CREW Boston’s October Luncheon featured an all-female panel discussing the design and development of a new campus for the Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology (BFCIT). CREW Boston member and Development Consultant, Marty Jones, Principal of MLJ Insights, moderated the conversation with CEO and President Dr. Aisha Francis, the college’s first woman and first person of color to lead the BFCIT; Project Architect Gail Sullivan, Managing Principal of Studio G Architects and CREW Boston member; Associate Architect Natasha Espada, Principal of Studio Enée, and Landscape Architect Shauna Gillies Smith, Principal of Ground, Inc.
The panel discussed a full range of issues related to this unique project, which moves the BFCIT from an inefficient 100,000 SF Carnegie building in Boston’s South End to a highly efficient 68,000 SF in Roxbury. Designed to allow flexibility for growth and changes in technology and curriculum, the proposal preserves nearly half the site for future expansion, leasing, or resale.
The collaboration went through a lengthy but not necessarily difficult permitting process, meeting funding and development challenges with a project linked to the redevelopment of the historic Berkeley St property. With three public-facing facades, the new building contributes to the ongoing transformation of Nubian Square, infilling a corner lot in this historic neighborhood. Storefront windows allow passersby to peek into ground level trade shops and fill the large interior spaces with daylight, while built-in benches create areas of respite along the streetscape. Ground, Inc. maximized outdoor open spaces by taking advantage of both the site level and rooftop, where gathering spaces are coupled with opportunities for students to study the building’s mechanical systems in action.
The BFCIT makes a distinct impact on the life trajectory of students and their families. In many cases, one student graduating from BFCIT nearly doubles their household income! With the building’s inspirational, high-performance design, the development team met this exceptional institution’s educational, economic, sustainability, and resilience goals for their faculty and students’ immediate and future needs.
