VHB: Sustainable Growth in the Fenway and Beyond

Since 1979, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB) has supported many of the nationally and internationally renowned institutions and notable private developments throughout the Fenway and the Longwood Medical & Academic Area as they have grown and transformed in response to demographic, technological, and social change. VHB helps enhance the built and natural environment through planning, engineering, transportation, and environmental services. 


VHB has contributed to the Institutional Master Plans forNortheasternUniversity andWheelockCollege, guiding them through the permitting processes as they plan future improvements. In support of theMuseum of Fine Arts Master Plan, VHB helped reconstruct Museum Road from a one-way to a two-way street. 


For the century-old Fenway Park, VHB contributed a variety of services, from the design of a new drainage system for the reconstruction of Fenway Park's playing field, to traffic and parking studies to enhance vehicle and pedestrian safety and circulation, and even streetscape improvements on roads abutting the park, including the installation of a statue honoring Red Sox Hall-of-Famer Ted Williams and the "Teammates."

VHB has also served as the transportation, permitting, and civil engineering consultant on behalf of Samuels & Associates, Inc., a developer investing in the revitalization of the heart of this historic area, developing projects such as 1330 Boylston, Trilogy, and the Fenway Triangle mixed use project. These projects have allowed for the expansion of Fenway Health, which has served the community for more than 30 years, as well as traffic and circulation benefits, helping the neighborhood evolve into a thriving urban village. For Meredith Management, VHB is supporting the smart-growth, transit-oriented Fenway Center, which is being designed to transform unused air space over the Massachusetts Turnpike into a variety of residential, office, retail, and parking uses. 

Be it an institution of education, healthcare, art, or culture, each client is guided by a unique mission. VHB's mission is to help translate a clients' visions and ideas and make them a reality.

Perkins+Will Boston: Fenway Cultural District Initiative

Perkins + Will Boston is committed to engaging its professional resources and leadership to benefit the social needs in the built environment where design can make a difference. Perkins + Will Boston donates 1% of its billable time and advanced design thinking to initiate and execute projects that benefit, enhance and enliven the greater Boston community.

The goal for 2012 is to enhance shared civic and communal places. Perkins+Will believes, in order to be vital, cities must have beautiful surprises that provoke human interaction, developing temporary spaces and unique backdrops that support programs that enhance a sense of place and engagement.

The Fenway Cultural District Initiative, in partnership with the Fenway Alliance, will develop a temporary design installation in Evans Way Park. Fenway has just been designated as Boston's first state-recognized cultural district. Perkins+Will will design and fabricate an installation to commemorate this historic event. The installation will be installed in early September and will serve as a backdrop to OPENING OUR DOORS 2012 in the Fenway Cultural District on Monday, October 8, 2012. ABOUT PERKINS+WILL Perkins + Will offers architectural expertise in Healthcare, Education, Sports and Recreation as well as performance and community projects and we are looking for opportunities to give back to Boston and the surrounding communities. Brian Healy, Design Director and Principal Kim Poliquin Project Designer, LEED AP Perkins + Will SRI Leadership

HOUSE OF BLUES: Enriching young lives through the Arts

Why learn about the blues? Because blues music and the story of how it developed is part of a larger story about the people, the music and the history of this country.   More than 5000 students per school year from Boston and beyond visit the House of Blues Boston, and experience the International House of Blues Foundation's educational music and art programs. Students explore aspects of American history and culture through blues music and traditions of related folk art. The programs engage students and teachers (grades 5-12) with interactive arts related learning experiences; all programs are offered at no cost to students and teachers from the Boston Public Schools.   The annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration invites students from the Boston Public Schools to perform works inspired by the life and teachings of Dr. King on the Music Hall stage. This year 145, students representing 8 Boston Public Schools performed, special guest Boston City Councillor Tito Jackson read excerpts from Dr. King's speech "I've Been To The Mountaintop". ABOUT THE HOUSE OF BLUES   The House of Blues grew out of founder Isaac Tigrett's love for the unique American art form known as the "the blues". Weaned on this music during his early childhood in Tennessee, one of Isaac's goals was to introduce the world to the music of the rural south, including the blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, jazz and roots-based rock & roll. House of Blues - Boston draws close to half a million people to the Fenway Cultural District every year for an unparalleled music experience, an evening in the exotic Foundation Room, a unique private function and the inspiring educational programs that enrich young lives through music and art.

BOND Construction Participates in City Build Program

BOND recently visited with students at Brighton High School as part of the CityBuild education program sponsored by Urban Neighborhood Design Alliance. CityBuild is a curriculum enrichment program for Boston high school students that introduces students to the fields of design, development, and construction by providing a hands-on learning experience. The program offers students the opportunity to learn about the construction process from design through construction by engaging with professionals working on construction projects throughout  the City of Boston. Members of the BOND Tata Hall project team alongside Harvard Business School representatives visited Brighton High School to give students a classroom overview of the firm's $80M Harvard Business School Tata Hall project.  Tata Hall will house HBS participants in the Business School's Executive Education Program.  BOND's visit to Brighton High School provided the students with a series of hands-on learning experiences that tied their classroom learning experiences to construction in the field.  BOND's Superintendent on the Tata Hall project, Jim Keefe,  provided the students with a hands-on excavation support lesson; the students put clips of the demonstration on You Tube. "Participating in the CityBuild program is extremely rewarding for our staff at BOND," said Bob Murray, President of BOND.  "It is important that we all give back to the communities we live and work in and it is our hope that each of the Brighton High students were able to apply some of what they learned from our visit to their studies in the classroom."   ABOUT BOND BOND was founded in 1907 and has been involved in some of the region's most high-profile construction projects in both the building construction and civil and utility sectors of the construction industry.  BOND's building division provides a full-range of construction and general contracting, from pre-construction services and construction management to lump-sum contracting, fast-track, and design build.