An 11-story, 245,000 square foot first class office building, 1000 Washington Street is located at the leading edges of Boston’s Financial District. Featuring stunning city views, highly efficient floor plates, and on-site parking, the building is home to a variety of corporate and medical offices.

Bridging the parking garage and office tower, the one-story, 2,870 square foot lobby is accessible from both Harrison and Washington Streets. the lobby’s recent renovation included complete redesign of all building systems as well as the replacement of all interior and exterior finishes. the $500,000 renovation took four months to complete.

Symmes Maini & McKee Associates (SMMA), Cambridge, Massachusetts, served as the architectural firm for the project. Architectural woodwork was fabricated by AWi member firm, Mass Cabinets inc., located in Methuen.

The primary objective of the renovation was to reposition the property from Class B to Class A commercial tenant space, explains Architect Gregory Downes, AiA. “in addition to opening the space to natural light through the demolition of exterior masonry walls and installing new, and art glass illuminated with custom transparent storefront glazing, the lighting, was critical in creating the selection of key materials including urban, up-tempo entry space desired wood paneling, marble, carpeting, by the owner,” he continues.

The design required a great deal of precision, particularly in the installation of the wood paneling, with very little room for error, adds Downes.

“The design, incorporating wood paneling in combination with marble, carpeting, metal, art glass and lighting, was essential in achieving the repositioning of the building from its outdated office use to a new and updated space reflecting the energy and appropriate environment of a corporate headquarters for traditional office, medical office, or life science/laboratory use,” points out building owner Steve Logan.

The alignment and matching of the veneer wall paneling including the wood pattern, grain and color from panel to panel and from face to edge of panel is the most noteworthy aspect of the project, continues Logan. “Mass Cabinets’ efforts from the initial selection of the log of Makore, through to the beautifully aligned, finished and matched panels set in a grid of brushed aluminum insets, greatly assisted the quality of the installation.”

Making It Happen
Mass Cabinets took a lead role in making the space look elegant and welcoming. We began with several design meetings, providing different veneer selections and samples, recalls Sarno. the team also visited other projects that featured large walls of wood paneling.

Once the Makore was selected and flitch reserved, seaming of the veneers began, he says. “Careful coordination was required since the design had several key elements located within the panel layout. We had existing elevator openings, new lighting, life safety devices and door openings that could not be moved.”

Also, he continues, the layout between the accent art glass panels and the wood wall panels located below the glass provided a challenge. All the glass panels had to be the same size.

As developer and owner of the property, we understood the importance of Mass Cabinets’ role as the AWi woodwork manufacturer, summarizes Logan. “they did an excellent job in coordinating the efforts of the team’s key players through the selection, detailing and installation of the paneling.”

1000 Washington Street, owned and managed by nordic Properties, has become one of new england’s most respected suburban and urban office developments, offering all the advantages one would expect to find in a corporate headquarters.

Makore Magic
According to Mass Cabinets’ Michael Sarno, the woodworking firm’s scope of work consisted of fabricating flush wood veneer wall paneling, aluminum reveals and flush doors. “The wood veneer panels are ¾-inch Lobby of 1000 Washington Street Lobby of 1000 Washington Street medium density fiberboard with quartered figured Makore veneer on the panel face and edges,” he explains. “The architect’s design required a blueprint match, with book and center balance veneers.”

Makore was selected, says Downes, “because of the subtlety and richness of the grain and the natural color of the finished wood,” says Downes. “Since the design required a blueprint match with book and center balance of veneer, the distinctive directionality of the grain complemented this objective.”

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