Category Archives: projects
New Haven Mill River Planning Initiative
Home to a diverse mix of businesses including food processing and distribution, precision manufacturing, and design and construction support, the Mill River district is a vital part of New Haven’s industrial economy. Working with the Economic Development Corporation of New … Continue reading
E+ Housing
For the E+ housing challenge, organized by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), Utile worked with GFC Development to devise a well-balanced concept that could be flexible, adaptable, redeployable, and, most importantly, conceived of sound economic principles. The building envelope is … Continue reading
Greening America’s Capitals: Boston’s City Hall Plaza
Utile led a team of architects, planners, landscape architects, engineers, and regulatory experts that was tasked with proposing “realistic greening options that could be implemented in the near-term” for Boston’s City Hall Plaza. The consultant team, which consisted of Utile, … Continue reading
Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion
The Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion was designed to raise awareness of the nearby Boston Harbor Islands—a natural resource that is only a twenty-minute boat ride from Downtown Boston. Two sculptural roof canopies define the pavilion and provide spatial definition and … Continue reading
Sowwah Island
Utile, in collaboration with over,under, is developing a culturally and climactically-responsive contemporary Arab urbanism for the on-going build-out of Sowwah Island, Abu Dhabi’s new central business district, for Mubadala Real Estate & Hospitality. This design agenda is guiding the development … Continue reading
First+First
First+First is a development of 22 new single-family row houses proposed for a site on the boundary between traditional South Boston and the industrial waterfront. Each house has a garage for two cars accessed from the rear and a front … Continue reading
Newmarket Study
Utile, along with The American City Coalition (TACC) and a group of deeply-grounded neighborhood organizations, came together to focus on a mixed-use industrial area of central Boston that could serve as a paradigm for future city neighborhoods because of the … Continue reading
Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion Exhibition Design
Utile designed the exhibition panels for the Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion. The permanent exhibit includes a granite inlay paving map of the Boston Harbor Islands and exhibition panels that feature the photography of Thad Russell, a photography professor at RISD, … Continue reading
Urban Design Atlas
Utile is developing an Urban Design Atlas, a compendium of representational approaches and graphic formats for urban design and planning assignments. Similar to Utile’s Urban Housing Atlas, the manual began as an in-house reference for planners and designers working on … Continue reading
Provincetown Harbor Hotel
Utile was hired to reposition the Provincetown Harbor Hotel, formerly the Cape Inn, to appeal to a new market clientele by extensively renovating the rooms, common spaces, and landscaped areas. The goal was to update the property without denying the … Continue reading
Mattahunt Elementary School
Utile was hired to redesign the entire exterior building envelope for the Mattahunt Elementary School for the City of Boston Public Facilities Department (BPFD). The school, originally built in the 1960s, has a unique plan concept which organized a small … Continue reading
Salem Essex Street Pedestrian Mall
The City of Salem engaged Utile to provide design and management recommendations for Essex Street Pedestrian Mall, an urban thoroughfare key to Salem’s downtown culture. Running between Washington Street and the Peabody Essex Museum, Essex Street is a well-loved public … Continue reading
Zumix
Utile worked closely with ZUMIX, a youth-centered music non-profit, to design their new cultural and performance space in the old Engine 40 Firehouse in East Boston. The 1923 brick building had been empty and deteriorating for more than twenty years … Continue reading
Spencer Green
Spencer Green is a 48-unit affordable, sustainable rental housing project for Chelsea Neighborhood Developers that re-establishes the continuity of a residential neighborhood whose fabric has been fragmented by intermittent industrial and non-residential uses. Beyond simply reconstructing a consistent residential street … Continue reading
Boston Greenway Planning Study
Utile led an ambitious planning initiative on behalf of the Boston Redevelopment Authority that resulted in design guidelines for the real estate parcels that frame the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Downtown Boston. The guidelines were determined by testing development “what … Continue reading
Moose Hill Geothermal House
Designed for a family recently transplanted from the city, the Moose Hill Geothermal House provides a prototype for urban spatial arrangements in a rural setting. The site has two specific orientations, which define the split-level organization of the house. The … Continue reading
Minneapolis Riverfront Competition
For the Minneapolis Riverfront Competition (on a team led by Stoss), Utile conceived of the Industrious Parks Live+Work district as a model mixed-use district that leverages the existing topography of the site to create a stormwater system that will be … Continue reading
Stuart Street Planning Study
Utile completed a comprehensive planning study and zoning update for one of the two main Downtown commercial districts in Boston. For the purposes of the study, the area was named the Stuart Street area, but the district has historically been … Continue reading
Worcester Planning
Utile was engaged by the Economic Development department of the City of Worcester and the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency (MassDevelopment) to re-envision the commercial center of Worcester, Massachusetts, the Commonwealth’s second largest city. The plan tied real estate development opportunities … Continue reading
Medford Garage Feasibility Study
The primary goal of the Medford Garage Feasibility Study was to improve parking management in Medford Square, and ultimately to enhance patron access to local shops, restaurants, and businesses. The project team, consisting of urban designers from Utile and traffic … Continue reading
Boston Complete Streets Website
As part of the Boston Complete Streets initiative, Utile was tasked by Boston Transportation Department with developing the program’s website. The website is envisioned as a tool to educate the general public, to provide up-to-date information on complete streets-related news … Continue reading
Complete Streets
As part of a larger effort by the City of Boston to develop a comprehensive set of new street design guidelines, Utile was brought in as early-stage collaborator to design the graphic content and layout for the Boston Complete Streets … Continue reading
Acushnet Avenue Planning Study
Acushnet Avenue is one of New Bedford’s oldest and most vibrant commercial corridors. Over the past few decades, the street has adapted to accommodate an increasing immigrant presence, leading to a diverse and vibrant retail mix. The New Bedford Economic … Continue reading
Hyannis Harbor Plan
The Hyannis Harbor planning initiative was conceived by the Town of Barnstable Growth and Economic Development Office to look at two interrelated development issues along the Hyannis waterfront: 1) the lack of available land for development that can enhance the … Continue reading
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center: Marquee & Video Wall Project
As the premier convention and exhibition center in New England the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) hired SGH and Utile to design a new freestanding marquee sign for their Summer Street frontage. At 76 feet tall the marquee is … Continue reading
Al Soor Retail Consulting
Utile served as RMJM’s urban design and retail consultant for the first-phase implementation of an ambitious development project in the Middle East. In addition to planning the open spaces and residential building typologies, Utile planned more than 32,000 square meters … Continue reading
Al Soor Residential Building Typologies
Utile was RMJM’s urban design and retail consultant for the first-phase implementation of an ambitious development in the Middle East. As part of their role, Utile developed a range of building types for all of the project’s multifamily residential program, … Continue reading
Al Soor Open Spaces
Utile was RMJM’s urban design and retail consultant for the first-phase implementation for an ambitious Dubai development project. As part of their role, Utile programed and designed all of the typical open spaces defined by the master plan, including streets, … Continue reading
Brant Lake Switchback House
The Switchback house at Brant Lake, New York, was designed to be a vacation house for the growing families of twin brothers. The site is a steep hillside in the middle of a nine acre horse pasture that slopes to … Continue reading
Hyde-Blakemore Condominiums
The Hyde-Blakemore Condominiums is an affordable housing development with Urban Edge providing 13 units in three buildings along Hyde Park Avenue in Roslindale. Two duplexes draw from the existing character of houses found in the immediate vicinity, along Hyde Park … Continue reading
Advent School
The Advent School is an elementary school occupying two adjacent town houses in Beacon Hill. Confronted with limited space and a desire to both expand its early childhood education program and provide larger and more flexible classroom spaces, the school … Continue reading
New Bedford Downtown Urban Design + Development Study
A multifaceted client team, comprised of representatives from local and state public agencies, selected Utile to undertake a physical and economic study of the tight-knit, charming downtown core of New Bedford. Among the assets of the downtown is the New … Continue reading
Morrissey
Utile worked with Synergy Financial, a Boston development firm, to create a new mixed-use, transit-oriented neighborhood along Morrissey Boulevard near the JFK/UMASS MBTA station. The proposal was coordinated with the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s ongoing Columbia Point Master Plan and with … Continue reading
MIT Courts Masterplan
Utile collaborated with Reed Hilderbrand Associates to analyze and create a new vision for Eastman and McDermott Courts at MIT. The project included open space programming, an environmental and urban design assessment, and conceptual master plan. A careful analysis of … Continue reading
Massport
In March 2003, Utile was selected as the urban design and design review consultant for Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport). The contract, which includes both design review and development guidelines development, has a renewable four-year term. Massport develops, manages, and promotes … Continue reading
Hiphop Archive
The Hiphop Archive, part of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Studies at Harvard University, is a research library that organizes and develops collections, initiates and participates in research activities, sponsors events, and acquires materials and artifacts … Continue reading
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Utile, Inc. has provided the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with strategic consulting for the planned expansion of their facility on the Fenway in Boston. In collaboration with Macomber Construction, Utile created a set of dynamic spreadsheets that linked a menu … Continue reading
Downtown Crossing Signage
As part of a larger effort to revitalize Boston’s Downtown Crossing District, the Boston Redevelopment Authority hired Utile to develop sign regulations specific to this area. To begin, Utile completed a survey of existing signage in Boston, studying the City’s … Continue reading
Chinatown Edge Study
Utile worked with the Artery Business Committee (now a A Better City) on behalf of the large-scale property owners that surround the open space corridor along Surface Street, adjacent to Boston’s Chinatown. Utile proposed possible development scenarios within the context … Continue reading
Ames Shovel Works
When a local developer purchased a site in North Easton, Massachusetts that used to house the Ames Shovel Works, the Ames family took notice. As lifetime owners and operators of the Shovel Works (they sold the complex in 1972), they … Continue reading
Broad Street
Utile is the lead urban designer and architect on the team selected by the City of Boston to redesign Broad Street in Boston’s financial district (along with HDR, lead engineer, and Richard Burck Associates, landscape architect). Broad Street is the … Continue reading
Boston Public Market
Utile, Inc. collaborated with Hecht Design on the layout and design of a temporary summer market on the Old Northern Avenue Bridge in Boston for the Boston Public Market Association. The design includes a custom graphic on standard awning tents … Continue reading
Urban Housing Atlas
The Urban Housing Atlas is a compendium of more than twenty multifamily projects that Utile, a Boston-based architecture and urban planning firm, designed from 2003 through 2007. The book was originally developed as an in-house manual to record housing solutions … Continue reading
Greenway Cafe Guidelines
As Boston’s Central Artery surface restoration and the Rose Kennedy Greenway neared completion, many hotel, restaurant, and retail operators begun to consider additional exterior programming. As as result, the City of Boston received increased requests for new outdoor seating—or expansion … Continue reading
557-559 East Second Street
557–559 East Second Street is a development of eight new single-family row houses to be constructed on a site that lies between residential South Boston and the developing industrial waterfront. The units are arranged around a central court that serves … Continue reading
Urbanism Starter Kit
With funding from Yale University, Utile developed nine market-driven building types as a kit-of-parts to inform the graduate urbanism studio, a course that Tim Love coordinated and taught in 2009. These buildings were conceived to allow for more informed early-phase … Continue reading
Harris Residence
Utile helped a family build a modern home in the Boston suburbs to suit their lifestyle and as a model for sustainable living. With geothermal heating, rainwater capture, “smart” framing and passive site strategies, the family’s home becomes a teaching … Continue reading
Trolley House
The Trolley House is a 24-unit condominium building located in South Boston on the boundary between the traditional working class residential neighborhood and an industrial area. David Neilson developed the conceptual building plans and unit types, which Utile refined in … Continue reading
North Bridgton House
Located in the foothills of Maine’s western mountains, this house for a retired couple was inspired by the material strategies found in past local agricultural structures and remnant stone foundations. Horizontal board-formed concrete foundations, clear-sealed vertical red cedar siding and … Continue reading
615 Broadway
A former industrial storage building in Chelsea was converted into the headquarters for Chelsea Neighborhood Developers (CND), a non-profit organization that is revitalizing Chelsea by funding mixed and affordable housing. The building is a mixed-use building with two levels of … Continue reading
Carroll School
The Carroll School is an independent day school serving children in grades K – 8, who have been diagnosed with language-based learning disabilities. The school purchased the Storrow estate, which includes the original estate mansion and a gatehouse on approximately … Continue reading
Porter Square Air Rights
Transit Realty Associates (TRA) is the designated real estate asset manager for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). When the City of Somerville began to rewrite its zoning code to accommodate future transit-oriented development, Utile was brought in to test … Continue reading
Concord Studio
The studio allows a young couple, both artists, to combine their practices in a single environment, and to provide a space for their preschool-aged daughter to experiment with art. The layout is conceived as a single room with a large … Continue reading
Webster Block
The Webster Block is a new 141-unit multi-family project on just over 2 acres in Chelsea’s emerging Broadway/Eastern mixed-use district. A diverse mix of unit-types, including lofts, flats and townhouses in three new buildings, as well as new community-serving retail, … Continue reading
Gumball Factory Loft
Text coming soon . . . The living room, before and after.
Schoolhouse Lofts
Schoolhouse Lofts is a project comprised of two late-nineteenth-century brick grammar schools in Worcester, to be renovated into 45 residential units. Both schools are registered historical properties; the Dartmouth Street School is on the National Registry of Historic Places, and … Continue reading
Union Square
Utile assisted the City of Somerville in writing a Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) grant to conduct a housing study of four municipally owned sites in Union Square. Of the four total sites, two play host to historical … Continue reading
321 West Second
321 West Second Street is a new 15-unit condominium building located in South Boston on the boundary between the traditional working class residential neighborhood and an industrial area. David Neilson developed the conceptual building plans and unit types, which Utile … Continue reading
Jackson Square
The Jackson Square Development Initiative was an ambitious 11-acre community redevelopment project being done collaboratively by three development teams and with the active participation of community stakeholders and the City of Boston. Utile was the planner and architect for Urban … Continue reading
Fort Point District Plan
Utile, Inc. was commissioned to undertake a portfolio-wide master planning effort for 13 historic loft buildings, two parking garages, and several undeveloped parcels that Berkeley Investments purchased from Boston Wharf Company in late 2004. The goals of the master plan … Continue reading
W.E.B. DuBois Institute
The W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Studies at Harvard University is a 18,000-square-foot, three-floor tenant improvement project in the center of Harvard Square. The Institute is a comprehensive research center comprised of the Image of the Black … Continue reading
Virgin USA
Utile was engaged as a design consultant as part of an effort by the City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts to convince London-based Virgin to choose Boston as the headquarters for a proposed U.S. start-up airline. Utile was asked … Continue reading
Summer Street Stair and Ramp
Un-disrupted pedestrian access is critical in establishing strong urban neighborhoods. Utile was commissioned by Madison Properties to consider ways to re-establish connections in South Boston’s Seaport District. The Summer Street stair/ramp was conceived as a way to mitigate the 30’-0″ … Continue reading
South Boston Waterfront Gateways
The South Boston Gateways Planning Initiative was sponsored by the Artery Business Committee (now A Better City), a consortium of downtown Boston property owners that sponsor urban planning studies in an effort to coordinate large-scale development and the reciprocal impact … Continue reading
South Bay
Utile was hired by the Boston Residential Group as the urban design consultant for a proposal submitted in response to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority’s request for proposals for South Bay, a large development parcel south of Kneeland Street in Downtown … Continue reading
Shops at Ocean’s Gate
This 40,000-square-foot retail project on Massachusetts’s South Shore was completed in 2008. Comprised of new and adaptively re-used buildings, the complex sits at the center of the historic Town of Marshfield. The central location and high visibility make the character … Continue reading
Roslindale
Roslindale Field is a collaborative effort between Urban Edge and Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation that will provide affordable homeownership opportunities to the Prospect Hill neighborhood of Roslindale. The steeply sloped site is located in a residential area and fronts … Continue reading
Summer Street Master Plan
Utile was retained by the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) to suggest improvements to Summer Street from South Station to the new Boston Convention Center. Recommendations include guidelines for the curb line and sidewalk paving, parking, crosswalks, light fixtures, … Continue reading
Emerson Hall
Utile was hired by the Harvard University Faculty of Arts & Sciences in June 2006 to do a two-stage design project for Emerson Hall, a 1904 neoclassical building that contains both classrooms and the offices and support space for the … Continue reading
Methuen Real Estate Development Study
As part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities initiative, the City of Methuen chose Utile, along with GLC Development Resources, to assess the development potential of three underutilized sites near the downtown core. The City was particularly interested in … Continue reading
Maxpak
Utile, Inc. collaborated with Peter Wiederspahn on a planning study for Maxpak, a five acre post-industrial site along a rail corridor in Somerville, Massachusetts. The study was commissioned by the City of Somerville. The goal of the study was to … Continue reading
LEED Graphics
Utile provides proactive leadership for a sustainable design consulting approach that balances environmentally responsible policy with a careful analysis of the relative value and costs of potential design approaches. Utile has formed an alliance with mechanical engineers, landscape architects, and … Continue reading
Harvard-Allston Design Guidelines
Utile was hired in the spring of 2006 to assist in framing design guidelines for the new Harvard campus in Allston, across the Charles River from Harvard’s historic Cambridge home. Utile’s efforts included research of best practices urban design and … Continue reading
Fourth and Broadway
Fourth at Broadway is an adaptive reuse of a turn of the twentieth century, three-story, masonry building prominently located on Chelsea’s main retail stretch. Originally built as a commercial building that included a theater, the property had been converted several … Continue reading
345 Harvard Street
Located between Central and Harvard squares in Cambridge, 345 Harvard Street is a modern building in a historic neighborhood. Despite enviable amenities such as balconies and double exposures, the 28-unit apartment building, designed in 1965 by architect Tim Anderson, had … Continue reading
Water Transportation Terminal
Utile is the architecture and urban design lead for the design of a new water transportation terminal in the formerly-industrial area of the South Boston waterfront for Massport. Sandwiched between two piers—one holding Boston’s World Trade Center, the other the … Continue reading
Newark Atlantic Planning Study
The Architectural Heritage Foundation (AHF), a non-profit developer with an expertise in the creative rehabilitation of historic structures, commissioned Utile to study the physical and economic implications of acquiring several contiguous mill buildings on an island in downtown Lawrence, Massachusetts. … Continue reading
38 Oxford Street
The project at 38 Oxford Street is an adaptive re-use of the former particle collider facility at Harvard university. The new facility is to house labs, classroom and office spaces for the Large Particle Physics and Cosmology department as well … Continue reading