Suffolk Education, a Suffolk Construction team that specializes in managing construction projects in the education sector, was awarded the Massachusetts College of Art and Design residence hall project located on Huntington Ave. The $61 million, 21-story residence hall will add 493 beds and 145,000 s/f of dormitory space to the school campus. The residence hall will also include a new health center that will serve students of MassArt, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Wentworth Institute of Technology. The new building will feature eco-friendly elements designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.
Construction of the new residence hall will present certain challenges to the Suffolk Education project team. The project is located on Huntington Ave. in a very tight, busy urban area with bustling vehicular and pedestrian traffic, which will require a complicated and comprehensive logistics plan. There are also existing overflow lines running through the project site, which will require the Suffolk Education team to coordinate closely with the Mass. Water and Sewer Commission throughout the construction process.
The new residence hall will be a critical element to the multi-stage development of the MassArt campus. Once completed, the building will allow the college to guarantee housing to all first- and second-year students and will provide housing to 38% of the entire student body on campus, a marked increase from the current 22%. The new residence hall is one of four capital projects scheduled at MassArt over the next several years, which include a new media center, campus center and renovated galleries. All the projects will highlight MassArt's continued innovation in architecture and "green" building.
The Massachusetts State College Building Authority will be the project developer for the new MassArt residence hall, and ADD Inc is the project architect. Construction is scheduled to begin in June and will be completed in August 2012.