Helicon Design to begin construction of Mass Medi-Spa's 40,000 s/f medical marijuana facility

Norwell, MA 2016 saw the completion of Helicon’s design and construction drawings for Mass Medi-Spa’s medical marijuana grow facility and dispensary. Construction is scheduled for this spring, with the company opening operations later in the year.

Mass Medi-Spa - Norwell, MA

Helicon began preliminary design with Mass Medi-Spa in 2015, surveying a wide variety of grow facility prototypes, operations and mechanical systems.

This innovative facility included the owner’s plans for indoor grow lighting systems that emulate the natural light intensity of morning, afternoon and evening sunlight, as well as sustainable techniques that will produce extremely low agricultural waste from the year-round operation.

Mass Medi-Spa is also engaged in studies with Vermont-based PhytoScience Institute to process specific product strains meant for use in alternative chronic pain management and for the reduction and dependence on opioid painkillers. Current practitioners are seeing substantial benefits with medical marijuana in the treatment of chronic pain, reductions in sleep disruption and other opioid side effects.

AKF of Boston has provided full mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering for the facility, which will average five full grow cycles per year in the 2-story, 40,000 s/f facility.

The facility will also include a retail dispensary, corporate offices, a research and development lab, and extraction and processing areas to provide medical cannabis and medical cannabis infused products to Mass Med-Spa’s estimated 6,000 patients.

Along with the owner’s design team, Helicon helped coordinate Massachusetts DPH regulatory requirements and finalize special finishes and other interior features which will control moisture and mold effects on year-round indoor crops. There will also be extensive interior and exterior security features to the building, including redundant monitoring, restricted internal access and other architectural fortifications.

The windowless nature of such production facilities often result in featureless warehouses. Helicon employed limited glass and a scheme of three different metal panel types to give the new Mass-Medi Spa building a modern exterior appearance. The effect is a crisp, geometric and forward-looking structure that compliments the budgetary concerns of a flagship operation.

Helicon is a full-service architecture and design firm in Boston emphasizing design innovation across a wide variety of project types and budgets since 1991.