KMDG collaborated with Handel Architects on a life sciences facility in Boston’s Seaport District. 2 Harbor is located at the threshold between the emerging residential and mixed-use South Boston Waterfront area and the existing maritime industrial fabric of the Flynn Marine Park. It is one of the few large-scale and publicly accessible open spaces in this part of Boston and thus plays an important role in the Seaport. The design for 2 Harbor celebrates the scale and character of the history of this site in contemporary and meaningful ways. It is informed by the area’s distinct history, and establishes a new vision for open space in this part of Boston.

The primary space is a large, open plaza, flexible enough to host seasonal outdoor events and activities. An allée of honey-locust trees defines the pedestrian experience from the intersection of Haul Road and Northern Avenue to the building’s main entry. The street scape on Harbor Street and Northern Avenue features sculptural granite and steel planters that mediate the sidewalk grade and also support the building’s flood resiliency strategy. The black-painted steel surfaces reflect the site’s maritime industrial history. The planters feature robust salt- and drought-tolerant native plants that complement the building’s distinct façades and create a verdant and accessible open space in an area that was once limited to surface parking for freight trucks. The design also considered the 2050 resiliency provision that requires that ground floors be built four feet above grade.

The Level 2 Amenity Terrace provides a calm respite for tenants, adjacent to the building’s gym and yoga studios. The terrace is located over the top of the Ted Williams Tunnel, which precludes building construction over 2 floors and thus made this portion of 2 Harbor entirely a landscape. The terrace provides informal seating covered by a custom shade structure, a tranquil water feature, and carefully articulated landforms that provide a sense of enclosure. The plant palette encompasses native plants and bamboo, as well as a pollinator garden. A challenge was the terrace’s location over the top of the Ted Williams Tunnel which precludes building construction over 2 floors, leading to the development of this portion of the site entirely as a landscape.