Enhancing Urban Character: Our Design Approach in Action at 99 Maverick Street
Articles, design
Enhancing Urban Character: Our Design Approach in Action at 99 Maverick Street
At ThoughtCraft, we believe in enhancing the character of streets by bringing forward strong, positive characteristics of a location. When we design projects in busy streetscapes, we take into account how the street is used, how buildings engage the public realm, and how the facade defines a cohesive, humanly-scaled architectural language. Our aim is to assimilate the building within the existing urban fabric, often mending or stitching the fabric where necessary.
Meet 99 Maverick Street
The project is located a couple of blocks away from Maverick Square in East Boston, a transportation and commercial hub for the neighborhood. It is a gritty and eclectic neighborhood that has seen revitalization in the last 10-15 years, creating more diversity in buildings and people.
Our client, MG2 Group, came to us with the goal to bring a more elevated and refined design to an ordinary block. We faced the challenge of integrating one final undeveloped parcel on a large block. This space had been a parking lot for a long time, creating a void in that area.
Mending the Urban Fabric
To mend the block, we observed a few strong architectural cues that would help bring cohesion to the area. We focused on the rhythm and proportion of stacked windows, a defined base to the adjacent buildings, and aligning the cornices across the block.
Lastly, we introduced a mansard roof with dormers that reflected the quaint building on the corner to heighten and pull its character into the block. The facade of the project utilized a terra-cotta tile similar to the ubiquitous brick facades that dot the neighborhood while also recalling the prevalent horizontal clapboards.
Our Design Ideology
At ThoughtCraft, our approach to designing projects in urban environments emphasizes the significance of considering a location's identity and augmenting it with harmonious details that enhance the surrounding architectural language. Our successful integration of the final undeveloped lot on this block in East Boston is a testament to the way thoughtful design can elevate the character of a whole street by seamlessly integrating a new building into the existing cityscape.