Green Living in Boston: Northpoint

Green Living in Boston Northpoint
A new mixed-use model is taking shape on the site of an abandanced rail yard in one of the country's most traditional urban environments.

NorthPoint—a contemporary lifestyle community located on 45 acres straddling the Massachusetts communities of Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston—is being built upon the principles of smart growth development around mass transit.

The community will incorporate a new transit station and will offer proximity to the Museum of Science and CambridgeSide Galleria.

Phase 1 of the project will be completed at the end of 2006.

The master plan created by CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares of Boston and Greenberg Consultants Inc. of Toronto combines commercial space for offices and laboratories, residential buildings, retail space, parking, and over 10 acres of green space for active and passive use as well as a multi-use park pavilion.

Aleady NorthPoint has garnered the Willo von Moltke Award for Design Excellence sponsored by the Urban Design Committee of the Boston Society of Architects and the AIA New York Chapter Zoning and Urban Design Committee.

The Phase 1 buildings are domestic in scale with bold architectural design that expresses the energy of urban living and the industrial character of the site.

Their facades mix contemporary materials such as glass, metal, and