Abacus Architects + Planners

07/05/2022

Abacus Architects + Planners is looking for new hires to join our team! We are a hybrid work environment with support for fully remote employees. We have a range of positions available - check out our careers page for more information on the positions and how to apply: https://www.abacusarchitects.com/careers/

Some projects are small and the candidate will have sole responsibility working with firm principals. Other projects are large - up to $50,000,000, and will entail working as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Enthusiasm for public work with public impact is important, as is the public engagement that goes with it.

An ideal candidate has strong design skills, understands contemporary building technologies and sustainability principals, and appreciates how buildings move from design vision to construction. We support professional development and offer competitive salaries and benefits.

Abacus Architects + Planners is an award winning full service Boston-based design firm founded in 1989.

03/21/2022

Thanks to everyone who voted, Jefferson Park Apartments won the BSA's 2021 Harleston Parker's People's Choice award with 57% of the vote! Congrats to everyone involved!

“With the receipt of this award — the people — our residents, our neighbors, and our co-workers have spoken. The message was loud and clear; beauty belongs to everyone and should not be limited to only those that can afford it. For me personally, it was an honor to see these affordable homes, built from 11 years of hard work, and the vision created by Abacus Architects, recognized for such a prestigious award.” said CHA Executive Director Michael J. Johnston.

Read more here:

[PHOTO] In order of appearance: CHA Executive Director Michael J. Johnston, CHA Director of Planning and Development Margaret Moran, Partner at Abacus Architects + Planners David Eisen. JAN. 27, 2022 – The Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) has been informed by the Boston Society of Architecture (B...

01/11/2022

The 2021 Harleston Parker People's Choice Award is open for voting! This is a great opportunity to show your support for Jefferson Park Apartments - the most beautiful affordable housing project in the Boston area! Vote if you agree, and feel free to pass on the link!

Every year, a jury convened by the Boston Society of Architects/AIA (BSA/AIA) is asked to award the Harleston Parker Medal , which recognizes “the most beautiful piece of architecture, building, monument, or structure built in the metropolitan Boston area in the past 10 years.”

12/16/2021

Abacus Architects + Planners is excited and honored to announce that Jefferson Park Apartments is a finalist for the 2021 Harleston Parker Medal. Congratulations to all our team who helped make this possible!

Established in 1921 in memory of Boston architect J. Harleston Parker with the first medal given in 1923, this highest honor awarded by the Boston Society of Architects/AIA recognizes “the most beautiful piece of architecture, building, monument or structure within the City or Metropolitan Parks District limits.”

The winner of the Harleston Parker Medal will be announced at the BSA Gala on January 27! Boston Society for Architecture

https://www.abacusarchitects.com/project/jefferson-park/

10/15/2019

We are excited to announce that our Jefferson Park Apartments project in Cambridge, MA is among the winning projects for the 2019 Housing Design Awards program!! This program is co-sponsored by AIA NY Housing Committee, the BSA Housing Committee, and the BSA Residential Design Committee.

Take a look! https://www.architects.org/2019-design-awards/housing-design

10/09/2019

The accessibility upgrades at the historic Old Town Library in Harvard MA was officially opened with the ribbon cutting this fall. This project includes a structural steel ramp and granite stairs that lead to a custom door matching the historic character of the building. Also includes new windows, masonry repointing, exterior lighting and landscaping.

10/02/2019

Abacus Architects + Planners is proud to announce their recognition by the Boston Society of Architects/AIA for the 2019 Small Firms Design Awards for their work on the Jefferson Park Apartments project!!

https://www.abacusarchitects.com/project/jefferson-park/

https://www.architects.org/2019-design-awards/small-firms-design

CHALLENGE: Replace cramped, worn out public housing from 1951 maintaining the same number of apartments for the same demographic. Integrate it into the neighborhood, provide a sense of ownership, and create an affirmational environment.

PROGRAM: Create a neighborhood of 104 family apartments meeting contemporary standards, 8,000 square feet of community services spaces, private outdoor spaces for every apartment and neighborhood greens.

SITE: Clifton Street extends into the development knitting it into the neighborhood street grid; parallel parking provides a non-institutional environment. Four landscaped courtyards line this central spine with walkways, terraces, yards and housing creating a carefully articulated gradation of space from public to private.

BUILDINGS: The primary residential block is two story townhouses over one story flats. Each flat has a terrace and garden. Stairs lead up to private terraces and townhouse entries. Every apartment its own front and back door and identity.
To maintain a high density and range of housing alternatives, two elevator buildings anchor opposite corners of the site. First floor apartments have screened terraces; upper level apartments have balconies.

The massing, articulated with stairs, pergolas and screen walls, uses a cross-cultural architectural language of solids and voids, horizontals and verticals, natural materials and bright colors. South facing pitched roofs, prepped for photovoltaic panels, reach up to the sun. The use of oxidized steel, concrete, and wood tie site and buildings together.

TAKEAWAY: Jefferson Park is a model for affordable housing – with a timeless neighborhood structure and inventive building articulation that supports resident success.

10/02/2019

The recently completed Westwood Family Housing has been recognized by the Boston Society of Architects/AIA for the 2019 Accessible Design Awards! Congrats, Team!

https://www.abacusarchitects.com/project/new-bedford-westwood/

https://www.architects.org/2019-design-awards/accessible-design

Six duplex buildings provide accessible public housing for veterans and their families while helping to renew an overlooked neighborhood.

The project builds out an abandoned block near the city center close to transit and community services. Homes line all four streets with an animated massing that gives low roll-in buildings a dignified presence and each apartment an individual identity. Parking is accessed from a rear drive to keep the streets free of curb cuts and cars close to entries but screened from view.

Three different building types include a mix of one, two and three bedroom apartments. Porches front and back provide private outdoor places while engaging the surrounding neighborhood; corner windows look out to the community. South facing roofs will be covered with solar panels while east and west facing clerestories, shaded with overhangs, bring light deep into the center of each apartment. Inside, the sloping roofs and high windows provide a light filled environment.

Every aspect of the planning and design is intended to foster resident participation in community life, access to daylight and the landscape, and independence supported by parking, walks, entries, kitchens, bathrooms, closets and interior spaces designed around Universal Design principles.

The future PV panels, high performance envelopes and building systems, and raingardens for storm water management provide a model for affordable sustainable design accessible to everyone.

07/22/2019

The ribbon cutting for the 2Life Communities' (formerly JCHE) Harry and Jeanette Weinberg House project was held last week! Great job to everyone involved!

"Governor Baker, Mayor Walsh Join 2Life Communities to Celebrate Opening of Affordable Homes for Low-Income Older Adults

Weinberg House opened in April, 2019, and added 61 high quality, affordable apartments on 2Life Communities’ Brighton campus, which now has a total of 763 units for low-income older adults. The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg House is the first building in the City of Boston’s Initiative to End Chronic Homelessness to have apartments designated for chronically homeless seniors. The building also has five apartments for adults aging with lifelong developmental disabilities."

https://www.2lifecommunities.org/press-releases/governor-baker-mayor-walsh-join-2life-communities-celebrate-opening-affordable-homes

06/26/2019

Construction is nearing completion on the Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly, a 6 story, 61 unit building with commercial space on Chestnut Hill Avenue in Boston. Concrete masonry stair and elevator towers, and 1 ½-story steel framed platform are complete, the remaining structure will be wood framing. The façade materials are brick, metal panels, and painted and through-color fiber cement.