Reality Bytes
Architect Magazine
Kat Schneider is an architectural and user interface designer at Arrowstreet Innovation & Research (AIR), a smaller research group within Boston’s roughly 100-person Arrowstreet firm. She explains that AIR began about two years ago when the firm decided to focus more closely on the paradigm shifts that were beginning to take place within the profession. VR granted the architects at Arrowstreet the unique opportunity to exclude a person’s surroundings and allow them to focus on critical decision-making.
Continuing Education: Innovations in Parking Garages
Architectural Record
By 2040, more than half of the miles traveled in the U.S. could occur in shared autonomous vehicles (AVs), which would rarely need to park, according to a 2016 study by Deloitte, a financial and risk-management consultant. Dense urban areas in particular—likely to be well served by public transit, AV fleets, ride-sharing, and other transportation options—can expect to see demand for parking plummet while the need for new kinds of spaces, such as pickup and drop-off zones, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, and AV hubs, emerges. The question for architects, says Amy Korte, a principal with Boston-based Arrowstreet, “is how quickly can we, as design professionals, run through the possible scenarios to help cities and municipalities plan for them?”
Built to last
Improper Bostonian
In Boston, there are few places as in flux as the Seaport, and Arrowstreet had to wade through environmental uncertainty when designing two 12-story buildings set to open in spring 2020—a Hyatt Place hotel that boasts 294 rooms and a separate mixed-use glass-walled stunner with 304 rental units as well as restaurant, retail and office space. Some 500,000 square feet, the project transforms the cityscape across from the Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion, but rising tides mean the Seaport is about to have a lot more sea in it. “One of the challenges in the project was figuring out how to protect the ground floor and design the facade to resist a potential storm event,” says Amy Korte, principal at the Boston-based architecture and design firm. Arrowstreet cleverly camouflages some of its flood-proofing efforts, like using elevated dining patios that will also raise the interior elevation of the first floors of both structures. But some of the work is bare for all to see, says Korte: “The glass storefront for the retail and lobbies is engineered to withstand a high elevation of water.”
transit oriented development
Big Dig Podcast
On this episode of The Big Dig, Peter Paravalos, Director of Transit-Oriented development for the MBTA, Bryan Koop, EVP Boston region, Boston Properties, Elizabeth Grob, New England Real Estate Leader at VHB, and David Bois Principal at Arrowstreet discuss how the T is working with developers to drive projects centered around 200 years of transit infrastructure. Our panel touches on The Hub on Causeway, The Back Bay/South End Gateway, and the upcoming South Station project along with the importance of development teams bringing the MBTA to the table early to handle the tough challenges associated with these complicated projects.
Urban Planning, Office Design, and Sustainability in the Age of Autonomy: Amy Korté's Blueprints
Catalyst Go
Arrowstreet's thoughts on how a successful design can meet the needs and expectations of residents, while achieving the bottom line results that make a building a good investment. How can cities like Boston decrease the size of their carbon footprint?
Art & Design in the Built Environment
ARIA 2019
Kat Schneider, Lorena Knezevic, Charity Everett, Jiabao Li, and Victoria Bousis discuss Art & Design in the Built Environment.
Buildings as User Interface
ARIA 2019
Moderated by Kachina Studer, Kat Schneider, Honghao Deng, and Jiabao Li explore the digital interface of built environments at the human scale. Experts in prototyping, design and experience development will explore industry developments and applications, debate the impacts of an augmented future on architectural design, and examine the domains, design and quality needed for seamless environments.
Blueprint for the Augmented Future
ARIA 2019
Amy Korté presents on the augmented future.