Saturday 25th April, the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building in Boston will officially be opened by Mayor Martin J. Walsh. Designed by Dutch practice Mecanoo, together with US based firm Sasaki Associates, the building houses the Boston Public Schools (BPS) department and plays a central role in the reactivation of Roxbury’s Dudley square. It is Mecanoo’s first US project to be completed.
As a testimony to the vision of the late Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building stands proudly over Dudley Square. It was Menino who decided the City of Boston would develop the vital plot of land by consolidating 500 civil servants from the Boston Public Schools department into a new municipal office building for education, in conjunction with a community centre and retail space. The building’s second floor is home to the Roxbury Innovation Center, initiated by Mayor Walsh.
The existing historical facades of the Ferdinand, Curtis and Waterman buildings have been comprehensively restored and stitched together into a bright new building. Referencing these original buildings, the central volume to the new municipal centre also embodies a time-honoured approach to craft in construction.