On Thursday, June 14, 2018, our client, J.C. Cannistraro LLC, opened The FID - Boston's new center where Fabrication, Industry & Design converge. Cannistraro sat down with The Boston Globe's Jon Chesto to talk about the new center. You can read the full article here.
We are happy to share that our client, Luxury Garage Sale, will be opening it's first-ever, 30-day Boston pop on June 15. The Boston Globe's Kara Baskin sat down with LGS founders Brielle Buchberg and Lindsay Segal to get the scoop. Click here to check it out!
Our client's President and CEO, Gary Johnson, sat down with Boston magazine to talk Boston architecture, the city's housing crisis and the firm's well-known One Dalton project. Scroll down or click here for the full interview.
My favorite building in Boston’s skyline is…the Hancock Tower. While it is now officially known as 200 Clarendon Street, to me and many Bostonians, it will always be the Hancock Tower. I admire this building for many reasons, but most of all its unique and sophisticated approach to urban design building form. Locating Boston’s tallest building next to Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library was a bold move that required a unique design. Today, the Hancock Tower is a most exquisite example of graceful elegance of any urban high rise built before or since. It stands as a symbol of Boston with an enduring architectural presence that is every bit as important to our urban fabric as Trinity Church or the Public Library. These three buildings stand in testimony to what great architecture means to a city.
If there is one thing I could change about Boston, it would be…the weather! I love living in New England and I do enjoy the four seasons, but it would be nice if the winters weren’t so cold, dreary, and long.
I’m working on…several new and exciting opportunities in and around the city. These include new residential buildings, hotels, and large mixed-use developments. In East Cambridge, we are restoring the historic Foundry Building—a unique arts and cultural institution for the city of Cambridge. Beyond Boston, the firm is engaged in the reuse of an existing office tower, located on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans, converting it to a new Four Seasons Hotel and Residences very much like the One Dalton project I am working on here in Boston. In addition, we are designing several new college and university facilities throughout New England, including buildings for Williams College, Bowdoin College, and Babson College; two new aquariums in Sarasota, Fl. and Manhattan Beach, Calif.; and finally, an array of museum and exhibition projects throughout the country and abroad.
In 15 years, I hope Boston will…continue to be a city where great ideas and solutions to our world’s complex problems are debated and solved. The resources located here are staggering. The region boasts some of the world’s finest educational and financial institutions, the best hospitals, medical research facilities, and technology companies. Let’s harness the best and brightest and challenge ourselves to bring creative solutions to end poverty, create affordable housing, make education the highest of goals for our community and the country, and work to ease racial and socioeconomic tensions by creating job opportunities and equality for all.
To help ease the housing crisis, I’m…very interested in becoming more engaged with the design of modular construction techniques that could reduce the overall cost of construction. Prefabrication has been used in other parts of the country and throughout the world to speed construction much like an automobile assembly line. So far, this technique has not been used effectively to build housing within this urban area in a way that could minimize the length of construction or the high cost of onsite labor. If residential apartment units could be built in an offsite facility, completely finished on the inside, then trucked to an urban location, they’d be hoisted into place in a way that creates both the supporting structure and finished exterior of the building. I believe this could revolutionize our housing development potential while hopefully reducing the very high cost of new residences in Boston.
Honestly, I hate it when…I hear that a building in Boston is considered too tall. Height is only one measure of a building. Far more important is how that building is designed to connect with its neighbors, how it touches the street level, and how people will feel walking alongside of it. Too much emphasis is often placed on height which frankly disappears from the dialog when a building is complete. We often forget that our eyesight does not allow us to see much above four or five stories as we walk along the street, it is this feeling of intimacy with the lowest levels of a structure that resonates and ultimately determines if you like a building or not. A well-designed tall building should engage itself with the street while being a good neighbor regardless of surrounding building heights.
Boston’s architecture is…often beautiful but conservative. While the city has many fine examples of architecture ranging from its earliest history to the present day, I would like to see Boston’s future architecture be bolder and take more risks with respect to building form and materials used. Our architecture should promote sustainable design where buildings generate their own energy. In other words, Boston’s architecture and architects should lead rather than follow. We are so reliant here on city and community design reviews, which often lead to a design consensus, rather than design boldness. It is therefore understandable why so many buildings end up with designs that are perfectly acceptable, they don’t offend nor push architectural boundaries. We need a mixture of both, a healthy review process that encourages new ideas, technologies and form and the desire to be bold in our place-making. This city has the talent and is one of the world’s most desired places to live and work, let’s make it the most architecturally interesting and beautiful, too.
I see One Dalton as…the most elegant architectural gesture for Boston. Its unique triangular shape accentuated by its soft curving geometry establishes a lyrical gesture that sets this tower apart from any other on the ground or skyline alike. The precision of the 61-story glass façade and the incised “bay windows” of the residential portion of the tower gives way at the street levels where it is sheathed with local granite at its lower four floors. This transition is very important as it establishes the building’s presence within its local neighborhood context by visually reducing its scale while making it feel appropriate and approachable to pedestrians. The character of One Dalton on the skyline of Boston is dramatic, the Hancock and the Prudential now have a new sentinel, one that is looking forward to a great future for the city.
Tiffany & Co.'s newest Paper Flowers collection was featured in the June issue of Boston magazine out now!
Our client, Patrick Planeta of Planeta Design Group, was featured in bostoncommon-magazine.com's roundup of their favorite interior designers how-to's for refreshing your home for spring! According to Patrick:
"Spring home décor calls for unexpected pops of bright color, from upholstery to dinnerware, or beautiful accent pieces like a subtle glass chandelier with small bursts of color. My favorite pieces of the moment are Gio Ponti serverware with lovely patterns and tones. You can kick things up an extra notch, and use wallpaper with bold hues, or large graphics that display a narrative—that is sure to be an instant conversation piece for any and all house guests! Diffused, soft light is another trend whose importance can often be overlooked. The natural properties of porcelain create a radiant and warm glow that pairs perfectly with a bright spring afternoon, without being too harsh.”
To view the full article click here.
We are thrilled to share that Senior Account Executive, Maria Albini, has been promoted to Senior Account Manager! In addition, we would like to welcome our new Account Coordinator, Jane Bisson to the Kortenhaus team!
MARIA ALBINI
JANE BISSON
Our client, Patrick Planeta of Planeta Design Group, was featured in bostonmagazine.com's Hub Threads. Click here to read his interview or scroll down!
What do you do?
I have an interior design firm and a fine arts brokerage in the South End.
What does fine arts brokerage mean?
Basically we help people with their collections publicly and privately and we tour them through artists’ studios. My firm gets to do the design of the buildings and then do the art work.
That’s amazing. Do you have favorite galleries in town?
That’s tricky. I have favorite artists. I like the Chase Young Gallery and I like Barbara Krakow a lot, although now the gallery is called Krakow Witkin.
Do you have an arts background?
I have a partial arts background and then I went to Wentworth here in Boston for architecture and design.
And you also do work for the Artists of Humanity right?
Yes I’m the board chair for the Artists of Humanity.
Is that position newish for you?
I’ve been involved with them since 2007, it’s my last year and then my terms are all up. I’m doing work with United South End Settlements and the MSPCA and the ICA. My partner and I are hosting the gala this year for the MSPCA.
How would you describe your personal style?
I would say classic with an edge to it. I like one-of-a-kind things. One of the benefits of being 6’5″ is that you can get custom things made, so you get to be a little more creative.
Where do you get that stuff done?
Hermès for a lot of it. They make toiles of your body, it’s like a cotton material, like a muslin, and it hangs in your own locker in France. So every time you go into Hermès, you just pick your fabrics and it’s all made for your body parts.
Whoa.
I had this jacket and these pants made. These don’t have them, but you can pick from Hermès’ scarves and line a whole jacket. I’m having this amazing suit made for the ICA gala, and the inside is all scarves. Alan Bilzerian in Boston is great too. They’ll call me when bigger things come in from designers that I like. But usually my size is just not on the rack.
Well then, that is the perfect excuse, you have to get things made!
And I like that no one else has it.
Do you have any style icons?
I like Yves Saint Laurent. His Paris studio had all the art he collected, which was unfortunately auctioned off, but it’s still an incredible interior that you can visit. Also Rei Kawakubo from Comme des Garcons, Ann Demeulemeester, and Elena Dawson, Casey Vidalenc, Rick Owens, Lemaire and even Issey Miyake. I have a lot of their jackets, I like how they’re cut traditionally, but then they flare them out. And I like vintage when I can find it.
What vintage stores do you like?
They’re not in Boston, there’s one in Montreal that I go to called Era. It’s all women’s clothing, but the owner will call me when she gets weird one-offs and then I’ll usually have to doctor it up a little.
Are you from Canada?
No I grew up in Connecticut.
What brought you to Boston?
I came here to go to Wentworth. I did my degree there, and then just stayed on. I worked for a big company and then opened my own company.
Do you have any favorite spots in Boston?
I like Mistral. I like Highland Kitchen. I like Trevor at Ostra; he’s a waiter, he’s great. For us, it’s more about the relationships and knowing the server or bartender. I like a lot of things… I always love the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I do a lot of hiking with my dog and I love a park in Dover. There’s like 500 acres of donated land and its all off -leash. There are ponds and it overlooks Boston, there are dogs running everywhere. It’s all old equestrian trails. Noanet Woods it’s called.
Where are some of your favorite interiors in Boston?
Things change so much…I love the interior courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum and the MIT Department of Architecture conference room with the Frank Stella commission on all four walls named “Loohooloo.” So one classic and one unexpected.
Life Time's new Spartan Strong class was featured on bostoncommon-magazine.com in a roundup on new fitness classes to try around Boston. Read the full story here.
Our client Gary Johnson, President & CEO of Boston-based firm CambridgeSeven, was featured in the May/June issue of New England Home on stands now!
Our client, Life Time Athletic Metrowest, was featured in the latest episode of WCVB's Chronicle! Click here to watch.
Our client, Chevron Partners, was featured in the latest issue of Boston Common as well as on bostoncommon-magazine.com for their property, Maison Vernon, located in Beacon Hill. To read the full story, click here.
