On the 238th anniversary of the original Boston Tea Party, Mark DiNapoli, President and General Manager of Suffolk Construction’s Northeast Region, joined officials from the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum to celebrate the raising and placement of the cupola on the roof of the museum structure. This milestone event marked the topping off of the $27 million, 18,700-sf project.
DiNapoli was joined by Shawn Ford, executive director and vice president of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum; Chris Belland, CEO of Historic Tours of America; and Michael Cantalupa, senior vice president of development of Boston Properties. Following the topping off, period actors representing the patriots of 1773 threw replica tea crates into Boston Harbor as a reenactment of the actions 238 years ago.
The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum project was designed by Margulies Perruzzi Architects.
As construction manager, Suffolk is using state-of-the-art virtual models and collaboration tools to build this structure that will pay tribute to this seismic event in American history.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) helped the team coordinate the installation of extensive mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems throughout the project, which will consist of a two-story bridge house pier structure supported by 47 steel piles and a 350-ton, 200-foot floating barge.
The pier building will contain a retail store, two re-enactment meeting rooms, and offices. Three historic replica ships will surround the floating barge, which will house a museum on the first floor and a Tavern/Tea Room on the second level. More than 50% of construction will take place off barges on the water.
The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum will offer a unique museum experience for visitors. There will be interactive tours, actors dressed in period clothing, cutting edge exhibits, and living history programs that allow anyone at any age the chance to reenact history from 1773. Another special feature of the museum will be the display of the Robinson Tea Chest, one of only two known tea chests that still exist from the original Boston Tea Party event. BD+C
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Wisconsin becomes the first state to require BIM on public projects
As of July 1, the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities will require all state projects with a total budget of $5 million or more and all new construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more to have their designs begin with a Building Information Model. The new guidelines and standards require A/E services in a design-bid-build project delivery format to use BIM and 3D software from initial ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Opening night close for Kent State performing arts center
The curtain opens on the Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center at Kent State University in early 2010, giving the New Philadelphia, Ohio, school a 1,100-seat multipurpose theater. The team of Legat & Kingscott of Columbus, Ohio, and Schorr Architects of Dublin, Ohio, designed the 50,000-sf facility with a curving metal and glass façade to create a sense of movement and activity.
| Aug 11, 2010
Residence hall designed specifically for freshman
Hardin Construction Company's Austin, Texas, office is serving as GC for the $50 million freshman housing complex at the University of Houston. Designed by HADP Architecture, Austin, the seven-story, 300,000-sf facility will be located on the university's central campus and have 1,172 beds, residential advisor offices, a social lounge, a computer lab, multipurpose rooms, a fitness center, and a...
| Aug 11, 2010
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
| Aug 11, 2010
Luxury Hotel required faceted design
Goettsch Partners, Chicago, designed a new five-star, 214-room hotel for the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The design-build project, with Saudi Oger Ltd. as contractor and Rayadah Investment Co. as developer, has a three-story podium supporting a 17-story glass tower with a nine-story opening that allows light to penetrate the mass of the building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Three Schools checking into L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel site
Pasadena-based Gonzalez Goodale Architects is designing three new schools for Los Angeles Unified School District's Central Wilshire District. The $400 million campus, located on the site of the former Ambassador Hotel, will house a K-5 elementary school, a middle school, a high school, a shared recreation facility (including soccer field, 25-meter swimming pool, two gymnasiums), and a new publ...
| Aug 11, 2010
New Jersey's high-tech landscaping facility
Designed to enhance the use of science and technology in Bergen County Special Services' landscaping programs, the new single-story facility at the technical school's Paramus campus will have 7,950 sf of classroom space, a 1,000-sf greenhouse (able to replicate different environments, such as rainforest, desert, forest, and tundra), and 5,000 sf of outside landscaping and gardening space.
| Aug 11, 2010
U.S. firm designing massive Taiwan project
MulvannyG2 Architecture is designing one of Taipei, Taiwan's largest urban redevelopment projects. The Bellevue, Wash., firm is working with developer The Global Team Group to create Aquapearl, a mixed-use complex that's part of the Taipei government's "Good Looking Taipei 2010" initiative to spur redevelopment of the city's Songjian District.
