212 Stuart Street Residential Tower

By Luca Maria Francesco Fabris - 13 December 2022

To those arriving from Europe, downtown Boston is a great relief. The rhythmic succession of built and open spaces, the layout of its broad avenues and historic architecture bring to mind the London we all have in our mind’s eye. Both cities stem from the same matrix: the Roman urbe. The hill, the common, and the hierarchy of its network of streets all hark back to the Capitol, the Forum, and an urban fabric based on the cardo and decumanus. Established thousands of years earlier, it is a rule that defines all the cities of the old continent, and we, its citizens, absorb it by osmosis, unconsciously in tune with an urban model that is simply part of us. Founded in 1630, Boston’s urban fabric speaks of Europe – with a London accent. Even after nearly four centuries, the capital of Massachusetts still holds dear this unwritten urban rule, which has protected its historic downtown, turning it into an open-air laboratory.

One of the most interesting buildings presented to Boston society in 2022 is the residential tower at 212 Stuart Street designed by Höweler + Yoon in partnership with Sasaki. Completed last September, the building sits ideally along the trajectory of the High Spine, the 1961 urban development plan that allowed skyscrapers into downtown Boston and became the vital hinge between the historic Bay Village community just to the south, and the other districts all around.

Standing some 61-m tall, 212 Stuart Street is “debutante of the year” in this august society, where to be accepted you have to abide by the rules but at the same time bend them a little if you want to stand out and assert your authority.

A couple in both life and work, Eric Höweler and J. Meejin Yoon founded their firm in 2001. Their interesting story is told in the volume Verify in Field published last September by Park Books. Having worked with the likes of Diller + Scofidio, and...