Green Living Gets Real

Architecture is a topic that can be fascinating and compelling but often turns out dangerously dull—and green architecture is often downright boring. Part of the problem is that sustainable architecture is only available to the super-rich, who invest in eco-mansions while the masses are stuck in the same old houses with (yawn) upgraded lightbulbs.

Or so I thought. But then I decided to tour Boston’s green-building scene, and guess what I found?

Green Housing Projects

That’s right, Boston is home to one of America’s first LEED-certified affordable housing developments, Maverick Landing. Completed in 2005, this 426-unit mixed development replaces an ugly, run-down 1940s “superblock” that was giving all its residents asthma and chronic depression.

Now the block gleams with happy little buildings, backyard lawns, bike paths, a meeting center, park, playground, and the hands-down best views in Boston. It’s subway-accessible and designed for 77% low-income residency, including Section 8. Solar panels run the elevators and lights; interiors use low-VOC paints and natural flooring; air is ventilated and filtered; and recycled/eco-friendly materials are used throughout.

Green Community Centers

The Artists For Humanity EpiCenter is an absolute original: a non-profit organization that helps inner-city youths find paid employment in the arts. It’s also an activity center, arts studio and events hall, tied together with an online shop that sells the fruits of members’ labor.

But that ain’t all, because as of 2004, the EpiCenter became the first building in Boston to be certified LEED Platinum, the highest level of sustainable-building certification attainable. It uses 100% renewable energy; natural/passive lighting; energy-conserving design; and recycled/repurposed materials throughout.

Green Dorm Rooms

Tufts is one of many colleges and universities working to decrease their environmental impact. They’ve gone so far as to build a new LEED Gold-certified dorm, the Sophia Gordon Hall.

Sophia Gordon is useful, not just for its energy savings, but for its educational aspects. Signs are posted throughout the building to point out environmentally-responsible features, and to give information on why they’re important. Students can monitor the building’s energy use via a realtime display, and can examine the criteria used to determine the building’s certification level.

Tufts has taken additional measures to lessen its footprint, including use of sustainable and organic foods in cafeterias; promotion of community gardens; and use of alternative fuels and hybrids in its fleet. But the most important thing they’re doing is educating their student body in the practice of sustainability—knowledge these students will need more than any previous generation has.

Green Apartments

Out in East Boston is a brand-new behemoth of steel and glass: the Macallen Building, New Englands’s first LEED Gold-certified residential apartment complex. It’s huge and somewhat intimidating, but that brown-steel exterior masks a truly environmentally-friendly development, complete with a sloping green roof and groundbreaking landscape design, natural lighting, massive water savings, air flow and energy efficiency.

These condos aren’t cheap, but they’re within the realm of possibility for many—and they’re much better than previous “green” alternatives, which were priced far beyond most people’s budgets. Nonetheless, Macallen’s website plays down the eco-friendly attributes of the building, focusing instead on its luxury and design features. They clearly believe that most Bostonians with the cash to invest in a condo find environmental issues somewhat offputting.

But the building does display its LEED plaque prominently, and quietly educates its inhabitants on environmental issues through a mass of (recycled-paper-and-soy-ink) marketing brochures. Residents have begun moving in, and Macallen finds itself brilliantly poised at the forefront of local environmental and architectural movements. Not bad for a condoplex.