Type: Mixed-Use Housing & Commercial Program: 10 Apartments and a Restaurant Status: Ongoing, UDC Approved, HPC Approved Area: 15,000 GSF Client:Mapu Development + More Facts
The site is midblock, infill, at the southern end of Davis Square. It is surrounded by mostly one and two story buildings, with primarily commercial use. There are some apartments on the block, and many more in the surrounding blocks. The existing building is a two story, former house, used now as a commercial space.
Aerial View of Davis Square, Looking NorthExisting Building from Elm Street
One of the most notable features of this neighborhood are the vibrant, colorful murals. There are four on this block alone. The elephant mural on the side of the neighboring cafe abuts the southeast lot line of our site. We used this as a starting point in the design.
Murals along Elm Street
We wanted to make sure that we preserved the mural on the neighboring cafe, so the project design started with a step in plan at the ground floor. That move preserves the mural and the cafe’s windows, and creates a small entry courtyard off the sidewalk. It also begins to relate the project in scale to its neighbors.
The site is next to a cafe with window facing the lot line
If we built out the full street wall, following the zoning code, the window and mural would be blocked
Instead, we started by stepping the building back and creating a small entry courtyard
The base of the building is articulated to work with the scale of the cafe
Above, each apartment has a private balcony. The building steps twice more to create separation between the balconies.
Entry Courtyard with Revival Mural
The majority of the ground floor is reserved for a restaurant. The remaining space is a lobby for the residential apartments above. There is no car parking on the site. Instead, each residential unit has indoor bike parking with a bike repair area.
The massing of the building is divided into several pieces to
create a place that is human scale and that relates to the existing, low-rise
context. First, a ground floor podium is created with a contrasting material
from the top. A darker color was selected to create a relationship with the
neighboring commercial building. The base is articulated with a cornice and
profiling that relate it to the human scale.
Above, the building steps twice more to create
space for balconies on the street facing units. These create visual interest on
the facade and provide a place for people to enjoy the outdoors. Finally, the
stair towers are clad in a bright accent color to break the lot line walls into apartment-sized widths.
View into the restaurant, showing the stepped massing and balconies along Elm Street Drawings