Bower

Boston, MA

Bower, the first phase of the much-anticipated new Fenway Center complex, consists of two buildings at eight and 14 stories, totaling 312 residential units and 40,000 square feet of commercial space on two levels. Situated adjacent to the new Lansdowne Commuter Rail Station, this transit-oriented development is Boston’s first air-rights project in a quarter-century.

TAT’s design successfully reconnects and integrates both Bower buildings into the existing Fenway, Kenmore, and Longwood Medical Area neighborhoods, where 1960’s urban renewal once bifurcated the City of Boston. The two Bower buildings are linked by a new plaza that also provides a pedestrian connection from Beacon Street to David Ortiz Drive. Both buildings include residential amenity spaces and provide roof decks with views of downtown Boston, Fenway Park, and Brookline to the west. Reflecting the project’s emphasis on forming new connections between surrounding neighborhoods, TAT also designed a pedestrian deck that now sits over the MBTA commuter rail lines and platforms, linking Beacon Street to the upper level of Lansdowne station.

With a gradual increase in building height and scale rising from historic Beacon Street up to the second tower along the Turnpike, Bower’s massing also respects the personalities and proportions of each abutting streetscape. The taller Bower structure, Tower Two, presents a faceted form with layers of regular window openings, horizontal banding, and shading fin accents concentrated at the building’s corners – all of which echo the movement of the adjacent turnpike. The entire mass of Tower Two sits on top of a lighter, more transparent base holding retail and amenity spaces that serve the residential units above. Bower also includes 189 parking spaces in a shared underground garage.

The first residential complex in Boston to utilize View dynamic glazing, Bower is both LEED Gold Certified and Fitwel Certified – a standard that includes evidence-based design and operational strategies that optimize occupant health and productivity. The Fenway Center Complex was originally master planned by New York-based Carlos Zapata Studio. Interiors in collaboration with Planeta Design Group.

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