Rendering courtesy Generate
Architecture firm Generate has partnered with developer Placetailor to create Model-C, Boston’s first ground-up, full, cross-laminated timber (CLT) apartment.
Comprising 14 residential units and an innovative, affordable co-working space for the local community on the ground floor, the new five-story, 1765-m2 (19,000-sf), mixed-use building seeks to bring into focus the benefits of a prefabricated kit-of-parts for developing healthy, comfortable, and carbon-positive workforce housing in the city.
The collaboration will deliver the first project utilizing the Model-C system: these buildings act as carbon sinks by storing the carbon in the timber of the CLT cellular structure and envelope over the lifetime of the structure.
The building system features a CLT rooftop canopy to easily mount solar panels. It also has modular bathroom pods prefabricated offsite that can be hoisted and easily plugged into the building, further compressing the project schedule and reducing construction waste.
Construction is expected to begin in June. The project is targeting Passive House certification. By significantly reducing or completely eliminating interior framing, and by speeding up the exterior envelope construction, Model-C is anticipated to be complete in winter next year.
BuroHappold Engineering will also be joining the team as the structural engineer.
This work was supported by the U.S. Forest Service and the Softwood Lumber Board.
