Fuse Apartment Tour

By USGBC MA Communications

On Thursday USGBC – Residential Green Building Committee organized a tour for the FUSE Cambridge Apartments – a 244-unit apartment community located at 165 CambridgePark Drive, Cambridge, MA.  The 250,000-square-foot complex, developed by Hines and managed by the Bozzuto Group, is LEED certified (Silver) and is the first in Massachusetts to introduce Well Signature apartment homes.  Well Signature apartments incorporate features such as advanced water and air filtration systems and innovative technologies for lighting.  

The group was initially greeted by Sean from Hines and Nate from Bozzuto Group in the club room with wine and cheese. Soon the tour began in the lobby.  The lobby was designed to be a window to connect pedestrians and residences to the adjacent 100+ acre Alewife Brook Reservation.  The lobby spans two stories with glass facade so people walking by on CambridgePark Drive have a direct view of the reservation.

After we walked outside towards the Alewife Brook Reservation the hosts explained that the parcel of land the apartment sits on was previously a factory therefore a lot of remediation work had to be done to the soil before the foundations for the apartments could be poured.  The other interesting thing is that the orientation of the building and design of glass façade was optimized for viewing angles of two willow trees that stood side by side overlooking the reservation, which we were told, was not standard practice in the industry.  Over 60 percent of the 244 apartment units have a window over-looking the reservation.   The apartment complex has a 1:1 bike rack to parking space ratio.  

The group then walked around the building and re-entered through the front lobby from Cambridge-drive Park.  The group was brought to the second floor to view the common room and the green wall.  The common 

room is where residents can go to do work.  It is equipped with wifi, computers, printers, and lots of places to sit.  It even has a conference room for meetings.  The hosts explained that many of the residences take advantage of the common room using it as an office to get work done.  After touring the common room, the group arrived at one of the show pieces of the property – the living green wall.  The green wall consists of 250 individual potted plants on a wall with lighting above that is optimized for their photosynthesis needs.  It gets watered about once a month and so far, the hosts say it’s been a big success.  The wall breathes life to the interior of the apartment and lifts one’s mood up each day after work.   

At the green wall the group had a lively discussion about lighting requirements in commercial buildings.  Afterwards, the group was shown a sample apartment unit which incorporated the Wells Signature equipment.  It is offered at the apartment as an add-on package which includes: advanced air purification, circadian mood lighting, circadian shower, blackout shades, aromatherapy, water purification, Cleveland clinic wellness, and well hub.