One Western Avenue occupies a prominent site at the southeast corner of the Harvard Business School, marking the arrival to campus from downtown Boston. Drawing from its physical context—early 20th-century brick-clad courtyard houses and mid-century concrete-paneled towers—the project takes shapes as a multi-volume building composed of a mid-rise tower, a U-shaped low-rise, and a three-story bridge. This horizontal volume divides the main central void into two spaces: a courtyard that frames river views and a front lawn. 

 The building’s volumetric configuration allows for a multiplicity of simultaneous conditions: three stories of apartment with river views, as well as a courtyard open to the water. Two different brick patterns wrap the low-rise portion of the building, one on the exterior and another on the interior; when they meet in the entry passageway, they produce a third unique pattern. Stone blocks cover the mid-rise portion as well as the bridge, producing a sense of visual cohesion. Openings across the building’s facades vary in size and orientation, creating a rhythmic syncopation that injects life and vitality while remaining germane to their context. 

“We see One Western Ave. as the gateway to the Allston campus of the future.”

- Susan K. Keller, Director of Residential Real Estate for Harvard Planning and Real Estate (HPRE)