Seaport Circle, Boston, Massachusetts, USA | 2023

Architects: Arrowstreet
Associate Architects: Moody Nolan Inc. and STUDIO ENÉE architects
General Contractor: Suffolk Construction Company
Client: Lincoln Property Company Boston
Images Courtesy of the Architects

Seaport Circle is a new type of project– a hybrid building/landscape that fosters social impact, enriches the environment, and creates economic opportunities. The project team believes the impact as designers, developers, builders, and investors should be measured not only by what the architects build, but also by how much they positively influence people’s lives, the environment, and the economy during the full lifespan of the project.

The innovative approach to the building’s design and public realm makes the social impact, and experiential qualities the new measure of design excellence. With over 650,000 square feeat of lab, office, retail and community space, Seaport Circle will bring together the life science hub of Boston’s Seaport with the burgeoning life science ecosystem within the Marine Industrial Park.

The tower building features large office/lab floor plates, below-grade parking, expansive amenity spaces and outdoor terraces with views to the city and waterfront. The Pavilion building is a community and jobs training hub. A major feature of the project is the approach to the design of the public realm. The project erases any distinction between a perceived “front” or “back” of the site. The entire ground floor is open to the public through an urban terrace at the center of the project, linking the Silver Line Station to the Waterfront. Organized around the green corridor are office lobbies, cafés and pop-ups as well as the community lab program, visible from the Silver Line platforms.

The Pavilion activates the adjacent parcel and creates an entry point into the site and mobility hub from the east. The landscape is designed as a series of interstitial spaces where people can meet and exchange ideas. It extends through the site connecting the Pavilion to the labs as well as the adjacent Ora Residences/Hyatt hotel and MBTA station.

The goal of the project was to maximize the amount of landscape on the site, blurring the boundaries between landscape and architecture. At street level, the public spaces extend through the center of the site, providing direct pedestrian paths between the waterfront and a new Silver Line Station to better connect the surrounding neighborhoods to opportunities for advancement.

Designed as a seamless extension of the public realm and with space for last mile transportation options for commuters, tourists, and area residents, a new covered station will increase the utility and safety. The sustainability of the building and performance is integrated into the trapezoidal façade blurring the lines aesthetics and function. The seamless integration and interweaving of clear glass, spandrel, louver and mesh panels with the trapezoid creates a visual fluidity that belies the extraordinary functionality and performance of the building.

To this end, the lab buildings are designed to read as two separate towers when approaching from the west on Congress Street, and from the east on Massport Haul Road. The carved podium massing and undulating landscape continuing to blur the distinction between inside and outside.