Meeting Notes - March 23, 2009

Time: 8:00-9:00am
Date: Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Attendees: Christine Cousineau, Pete Kane, Sarah Spicer, Susy Jones, Nupur Hiremath
Location: Room 207, Campus Center, Tufts University


Meeting Objectives
- Discuss Mid-Term Presentation
- Improve site design


Meeting Minutes
1. Problems with Site Design Proposed in Mid-term Presentation:
• Building has awkward angles that are not always pedestrian-friendly.
• Entrance to the underground parking lot cuts off access to the building by pedestrians exiting the T station or coming down Medford Street.
• Open space is on the North side of the building which may not get much direct sunlight.


2. Proposed Elements/Features to Incorporate into Site Design:
• Glass fronts and increased transparency to allow people on the sidewalk to see right through the building (not figuratively) – makes for better shopping experience and improves accessibility. An atrium within the building with glass front is one idea. Also, retail space should be 70% transparent.
• Green wall or heat storage “solar” wall, perhaps on the South side?
• Wall with water running down it to mitigate noise from the T.
• Incorporate history of the site into the design, possibly as some sort of exhibit either in the building or near it?
• Adequate access/entry points into the building (stairwells, lobbies, garage entrance, elevators, etc.)
• Break up the linearity of the sidewalk if you can.
• Break up the monotony of the façade on the street side.
• Sidewalk width should be at least 15-20 feet.
• Can look at the zoning code and find out what the lowest (Parking Area: Number of Parking Spaces) ratio is in any distrit of Somerville (even if it’s not ours) and use this ratio for our site.
• Daycare also has a area per child requirement – look this up.


3. Christine’s Suggestions for How To Distribute Uses at this Site (Within and Outside the Building):
• Underground parking garage should have 2 levels.
• Building should be 4 stories.
• Maintain the park parallel to School Street. Park space could also be used as a farmer’s market, as we suggested.
• Allow the building to extend to shelter the park from the noise of the T but make this portion of the building only 2 stories.
• Daycare could be on the 2nd floor with the terrace as the open space for kids.’
• Two cafes – one at either end of the building.
• Two open spaces – one larger one near School Street and one smaller one by the T stop with some outdoor seating for the café at that end of the building.
• Open atrium near garage entrance.
• 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors could be all office space (except for the Daycare space on the 2nd floor).


4. Things to Do for Final Presentation:
• Present shadow studies (Christine mentioned that these would very useful).
• Dedicate half the presentation to presenting the site design:
(a) Aerial site design view
(b) SketchUp model (optional)
(c) Cross-section of the building along the North-South axis
(d) Cross-section of the building along the East-West axis
• The other half of the presentation can be devoted to explaining how we plan to incorporate LEED-ND principles into our design.