The Town of Braintree acquired a collection of former municipal electric light waterfront buildings that have been vacant for over 20 years.
The neighboring residential community has been concerned about the impacts of new development on the site. The local neighborhood association recommended a riverfront park. However, the town is interested in redeveloping the property into a mix of uses to activate the property and stimulate the surroundings
A robust community planning process was established to create three alternative redevelopment scenarios. Each scenario built from recommendations by the residents about potential programs on the site and spanned a range of building scales. Residential, arts and workforce housing each included an open space component, generating some economic benefit to the site but also maintaining an appropriate amount of publicly-accessible open space and access to the river. The design preserves views for residents, covers the majority of parking below the building and grows the trail network along the Monatiquot River.
Schematic Designs are complete for the adaptive reuse of the Switch House and a new building along Allen Street. The site is being prepared for construction.
- Klopfer Martin Design Group
- RSE Associates, Porter/Fanna
- Omloop
- Farr North
- Weston&Sampson
- Vanesse&Associates
- Frank Marinelli
- Keirsten Shaffer
Town of Braintree (Phases I/II) Winn Development / Arch Communities (Phase III)
Urban Diagrams
The development plan combines building rehabilitation and reuse with new construction. The largest remaining building on the site, the Switch House, is reused and includes a one-story addition. The riverfront Screen Shop is also preserved as a public amenity. New construction on the footprint of the former Boiler House is broken up into two forms slightly offset from one another helping to reduce the overall scale. Parking is largely located below the building and gaps are formed through the site design to frame views and enable public access to the River.