DEPARTMENT
company profile
The Architectural Team Reinvigorates Cities Architecture and master-planning firm transforms neighborhoods and historical structures with a community-oriented mindset.
D
esign firms must evolve to endure. But what separates leading architects and planners from the rest is their commitment to founding principles. In the case of The
Architectural Team Inc., those core principles include safeguarding architectural legacies, revitalizing communities, and nurturing longstanding client relationships. A little loyalty to the firm’s hometown of Boston hasn’t hurt them either.
Above. Apartments at Boott Mills, one of The Architectural Team’s mill conversions, have reinvigorated the struggling gateway city of Lowell, MA, turning the textiles campus into a major mixedincome, mixed-use development. Photo: Bruce T. Martin Right. The Architectural Team recently completed The Kensington, a LEED Gold market-rate luxury residential tower located at the confluence of Boston’s Chinatown, theater district, and financial district. Photo: Peter Vanderwarker
Originally founded in 1971 as Boston Architectural Team Inc., the firm then consisted of four founding partners, including man-
a mixed-use facility and design of new buildings such as the $80-million Harbor
aging principal Bob Verrier, FAIA. The nascent design firm made news the very next
Place development in the gateway city of Haverhill, MA.
year, taking on the rehabilitation of 25 contiguous nineteenth-century bow-front buildings on the city’s South End. Just two years later, “the Team” completed the first
CREATING COMMUNITIES
of what would ultimately number more than 250 adaptive-reuse projects: Chauncy
A perfect example of industrial decline in the Northeast, the Baker Chocolate Facto-
House, a downtown Boston high-rise that the firm repurposed as popular apart-
ry in the Lower Mills section of Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood had been central
ments.
to the lives of those who lived nearby. Even those who did not work there were dev-
The firm continued building a vaunted portfolio of market-rate and affordable
astated by the economic impact of its closing. The Architectural Team took on the
housing, many as part of adaptive-reuse projects, as well as thousands of units of se-
design and planning aspects of the project, with the goals of restoring eight buildings
nior housing and assisted-living facilities. The firm became synonymous with the
on the campus as affordable housing, live-work artist lofts, an assisted-living facility,
conversion of historical mills and lofts for this purpose, often restoring iconic struc-
and as market-rate apartments. The project won accolades from none other than
tures that serve as touchstones for their neighborhood residents.
then-President Ronald Reagan when it opened its first phases, and it made The Archi-
At the same time, the firm expanded its practice from regional to national, and
tectural Team practically synonymous with historical mill conversions.
built its expertise in healthcare, commercial mixed-use, and hospitality projects. Ma-
The firm’s leadership, which now includes partners Michael Liu, AIA, and Mi-
jor skyline-changing projects and downtown revitalizations came from the firm’s
chael Binette, AIA, believes that it is not enough to reuse a structure; it must be re-
headquarters inside the historic Naval Commandant’s Quarters in the Admiral’s Hill
used in a way that restores or rebuilds what the surrounding community has lost.
area of Chelsea, MA, which, of course, the firm itself adapted for offices with metic-
They now seek and identify opportunities to restore community and enliven neigh-
ulous attention to original historical detail. In 1985, the firm changed its name to
borhoods wherever they work. “It’s important that the fabric of a community re-
The Architectural Team, reflecting its increasingly national scope and award-wining
mains intact,” said Verrier. “Our designs and master planning focus on creating liv-
commissions.
able, walkable, workable, playable communities. We’ve seen these projects transform
Along the way, the firm quietly transformed decommissioned treasures: a defunct
districts that were largely written off.”
Washington department store became a mix of apartments and commercial space,
The Architectural Team’s leadership now commands a design staff of 80-plus, all
and a former trolley-car garage was turned into a senior residence. Current projects
working to further the founding principles: preserving structures of worth for new
include conversion of the Sibley Department Store in downtown Rochester, NY, into
uses, and creating new buildings that enliven communities everywhere. CBP
The Architectural Team Founded 1971 as Boston Architectural Team Inc.
6
Reincorporated in 1985 as The Architectural Team Inc.
COMMERCI A L BUIL DING P RODUC T S
Headquarters: Chelsea, MA
MARCH 2015
cbpmagazine.com
85
team members
10
new hires in 2014
FACTS
1,500
built projects
250
historical adaptive-reuse developments
More than
100
industry design awards
Website: architecturalteam.com
