Residential Penthouses on 
Mixed-use Buildings

Keith Moskow, AIA, Author

Old meets new on a site recently opened up to a greenway as a result of the "Big Dig" atop a building in Boston's historic financial district. Construction on the roofs of existing commercial buildings presents a unique set of challenges. These include constructability, privacy, mixed-use design, and economies of scale. The focus of the project is dealing with these constraints creatively, while emphasizing advances in material science construction techniques and energy efficiency.

The program calls for a lightweight, energy-efficient, flexible, urban penthouse that meets the needs of a family of four that includes a professional musician, a venture capitalist and two teenage children.