Bruner/Cott Architects was founded 51 years ago with a commitment to design excellence and the belief that thoughtful architecture and planning can make a positive difference in the quality of life, shared sense of purpose, and vitality of a community.
FIRM PROFILE
We embrace design excellence and the belief that thoughtful architecture and planning can make a positive difference in the quality of life, shared sense of purpose, and vitality of a community. We are a 30-person, singleoffice practice located in Boston, Massachusetts. Our leadership team brings a broad, integrated perspective to design, giving depth to each of our practice areas.
The firm’s work has been recognized for award-winning design in preservation, adaptive transformation, and new construction, with a focus on educational and cultural institutions. We are known for creativity in inventing new solutions to complex programs and as design leaders for historic renewal and contemporary design in the context of urban revitalization and institutional re-invention. We approach our design work with the belief that every project is about moving forward, in both new construction and transformative reuse projects.
Bruner/Cott is a two-time recipient of the AIA National Honor Award for Design, two-time recipient of the AIA COTE Top Ten Award, and is consistently recognized as a Top 50 firm in the United States by ARCHITECT magazine. Named a Next Generation Firm by Preservation Massachusetts, the AIA New England has also repeatedly recognized us an Emerging Professional Friendly firm.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
We emphasize a design approach that achieves a balance between form and use, preservation and change, and opportunity and cost. We are known for our creativity in constrained circumstances, and as design leaders for historic renewal and new contemporary buildings, in urban, institutional, and campus settings.
We look at each project within the context of its mission and community. Many factors must come together to create successful design. We utilize an open planning process that reaches out to all vested parties. In order to create successful solutions, we believe that clear communication with our clients is essential, including how we communicate design issues and our accessibility to you.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, ACCESSIBILITY
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION
By valuing our differences, the firm embraces the skills, experiences, and knowledge of all employees. Accordingly, B/C is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all persons regardless of race, color, religious creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, ancestry, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, uniformed military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. B/C endeavors to consistently base employment on individual merit, qualifications, and competence. Equal opportunity extends to all aspects of the employment relationship, including hiring, promotions, training, compensation, benefits, layoffs and all other terms of employment.
BRUNER/COTT STAFF
DEI IN DESIGN
In addition to our active policies and practices, Bruner/ Cott emphasizes inclusion throughout the design process to ensure that the spaces we design are wholly inclusive for its end-users. B/C’s renovation at the Huntington Theatre is a strong example of this. In both the temporary and permanent entry access, all patrons enter the space from the same location and move into the space together in an effort to meet universal design standards. Additionally, the main public toilet rooms are designed to be all-gender spaces with floor-to-ceiling stalls for maximum privacy.
ACTIVE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
POLICIES AND PRACTICES
Bruner/Cott Architects is an active advocate for equity within the profession or architecture. Examples of our initiatives include:
Regular evaluation and reporting on the firm’s breakdown of women and minority staff.
Our firm is comprised of 50% women, including 20% ownership held by Partner + Principal Dana Kelly. Our staff is currently comprised of 31% ethnic or racial minorities.
Hiring graduates from a diverse range of universities and programs.
We also sponsor international employees requiring work visas and provide support so they can focus on their professional goals.
Providing an immersive Co-op Program for students to gain hands-on project experience and work with firm leadership to refine their skills and learn more about the industry. Bruner/Cott is consistently recognized as an Emerging Professional Friendly Firm for our dedication to the professional development of junior staff.
Giving Back to our Community.
We encourage staff members to volunteer their time and expertise with local organizations like DigitalReady, a nonprofit that pairs design professionals with high school students to serve as mentors and build tangible pathways to economic opportunities in Boston’s innovation economy. We offer 16 paid hours of volunteer time a year for each staff member to give back.
Ongoing commitment to our Internal Equity + Racial Justice Working Group.
This group sets goals and objectives for improving our practice as a business, as members of our community, and as architects. Through a year-long series of workshops and guided discussions with YW Boston, we have crafted a firm-wide diversity, equity, and inclusivity action plan to hold us accountable and initiate necessary cultural shifts to support inclusive policies and practices.
The Viridian
The Abbey Group
Boston, MA | Completed 2015
Area: 360,000 sf / 342 units
LEED Gold Certified
The Viridian at 1282 Boylston Street is a mixed-use development in Boston’s historic Fenway Park neighborhood. The building rests on a 4-story, 350 foot long plinth which includes ground level retail. Two residential towers, separated at the 10th floor, break the streetscape massing and transition from the low-rise historic buildings nearby. The design team, working with neighborhood associations, was able to address community issues as well as context. Over half of the units are 700 sf or less, creating market-rate and affordable ‘micro units’ in this dense and highly desirable neighborhood. The growing urban village along Boylston Street has become a highly sought-after area for professionals, students, young families and emptynesters moving back into the city. Below-grade parking accommodates 295 vehicles.
A variegated terra-cotta rainscreen skin covers the exterior, creating pattern and texture. Completed in a record 20 month construction time, the building is designed around an innovative structural steel frame. Registered for LEED Gold certification, the Viridian includes energy-efficient mechanical systems, environmentally responsible materials, and abundant bicycle storage.
45 Province Street
The Abbey Group
Boston, MA | Completed 2009
Area: 370,000 sf / 138 units
Boston Society of Architects
2009 Honor Award for Design Excellence
AIA New England
2009 Design Award
45 Province Street is a new 31-story, mixed-use residential building in Boston’s historic Midtown Cultural District, with 25 stories of luxury condominiums, ground-floor retail, and a parking garage for residents and local businesses. The glass and terra cotta exterior bridges old and new Boston—the terra cotta reflecting the color and scale of the surrounding historic buildings, and the glass in dialogue with newer arrivals. Unabashedly contemporary, 45 Province is completely at home in its historic surrounds.
Massing was designed to minimize shadows on the adjacent buildings and reduce wind at grade. Stretching two-thirds of Province Street, the building is highly articulated at pedestrian scale. The entrance is marked by a curving glass canopy, in intentional opposition to the linear, angular façade. The interior lobby, health club, pool, and units—all designed by Bruner/ Cott—reflect the modernist exterior. Lower floor duplexes face Province Street, while upper units have 360˚ city-wide views.
The building is concrete-framed, with an exterior rainscreen that reduces direct heat gain on exterior walls. Light colored roofing pavers reflect sunlight to diminish heat gain. Low VOC and recycled materials were used throughout. The team implemented construction practices to reuse historic site materials and reduce waste.
288 Harrison Avenue
Harrison Affordable, LLC
Boston, MA | In Construction
Area: 87,000 sf / 85 units
PHIUS+ CORE Pre-Certified
Bruner/Cott is working with Harrison Affordable, LLC, a joint venture of Beacon Communities LLC and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England, to develop a six-story multifamily residential building to expand on the existing Tai Tung Village development. The project will significantly add to the affordable housing stock in the Chinatown neighborhood, transforming a current parking lot into an attractive building that is respectful of the surrounding context, and is a gateway to the neighborhood. The site is consistent with smart-growth and transit-oriented development principles, ideally situated near MBTA subway and bus services, multiple Blue Bikes stations, and various amenities.
The new building at 288 Harrison Avenue will be comprised of 85 residential units, with ground floor non-residential space for community and cultural uses and future retail. All units will be income-restricted to households that earn no more than seventy percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), as established by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The building will contain a mix of one bedroom, two bedroom, and three bedroom units.
The project is designed to LEED Gold standards and is Passive House CORE Pre-certified. Sustainable design elements include a high-performance building envelope and windows, energy recovery systems, a light roof with high solar reflectance, high-efficiency HVAC equipment, and strategies for mitigating air pollution.
Union House Apartments
Watermark Ventures LLC
Cambridge, MA | Completed 2019
Area: 25,500 sf / 23 units
LEED Gold Certified
The Union House Apartments at 47 Bishop Allen Drive replace an under-utilized parking garage in the Central Square neighborhood of Cambridge, MA with a four-story residential wood frame building. The building includes 23 rental apartments, consisting of both family and one-bedroom units. Units on the ground floor have direct access. The development is transit-oriented and includes no on-site parking, encouraging its tenants to utilize alternate means of transportation. The MBTA is only steps away, allowing ease of public transit, and the building contains two secure areas for convenient bicycle storage. Communal outdoor areas such as a back yard and private patios invite individuals and families to gather and enjoy the landscaped spaces.
Union House Apartments is built to scale with existing structures, and is designed to anticipate future development in the rapidly growing neighborhood.
Frost Terrace
Capstone Communities & Hope Real Estate Enterprises
Cambridge, MA | Completed 2021
Area: 50,000 sf
LEED Gold Certified
Preservation Massachusetts
2024 Robert H. Kuehn Preservation Award
Boston Society of Architects
2023 Merit Award for Built Design Excellence, Adaptive Reuse, Renovation, Preservation
Retrofit Magazine
2022 Metamorphosis Award, Multifamily Housing, 2nd Place
Built Environment Plus (BE+)
2022 Green Building Award, Equity + Inclusion
Building Design + Construction
2021 Silver Reconstruction Award
Cambridge Historic Commission
2021 Preservation Award
Located in the heart of bustling Porter Square, next to Bruner/Cott-designed Lesley University’s Lunder Arts Center, Frost Terrace is a unique, transit oriented, 100% affordable family community.
Bruner/Cott worked with Capstone Communities and Hope Real Estate Enterprises to transform a run-down site into new apartment homes and a vibrant part of the Massachusetts Avenue streetscape. The design balances a complex set of contextual priorities identified through site analysis, civic meetings, and neighborhood working groups. The composition has three anchoring elements: The restored and relocated William Frost House (1791 Massachusetts Ave.), a new five-story masonry volume, and the two rear Frost Terrace houses. A new four-story clapboard volume works with the landscape to knit together these elements into a unified whole. Each element is positioned to respond to the highly varied site context along each property line and embodies an idea of reflecting and interpreting its surroundings.
IN THE NEWS
HUD User, Providing Affordable Housing Through Historic Preservation in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Retrofit Magazine, High-density Affordable Housing Weaves Together Historic Buildings with Thoughtful New Construction Building Design + Construction, Affordable and sublime: 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing High-Profile, Bruner/Cott Completes Affordable Housing in Porter Square
IN THE NEWS
Retrofit Magazine, An Affordable Housing Complex in Massachusetts Sets a National Precedent for Sustainable Investment in Large-scale Housing Communities
New England Real Estate Journal, Bruner/Cott Architects completes Rivermark Apartments renovation
The Architect’s Newspaper, At Rivermark, Bruner/Cott doesn’t shy away from adding color to Cambridge’s historic, Brutalist shoreline
New England Real Estate Journal, MassHousing closes $87.2 million in financing for 808 Memorial Dr.
Rivermark
Homeowner’s Rehab, Inc. (HRI) Cambridge, MA | Completed 2022
Area: 380,000 sf / 300
Enterprise Green Communities Certification
Boston Society of Architects
2023 Environmental Impact Advancement Commendation for Built Design Excellence, Housing
Retrofit Magazine
2023 Metamorphosis Awards, Multifamily Housing, 1st Place
Built Environment Plus (BE+)
2022 Green Building Award, Sustainable Building Renovation Selected Awards
Bruner/Cott recently completed the occupied renovation of two 1970s-era apartment buildings at 808-812 Memorial Drive. Situated along the Charles River, the buildings house 300 mixed-income apartment units of varying sizes, approximately 38,000 sf of commercial space, and five levels of parking. The project improves tenant comfort and sense of security, while also strengthening the residential community and identity.
Exterior renovations included new insulated cladding and window systems to refresh the appearance of the building and support mechanical system upgrades. The site also underwent landscaping updates to improve circulation and accessibility, including new surface materials, benches, and lighting.
On the inside, common spaces such as the community room, activity room, and computer lab have been reconfigured to better serve its users. Lobbies, elevators, and corridors were updated with modern and vibrant finishes, flooring, lighting and signage, in addition to select interior unit renovations.
existing site
Frankfort + Gove Street Housing
RISE Development
East Boston, MA | In Design
Area: 131,000 sf / 112 units
At the corner of Frankfort and Gove Streets in East Boston, a historic church will be flanked by a new, modern companion building to bring affordable housing to the neighborhood. The new development is designed to weave into the neighborhood and reflect its surrounding context - size, shape, and material. It will provide 112 units of housing for regular working individuals and families and bring additional vibrancy to the streets of this high-quality, urban neighborhood by activating the street.
The church building will be the cornerstone of this development, respectfully reused and converted into spacious loft-style living units that capture the soaring interior spaces and volume of the building. A transparent connector behind the courtyard will elegantly join the two buildings.
The new building will be 5 stories tall and constructed with terra-cotta or ceramic façade materials that harmonize with the brick and stone of the church. The development is designed to be a model for resilient planning and sustainable design in 21st century Boston.
Greenway Place
Tambone Property Management
Boston, MA | Completed 2006
Area: 27,000 sf / 13 units
At Greenway Place, Bruner/Cott used two six-story high incisions to organize a “found façade” in this conversion of an historic Boston warehouse into thirteen units of condominium housing. The building faces the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a landscaped parkland joining downtown Boston to the harbor, and the units feature 20-foot balconies and generous spans of glass to take full advantage of the spectacular view. Our new façade treatment reinterprets the scar left when the building was truncated by the Central Artery in the early 1950s.
Providence Foundry
Foundry Partners
Providence, RI | Completed 2015
Phase 1 Area: 220,000 sf / 237 units
Phase 2 Area: 156,000 sf / 196 units
Providence Preservation Society
2007 Strengthening Place Award
Providence Preservation Society
2005 Adaptive Reuse Award
Bruner/Cott, as design architect in association with Robinson Green Beretta, transformed the mill complex into 220 luxury rental apartments, beginning with the site’s Promenade Building. The Sharpe Building was Bruner/Cott’s second project on the site, adding 196 new apartment units.
Apartments are individually designed, sculpting unique living spaces and exploiting the building in both plan and section. Unit interiors take full advantage of existing elements: exposed brick walls, original Canadian maple factory floors, and local artifacts from the industrial past are all incorporated. Amenities include 13-foot ceilings and arched windows, a floorthrough entry, two heating systems, and a swimming pool with a retractable glass roof.
The Promenade building is connected to a 400-car garage, developed as part of the project. The Sharpe Building includes a fitness and business center, event room, roof deck, and courtyard.
Waltham Watch Factory
Beacon Capital Partners
Waltham, MA | Completed 2014
Phase 1 Area: 177,000 sf
Phase 2 Area: 142,000 sf / 96 units
Phase 3 Area: 86,000 sf / 67 units, parking deck
Building Design + Construction
2010 Reconstruction Award, Gold Winner
Boston Society of Landscape Architects
2014 Merit Award for Historic Rehabilitation
U.S. Green Building Council
2014 Green Innovation Award
Preservation Massachusetts
2015 Paul Tsongas Award for Historic Preservation
Victorian Society in America, New England Chapter
2018 Building & Landscape Design Preservation Award
Nineteenth-century entrances are now large lobbies, one with a permanent exhibit of Watch Factory history. Narrow wings with high ceilings — already flooded with natural light for watchmakers — house modern offices with views of the courtyards and the Charles River. Outside, a series of protected outdoor spaces invite pedestrians to move through the office buildings and a large residential courtyard. A new restaurant and café mark the beginning of a historic walkway through Waltham along the Charles River.
The Watch Factory is on the Charles River, and responsible storm water management is a critical issue. A series of “rain gardens” collects, cleanses, and naturally cools storm water runoff. Roof water is collected in open granite and concrete runnels, featured across the pedestrian courtyards, and directed to specially planted areas. The design process included the Charles River Watershed Association, and the water is now clean and cool enough to release directly into the river.
Channel Center
Fort Point Channel
Boston, MA | Completed 2004
Parcel 5 (Renovation): 103,500 sf / 44 units
Parcel 6 (New Construction): 197,000 sf / 76 units
Boston Society of Architects
2006 Housing Award Citation
Building Design + Construction
2004 Merit Award
The Channel Center is a revitalized office and live/work neighborhood created out of 11 industrial buildings on 6 acres (1.5 million sf) near Boston’s new Convention Center in the heart of the Seaport District. The new 13-story residential building at 25 Channel Center sits between two 100-year-old brick warehouses. Its modern design and cast-in-place concrete technology echo the district’s industrial typology with large masonry openings and metal and brick detailing. The 76 luxury units are “lofts” with clean lines and contemporary styling, large industrial window sashes, and open planning, with doubleheight spaces in duplexes. Many units offer extraordinary views of downtown Boston and the harbor, with doors opening onto private balconies.
At 35 Channel Center, forty-four new loft-style residences in the early 20th century brick and timber factory continue to redefine the post-industrial Boston neighborhood.
Interiors feature restored rough timber framework, unique brick detailing, existing antique fire doors, and fragments of obsolete machinery. Open floor plans and slim-profile, wall-facing kitchens create expanses of space. Exposed duct work and historically accurate, energy efficient windows deliver comfort while preserving the building’s character and existing industrial elements. The on site marketing center includes a full-scale furnished unit, also designed by Bruner/Cott.
New lighting, streets, entrances, and landscaping all echo the district’s industrial typology. The planning and approval process for the City of Boston involved extensive neighborhood meetings and engagement with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Historic and City agencies, and the local artist community.
Piano Craft Guild
Shoreline Corporation
Boston, MA | Completed 1974, Renovated 2016
Area: 225,000 sf / 177 units
American Institute of Architects
1975 First Honor Award
Boston Society of Architects
1975 Housing and Neighborhood Commendation
Our conversion of the Chickering Piano Factory to Piano Craft Guild Housing for Artists was completed in 1974. This conversion has been widely considered to be a landmark development in the movement to “recycle” old buildings. A gallery, located on the lower level of the building, shows revolving exhibits of the building residents’ work. The live-in studios were designed with large 8-foot doors for easy access, slop sinks for paints and a moveable closet/storage wall system to provide flexibility for the studio space. Studios were also designed for specific artists including musicians and dancers. In many of the “designed” portions of this building, we relied heavily on a collaboration with the artist residents. The apartment doorways, painted as large canvases, have involved everyone in the appearance of the building. The outdoor courtyard was designed and built with full tenant participation.
