Mill Pond Design Highlights

The Mill Pond Complex will be designed with an end goal of functioning as a working ecosystem; collecting rainwater, solar energy, and waste and converting it into the fuel needed to sustain occupants at a Quality of Life that will be the envy of those not yet living Green. This complex will house everything necessary to act as a catalyst for increasing Green awareness in the surrounding community, creating a hopeful outlook for the future of Boston and the world. The location of the building places it near other landmarks and museums, and in the neighborhood of areas of nightlife which will appreciate evening events drawing people to the area.

By increasing accessibility to all entrances and adding more convenient connecting staircases, the revitalized building will be open and welcoming and draw both tourists and Boston residents with indoor and outdoor performances, farmer’s markets, public classes, and a museum with an ever-changing art gallery through which residents can sell their work. A 24 hour convenience store and sandwich shop will sell vegetables grown in the greenhouses and also serve as a gift shop, selling the green products manufactured or used by residents of the building.

Since some of the green technology and techniques proposed for the building are still in developmental stages, the construction timeline will be best prioritized in a Design/Build fashion, with work being done as it is designed. Project management and design offices will be established within the building, and will facilitate carpenters, ironworkers, electricians and plumbers to move in and establish operation in available areas of the building, preparing the space for future tenants. The building would be split up into office, meeting room, shop, laboratory, storage, and living space while the residential tower is being constructed.

The construction workforce will benefit from classes taught about the technology being installed. Classes in the evening will cover optimum design strategies and teach installation methods for the work to be done the next day, increasing productivity and accuracy of the building process. At the end of the project, participants of the classes can earn certification as installers of the products, giving them an edge in the market. Because of the time involvement of attending classes while also doing work on the building, worker housing will be prepared in the Lindemann building itself, making it a construction campus, and eliminating commute time for participants.

As the building becomes operational, maintenance jobs will be created including: tending greenhouses and planters, dealing with recycling and compost, electrical repair and computer networking, visitor and events services, day care, and operation of public gym facilities. As businesses move in, even more jobs will be created, along with new opportunities for business startups. A notable selling feature of rented space is that product testing can be done with the residents of the complex as a pool of willing, informed and concerned survey participants. The diversity of background and needs of the residents would be very important to ensure opportunity for all areas of the community to benefit from the outcomes of this method.

Laboratory space tuned for Research & Development will allow researchers with backgrounds in chemistry, biology, botany, ecology, and engineering to work together to find green solutions that could be brought to market once they are proven successful locally within the building. One of the first tasks of this group will be to design pleasant to use soaps that will act as a proper fertilizer in the grey water reused in greenhouses.

A relationship can be maintained with DMH through art and music therapy sessions in classrooms and open studio space. This provides inspiration and income for resident artists and musicians.

Strong, precast concrete Brutalist buildings such as this one can act as perfect skeletons on which to build a working organic system, making the building resemble a mountain, collecting rain and trickling it down through aquifers and streams to sustain a growing forest.