News | August 1st 2014

AVA Theater District Tops Off

On July 30, CBT Architects, project developer AvalonBay, and John Moriarty & Associates celebrated the topping off of AVA Theater District, a 30-story multi-family residential tower that will tie together Downtown, Chinatown and the Theater District in Boston, MA. Located next to the historic Jacob Wirth Building, at 45 Stuart Street, the ‘AVA Theater District’ project will contain 400 units with a variety of apartment types, from studios and one bedrooms, to two bedroom apartments on floors six through 30. Floors two through five contain an above-grade, 198 space parking garage that is clad in a folded glass curtain wall and textural façade elements along LaGrange Street.
 
Previously a surface parking lot, CBT and AvalonBay saw a unique opportunity to transform the space, building on momentum to connect Boston neighborhoods through innovative urban design and the growing need for residential units in the area. Together, CBT and AvalonBay worked to design a dynamic ground floor public realm component of the project that includes a 2-story open-air public forecourt along Stuart Street, complete with water features as well as a pedestrian walkway which includes a full-block cut through to Lagrange Street and the nearby Boston Common that will bypass a longer commute around the block. 

Taking its design inspiration from the nearby Theater District, at the street level the project design features a contemporary, 5- story folding glass entrance façade designed to create an urban theater stage set that will interact with the public street life. This prominent building feature will include a dynamic lighting component and gradient glass patterning that will add a new dimension to the district and revitalize the current streetscape. In the heart of a major educational, medical, and cultural area of the city, AVA Theater District will also add much needed parking and housing to the Boston market for all demographics.