The Gardens in Full Bloom: Community Life at the Garden

THE GARDENS IN FULL BLOOM

COMMUNITY LIFE AT THE GARDENS

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY At the gardens, we understand the need for environmental sustainability and are actively trying to reduce our carbon footprint on the Planet. Embodied energies are one of the biggest impacts for Co2 emissions, in result we are sourcing our brick, wood and other materials locally within New England so stray away from long distance transportation. The windows consist of low e glass which minimizes the amount of infrared light without minimizing the amount of light that enters your home. This helps also with passively heating and cooling the buildings. The roof is also accessible to the residents. This promotes mental and physical health by allowing outdoor space for the residents within the building. The roof also contains solar panels that helps lower costs and produce renewable energy for the buildings. Various types of transportation have been established in the Gardens. A new bus station stop to help people that have to go to work, bike stations within multiple areas of the residence, and access to the T station .5 miles down the street.

SMART GROWTH Within our design we have adhered to many of the Smart Growth principles. By providing different types of programming other than housing such as a community center, cafe, fitness center, classrooms, laundry, this offers a variety of mixed uses and creates ranges in housing opportunities and choices. Another principle they value is walkable neighborhoods. The extension of the green space from the existing park into the Gardens allows the openness to the neighborhood and has pathways that lead in and through the site. As previously stated, we created a variety of transportation to allow multiple means of accessibility. Lastly, our decisions were influenced by the collaborative discussions with the affected community and stakeholders of the project.