Winthrop Center Interiors
Winthrop Center's interiors embrace the neighborhood's rich Art Deco influences.
Located in Boston's Financial District, Winthrop Center includes over 1.8M sq. ft. of residential, office, and retail space. The project was designed to enhance and revamp the existing Winthrop Square, and create new open space to serve Boston. A grand new public space called The Connector anchors the building and traverses the site between Federal and Devonshire streets. Handel Architects led the interior design for this space, as well as for the variety of amenity spaces that serve the commercial tenants, and for the residential portion of the tower, Millennium Residences at Winthrop Center.
The interiors approach for each of these program types is united by an embrace of the neighborhood's rich Art Deco influences, and uses color, materiality, and scale to signal shifts between public realm, office, and residential uses. Design details embrace geometric shapes, ornamental lighting fixtures, and warm, considered materials including brass, marble, metal, and wood.
The Connector offers the public a grand, multilevel "urban room."
A dramatic folding ceiling extends through the space and visually connects the building entrances. Its design evokes the neighborhood's surrounding Art Deco architecture with an angular repeating form, reinforcing The Connector as an addition to the streetscape. Elemental materials of stone, metal, terrazzo further lend the space a sense of robust permanence.
The folding ceiling drops midway through to reveal The Collective, a casual restaurant with dramatic views of The Connector below.
Interiors here evoke 19th Century European grand cafes, prioritizing rounded fixtures and furnishings that contrast with the heavy, angular ceiling in which the space is concealed. A rounded bar anchors the space, lit by dramatic orb lights and flanked by curved booths.
Hanging pods overlook The Connector with floor-to-ceiling glass.
Wood details echo the folded panels of the ceiling and visually tie these spaces together.
Winthrop Center's office lobby is designed to mediate the shift from public realm to workspace.
Fluted walls evoke the folding exterior facade, and signal a shift from The Connector space to the office program. Downlighting from the ceiling casts an ethereal glow and softens the wall's angular forms. Anchoring the lobby is a marble slab reception desk.
Upstairs, office amenity spaces are designed to facilitate conversation and encourage collaboration.
A variety of gathering spaces include communal tables, and seating organized for conversation.
Winthrop Center's fluted top is a beacon on the Boston skyline.
