Project

One school. Three buildings. Countless bright futures.

Drawing on history and nature to elevate Boston’s longest-running school.

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Eliot Innovation School | 585 Commercial Street

City of Boston
Boston, Massachusetts

Our comprehensive renovation promotes student engagement and collaboration at every turn. Grand views and thoughtful details bring classrooms, art and technology spaces, and a media center into the 21st century. Yet history remains a significant part as windows overlook the Boston Harbor, Zakim Bridge, Old North Church and USS Constitution. And let’s not forget the influence of nature. We chose colors to reflect the green, blue, and aqua of earth, sky, and water. If former students, Sam Adams and Paul Revere, could see this now...

(Photo credit: Raj Das Photography)

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Size
42,000 SF
Scope
Adaptive Reuse, Renovation
Program
Classrooms, Breakout Nooks, Multi-Purpose Space, Art + Technology Spaces, Media Center
Sustainability
Awards
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Four girls studying and talking on wooden benches in a green nook with floor-to-ceiling window.
Many kids sitting at long cafeteria tables framed by blue floors, large windows, and exposed mechanical systems on the ceiling.
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“It's a game changer!  We're doing things we could not have imagined before having this building.”
Traci Walker-Griffith, Eliot School Principal
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Kids in a bright classroom with teacher bending over the desk, with green seismic bracing in the background.
Students coming out of the classroom into a blue hallway with gray lockers and wavy ceiling panels.
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The property was originally constructed in the 1962 as an FDA testing facility, and more recently housed retail and office spaces. The existing concrete structure required MEP and life safety upgrades, including extensive seismic bracing, to meet today’s codes.

Students posing in a hallway with open lockers and exposed mechanical systems in the ceiling.
Students standing and sitting at desks in a "U" formation, with Boston's Zakim bridge in the background.
Young students running and climbing on green and blue play structure.
White building on a sunny day with blue, green and turquoise bays protruding from the facade.
Eliot Innovation school lit up at night, with its lights reflecting on the harbor.
Front entrance of the Eliot Innovation School at night, lit from the interior featuring the turquoise stairway.
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"It's incredible that our students are learning about American history and social studies with a view of the Bunker Hill Monument and the U.S.S. Constitution."
Boston School Committee Chairperson, Michael Loconto
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