Project Name | Greenhouse and Studios, 175 North Beacon Street | Watertown, MA

A 25-year Partnership | Lake's relationship with Perkins School for the Blind began with one small project 25 years ago. Today, Lake has two full-time carpenters at Perkins to handle all of the school's ongoing needs, plus, for the past eight years, a full crew to handle major building projects. The most recent such project was the school's Greenhouse, which proved a challenge on many levels: architectural design, siting, systems, and student safety and comfort on an active campus.

Care for the Students | Throughout the project, Perkins' students were always Lake's first concern. They were meticulous about securing the construction site to prevent student accidents, and were highly aware of how sensitive the children could be to sounds like construction noise, managing their work hours to minimize nuisance and recognizing signs of distress in the students to know when the workers needed to stop immediately, pack up their tools, and return at another time.

Site Challenges | Lake, with its decades of experience working in and around the campus's historic buildings, was able to recommend an architect whose design for the new structure would mesh perfectly with its surroundings.

The site, which had no access road, required Lake to hoist all of the materials up the hill with a crane. Moreover, the construction schedule demanded that work take place during one of the most inhospitable New England winters on record. Lake had to tent and heat the entire building site so that the mortar and concrete could cure properly.

Accessible and Green | Lake designed the single-level building to be fully handicapped-accessible for Perkins's special-needs students.

Lake's HVAC contractor also put the disused bomb shelter underneath the building site to a surprising use: The shelter's 850-foot-deep water well houses a geothermal heating and cooling system that moderates the greenhouse's temperature year-round at no cost.

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Perkins School for the Blind Portfolio Sheet (217 KB)