland St: Front View
226-232 Highland St: Back View


Our project at 226-232 Highland Street is in the news! Matt Casey from the Beacon Hill Patch did a nice write up on the Boston Energy Plus Green Housing Program. For the complete article, please [CLICK HERE]


Urbanica Design and Development is one of 3 winning firms that will create sustainable and energy efficient homes in the Roxbury area.Our design partner is Interface Studio Architects, from Philadelphia and they made their name designing and building the 100K house a few years ago.


The project is conceived as a replicable prototype of efficient and sustainable residential construction for the city of Boston. The building consists of four three‐bedroom townhouses, approximately 1,750sf each. Sited on a currently vacant parcel in a vibrant urban neighborhood.

The houses’ form and orientation serve to maximize natural daylight and solar gain for the photo‐voltaic array that will generate more electricity than is needed. Our approach includes two major strategies for energy reduction: first, a super insulated envelope minimizes heat transfer without relying on mechanical conditioning techniques; second, a feedback mechanism provides information and prompts to users in the house regarding their energy‐related activity.

The project, in spite of its technological advancements, is inexpensive and simple in its construction, allowing transfer and easy replication in whole or part of its strategies to new and existing units in the region.

Stay tuned for more updates on this project as we moves closer to breaking ground in a couple of months!

Monday, August 1, 2011