Best Renovation/Restoration and Award of Merit Excellence in Sustainability: Squirrelwood Apartments
Working in a densely populated area of Cambridge posed many challenges for this restoration project, including constructing an apartment building to Passive House standards, working with challenging soil conditions and managing odd geometries at a site near other residential properties.
The $24.8-million project involved renovating 10 buildings, including a historic five-story masonry former candy factory, a mix of wooden balloon-framed multifamily structures and an 1820s-era single-family farmhouse. Crews added three buildings as infills on the site to provide additional affordable housing. Two complied with Energy Star standards, the other with the U.S. Passive House energy efficiency standard.