Waiting Room
A Midrise Civic Center
A stepped civic center that uses two cores and two light wells to bring public circulation and daylight into a deep urban block.
Context
Large granite, brick, and glass buildings give the Boston site a monumental scale and limit access to daylight. Waiting Room responds to that condition through an entrance, a curved corner, and shared interior rooms that make the civic building legible at the scale of a person walking around it.
Approach
Early models develop a pixel-like, stepped mass around the curved corner. Carved openings and overhangs mark the entrance, while the building shifts between a solid silhouette and a more articulated profile as it is approached from different sides.
Material and context studies
Wood, resin, and concrete studies explore mass, surface, and the relationship between solid and void. The model sequence moves from the scale and texture of the surroundings to the arrangement of rooms, using physical making to develop the building’s form.
Program and daylight
A library, theater, cafeteria, and shared civic rooms are arranged in rows and sections that follow the stepped exterior. One core carries public circulation and the second consolidates services; two large light wells bring daylight into the deep plan and create tall interior rooms of arrival and pause.