As the sole tenant of the new 200,000-square-foot headquarters located in the Waltham, MA, suburban office development Waltham Woods Corporate Center, the Massachusetts Medical Society hoped for - and has realized - a facility that incorporates the organization's medical history and tradition, the specialized infrastructure needs of a headquarters facility, and nature. According to the project's designer, Robert Y.C. Hsiung, FAIA, principal architect at Jung/Brannen Associates Inc., Boston, "Yours is a profession which began with the beginning of civilization and will last as long as civilization lasts. The design of your new home must arch over that great span of time."
The building's basic design employed a standard structural bay system, typical for a tenanted suburban office but adaptable to easily revert to a multi-tenant space, ensuring that the facility is a sustainable real estate asset for the owner. A smart building management system monitors lighting, temperature, and security to provide a more efficient and comfortable work environment day-to-day. In addition to the administrative offices, the headquarters include a conference center, which accommodates 180 people and features an audio-visual center, a cafeteria that serves more than 200 people, and an advanced printing facility. Project highlights include:
• A soaring atrium, enclosed by a four-story, curved glass curtainwall, that affords a meeting place in three dimensions, or stories, enabling congregation and impromptu meetings while offering a sense of community.
• A conscious nature theme that incorporates shared daylight for employees in their workspaces; sites glacial boulders next to the foundation and in the atrium; allows natural growth of trees, shrubs, and plants; preserves old tree stands, glacial formations, and old stonewalls; and includes two manmade ponds.
- Linda K. Monroe, Editorial Director
