WINSLOW ARCHITECTS INC. (WAI) was selected by the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) in 2018 as Architect for the modernization of Doris Bunte Apartments in Roxbury. We were honored with this selection as the building is extremely unique and has recently been listed on the Mass Historic Register as an historical example of mid-20th century public architecture. The building is a round 20 story concrete structure– very unique and with no straight lines a complicated building to renovate.
We have welcomed this challenge along with an even more difficult challenge – the building is fully occupied by senior citizens and will be so throughout the construction work. The project calls for the replacement of most of the building systems – plumbing and heating lines, wiring, kitchens/baths, etc. In order to construct this work, the plans have been devised to divide the round building vertically into 9 slices – think slices of cake – with each slice vacated during that portion of the renovation. In this way, the many HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems can be shut down for that slice of the building and enable work while the rest of the building remains occupied.
Winslow Architects has assembled a complete team of consultants to undertake this work – including MacRitchie Engineering for the MEP systems, Nitsch Engineering for Civil engineering, Simpson Gumpertz and Heger for building envelope modernization, and New Ecology Inc. for energy conservation services.