February 3, 2025 • 28 mins
With housing so tight in the Boston area, there's a lot of conversation about new construction - everything from affordability to rats. Another major factor: sustainability. Climate change is impacting New England faster than any other part of country, according to experts, and that means our architecture has to respond in kind. RODE Architects in Boston was founded by Eric Robinson and Kevin Deabler, who say they center sustainable design in all their projects. They join Nichole this week to talk about sustainable design, why climate-focused design is critical in future construction, and how they're working to get this done in one of the nation's most historic cities.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend,
where each and every week we come together right here
we talk about all the topics important to you and
the place where you live. It is always good to
be with you, and it's good to be back with
you again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. Now, if you
live in the Boston area, you probably know firsthand that
the housing market is so tight. I think this city
(00:28):
itself is something like one or two percent vacancy. It
is really difficult to move with that. There's a lot
of conversation about new construction and all the factors that
go into it, affordability, making sure the neighborhood character doesn't change,
making sure that rats don't get tug up all over
the place, so on and so forth. There is another
major factor, though, to consider, and that is climate change.
(00:50):
Here in New England. Experts say it is making an
impact faster than anywhere else in the country, so our
architecture has to respond in kind. Roady Architects was founded
by two friends who put sustainability first in all their projects,
everything from hotels to apartments to breweries. Let's learn a
bit more now about their process. Eric Robinson, Kevin Diebler
here to tell us all about it. Guys, thank you
(01:12):
so much for your time. And Eric, I will start
with you. What brought you two together to create this company.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I feel like we've we've tried to tell the story
many times, and I feel like it's fairly similar most
of the times.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
But Kevin and I met back in undergraduate.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Studies at ets State back in the i'll say in
the nineties, nineteen hundred seven, and you know, we were
we were classmates and and sort of part of the
same studio group that went through undergraduate and you know,
(01:53):
that's the sort of basis, and then sort of took
a little bit different paths maybe, and but then both
ended up in Boston a handful of years later with
different things in between, and really kept the friendship together.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
We were our class was very close.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
We have other architect friends that are around in the Northeast,
but Kevin and I stayed friends. And then at some
point in time we both ended up living in Dorchester
on the same street. And to that point, which was
in two thousand, basically to that point we hadn't worked together.
(02:36):
We were just personal friends. And you know, I think
as as we lived together and working in our separate jobs,
but having personal connections with our families and starting young
families in Dorchester kind of got to a point where,
you know, I think we really were i'll say maxed
(02:58):
out at our previous Employerloyees employers, and we're looking for
something different and a change, and it was sort of
a magical moment of hey, why don't we try to
start a firm that is maybe a little bit different
than some of the other things and some of our
other experiences.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
And it really was built out.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Of living in Dorchester, living on the same street, wanting
to make our neighborhood better, and having many years of
being part of our community groups and our little planning
board of the Sabine Hill Dorchester area, feeling like we
can do better for our own neighborhood. And that's really
(03:44):
where it started. We just kind of opened up our
sort of eyes and ears and mouths and talked our
neighbors and started helping around the community with different aspects
of project types, some tiny, small and some you know,
had a little more interesting kind of i'll say, you know,
(04:07):
results with some of the local nonprofits and and you
know what, we kind of I think came to this
conclusion is that we can run a firm that's different.
It can be very respectful of the communities we're working in.
Since we were working in our own community, we can
do a better job of communicating to the neighbors and
(04:31):
butters of what we're doing, why we're doing it.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
And that really seemed to.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Let down some of the kind of typical guards of
working in communities and where people are either nervous about
change or or.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Don't understand change, and you know, and.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Became a very nice dialogue with our own community that
while we not everybody might love everything, we the real
goal was to make our neighborhood and our community better.
And I think we learned a lot about each other
from a professional standpoint. We learned a lot about what
(05:12):
each of our ideals are and they were very in line,
i will say.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And you know, coming out of.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
That, we were able to take this idea and it's
just translated, i'll say, very nicely over the last eighteen
years to touch most of New England in some way.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Since we're doing a.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Lot of working in Boston and Greater Boston and Cambridge,
and but we're now working in New Hampshire and Maine
and you know, down to New York and some other things.
And so we see this message resonates with communities and
clients that want to be able to do good work
(05:57):
in the in you know, in the communities that we're
all living.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So yeah, and you talk about community knowing that you've
been in Boston a long time. This makes it easier
for me to ask you this question because I've lived
in Boston a long time as well, and our city
is struggling with a housing crisis. We just do not
have enough space. I think it's like ninety nine percent
of the city of Boston is booked up. You can't
(06:20):
find a place to go. And I also appreciate that
the city of Boston is very forward thinking when it
comes to its climate goals and decarbonization, so on and
so forth. How has living in Boston? How are you
seeing the city? Kevin? I'd like you to answer this one.
How are you seeing the city evolve to meet the
moment when it comes to climate friendly, sustainable architecture or
(06:43):
do you think that we need more work to do
or we have more work to do?
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I think the city's policies and I'll include each of
the last few mayors. I'll say, I don't think there's
been a mayor that has been against climate goals. I
think that they have risen to.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
A point of.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
You know, law now obviously policy and doing development in
the city of Boston, you really have to be ready
with a solid strategy for for how you're going to
make your building resilient, how you're going to make your
building sustainable. And I think that they have, you.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Know, risen to that challenge.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And it's it's been something that's obviously kind of an
awkward dance between you know, city goals and aspirations and
the development slash business community, which I think is more
of a probably you know, making this too broad, but
like an American phenomenon of building fast and just building
(07:52):
to get it done. So I think that you know,
folks need to really understand how to do you know,
sustain ability in building in today's technology, and so I
think that the city has has made it the goal.
A lot of times. It had it started as a
(08:12):
suggestion like why don't you look at these programs or
why don't you try this, and oh, there's a rebate here,
and there's a rebate there. Now I think that folks
are starting to see it in.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
A different light.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
The market is catching up and demanding this. I think
that even if you're in a position to build deeply
affordable housing for those with a very low income, which
is important, I think you can't really do it and
lower the standard and say, oh, well, you don't get sustainability,
(08:49):
you're just lucky to have a home. It is both
you have to achieve, you know, both goals and aspirations
and our you know, this is where the kind of
like proud Bostonian comes out. Now that Eric and I
maybe have transplanted from a different place, but being from
Boston and you are a smart person, you know, let's
(09:11):
just say that, like you're you're smarter than the average
person in the country. But like, I think that we
also have a lot of pride in the fact that
we've been at this for a long time. You know,
even from where we were studying in North Carolina, we
learned about how to design something in the in a
(09:32):
passive mindset that you can orient things, you can do
things that don't cost any money that just really are
the way you should make a building work. But we're
probably getting off track with your main question.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
But the you know, uh, the world.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Has has advanced and there are more tools available to
designers to understand the science and use data and how
you put buildings together. We're automatically designing everything with a
computer model, so it's just.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
A couple more steps.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
It sounds easy, but it takes a little bit of learning.
But at this point, we're we've learned how to ride
the bike and deliver these buildings with less effort than
they used to be. However, we've learned quite a bit
about making our buildings uh sustainable, and you know, we
(10:34):
really try to make sure that we're above and beyond
what's being asked of us.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
And you bring up a really good point there with
your Passive House award that you just won. So we're
gonna touch on that in just a few minutes. But
I also think that when people hear sustainable buildings, they
either think, a it's not going to be pretty, or
it's not going to be easily liveable, or or b
they think it's going to be super expensive. And you know, Eric,
(11:00):
tell me a little bit about how you can kind
of debunk those myths, because that's not the case.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It's definitely not the case.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I mean, there's some aspects of it that might have
some more cost on enough front basis, but I think
what we strive to do is think about longevity and
life cycle costing and thinking about the long haul. I mean,
the majority of our developers, especially our affordable housing developers,
(11:29):
are in it for the long haul, and so creating
those type of stable buildings from a sustainable sustainable perspective,
it's crucial to their kind of model and their sort
of idea, and you know, we have a handful of
them that really they think about sustainability from a holistic
(11:52):
standpoint where they want buildings that are yes, environmentally sustainable
from every aspect of you know, the way it's built,
in the walls and the materials we use, which is
all fairly standard mainstream practice now. But what they are
also thinking about is the residents and their buildings that
live there that are on fixed incomes and sort of
(12:15):
don't have the ability to manage spikes in their disposable income.
So these buildings that are built more sustainably have kind
of a more consistent impact on their income or their expenditures. So,
you know, I think that's a really progressive way to
think about sustainability on a bigger picture.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
And you know that's frankly.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
That's the kind of clients that we are really seeking
out and that are seeking us because.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
We can bring those two things together.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And do you know, use our design skills because you
mentioned earlier, you know that we're running out of sites
and and that's true.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
And Kevin and I.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Both you know, when we went undergrad we learned about
sort of these basic principles that he mentioned, but those
aren't always applicable to certainly the city of Boston because
of the shapes of our sites, the locations of our sites,
the way that they work.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
We have to be.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
More creative as designers on how to address all the
issues that we're talking about with regardless sustainability, we have
to address all the issues that we are dealing with
when we're working in the communities to understand well.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Why are you building so big or what are you doing?
And you know, we have to explain that and then
what we.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Do try to do is make sure it comes along
with an understanding of why we're doing these things and
what can the community benefit from new buildings in their neighborhood,
Not just negative. We think there's positive impacts to infrastructure,
better sidewalks, better public realms. Those things are the responsibility
(14:02):
of buildings and developers, no matter if they're affordable or
market when they go into the communities that we're serving.
And so I think kind of bringing those items and
those aspects together in through the dialogue of an entitlements
or a public process really brings that to the forefront.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
And if to me, it makes it we ensure that.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
The community understands sort of the different aspects and the
pressures on the project. And you know, it's not always
about just the greedy developer. That's not that's just not
the reality. It's really expensive and difficult to build in
the city of Boston, and you know, I think we
have to embrace that this is moving our city forward.
(14:47):
And that's something that I think Kevin and I both
believe in our souls that development and building is the
way to make our city better. And building, you know,
as of now and current using the tools we.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Have, is really the path to do that move forward.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
And it's all about responsibility and sustainability, which you channel
as an architect. And I know when it comes to
responsibility for the community, as long as the community is
taken care of as long as you know, these buildings
are affordable and the city can stay in the city,
you know, because a lot of people in Boston are
getting pushed out because it's simply unaffordable to live there.
(15:28):
But also something that I think about too, we have
such a rich history in Boston. What have the many
reasons people love to be here is the history. And Kevin,
how do you take that history, those beautiful historical like
the brick buildings we have and all the different facades,
how are you able to take those in your work
and make them sustainable or even how do you embrace
history in Boston in your work.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
It's one of the reasons that kind of inspired me
to be an architect. I mean, before North Carolina, I've
actually live farther north and just always love Boston for
the exact reason. I mean, I think you know, if
you travel to Europe, you realize every one of the
cities has some kind of like medieval center and you're like, wow,
(16:13):
the Romans really did a lot, and then come back
to Boston and move around the country. You know, our
city has that sort of basis of of kind of
like something original, unique, yet there was like the Hancock.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Tower that's been here and it's just.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
This glassy, powerful thing that stood by itself for a
long time right next to Trinity Chapel. And you know
that that is just a wild kind of like here's
an architectural We're just a position of two different things,
you know, And that that is what sort of like
(16:51):
inspired uh inspires inspired me. And I know I'm not
the only one who sees these things and like, wow,
that's pretty cool. You can see there were election and
you know, so I think that we just really try
to celebrate the moment. We don't want our buildings to
look like they're from eighteen hundreds or even the nineteen
(17:11):
hundreds at this point.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
No, So I think that we love having actually that
rich history. Like one of our perfect scenarios would be like,
you know, a really amazingly important historic building and then
an empty site next to it, and we have to
come up with something new today that feels like it
(17:36):
fits in, like it maybe it was meant to be there.
That is that's an amazing design and creative challenge that
we you know, we really love love doing. And if
you come to our office someday, we all invite you here.
Now you'll see models are everywhere, and we kind of
look and try to use those kind of old world
(17:58):
methods to sort of make sure that our.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Our buildings are going.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
To feel and fit right in their context. And it
is something we've been doing a lot since we started. Uh,
every every neighborhood in the city has that kind of
like opportunity too. It's not just Deacon Hill or Charles Street,
it's you know, West Roxbury and Lower Mills in Dorchester
(18:26):
and and all these kind of like really amazing pocket
neighborhoods that have these these opportunities. So I think that
making them sustainable also is like you shouldn't there shouldn't
be a building that looks that would would give it away.
It's sustainable secrets, you know. I think that now it
(18:46):
really is possible to kind of like use any type
of style or aesthetic that you you feel like using,
just understand how to keep the air out and keep
the air sealed and put the kinds of systems into
that building that are going to be be robust over over.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
The life of the building. You know.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I think the when we when we work in the
neighborhoods and you know, they all have their own identities
and pressures and you know, concerns and feedback and all that.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
You know, we do do a.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Fairly a large amount of analysis and understanding of kind
of the historical context, and that has a big range, right,
it can be like history, older buildings, but it also
can be you know, mid.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Century buildings and things.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And I think we do we try to really understand
things like proportions and and different kind of cues in
the neighborhood that create the scale or or whatever it
might be that's attractive or comfortable for people. But the
reality of it is, you know, we lived differently than
(19:58):
we did back then, or the chain changes of use
of the buildings are real, and so you know, how
do we embrace kind of contemporary or modern ways that
we live and work. And then you know, layer that
onto sustainability, which is is a real, you know, a
piece to think about. Things are going to look a
(20:18):
little different. But I think what we try to do
is make sure that we're not mimicking, as Kevin said,
historic history, but we're building today. But we can use
it as a canvas or sort of a guide or
framework to help us locate or design things that can
we believe fit as designers, but they fit as of today, not.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Sort of something in the past.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
And so you know, that is kind of the to
be honest, the really nice i'll say, architectural dialogue when
we're in the communities, to try to get our kind
of approach and our thought process out into the public discussion,
because that is where I think we really been able
to create a level of trust and understanding that like, hey,
(21:04):
these guys are actually trying to do the right thing
by us, and let's let's give them the benefit of
the sort of discussion.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
And you know, I believe that.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Our early days of being a being willing to risk,
you know, seeing.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Our neighbors at the local coffee store and get an
ear full of.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
But I think we're you know, we still work in
our neighborhoods. So and we love it, you know, we
love the opportunities to do that, but there is a
little bit of if you can do it in your
own neighborhood and stand by it, yeah, you're you know,
you're you're earning it, right, and and we don't take
any of that for granted. And I think we've really
appreciated the education we've gotten in sort of working in
(21:52):
the sort of different neighborhoods, and it's it's been really
a pretty interesting and uh and.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Challenging and sometimes times arride, but I think it's rewarding
all together.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
And our staff who is amazing, and you know, we're
so lucky that they show up every day and you know,
there's forty of them plus out there now and where
it was really.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Just Kevin and I dropping out what we're going to do,
you know, But I think.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
The goals and the mission has been very much embraced
by our staff and they get what we're trying to do.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
And I think that's where we're really proud of, you know,
the place we are at.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
So I do want to hear about your major award.
It's from that movie Christmas Story or whatever. A major
award Bruce Wood Holmes Passive House project. Kevin, What is that?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
What did you do?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Tell me about it?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (22:46):
That is actually three homes we did and we finished
them around twenty twenty two, and that was part of
a you know, second third project.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
With one of our clients. Is a kind of a
nice theme there.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Dimitri Baskin, he had purchased these lots and they really
could could fit only three single families. We do a
lot of multi but we looked into using a passive
house UH standard to build that. We didn't really know
(23:28):
at that time that none had ever been actually built
and certified in the city of Boston. So we took
it upon it ourselves. And you'd have to understand Dimitri
very driven developer, a great builder himself, so a builder
uh and developer owner uh. And it's kind of neat
(23:51):
that these were respect homes and uh they were built
without an owner, and they were designed with this idea
that they're probably going to be people that really want
this passive house. So we took it upon ourselves to
learn the system and build it.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
And doing three of.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Them at the same time was kind of interesting because
we could we could adjust exactly how we were doing
it with each home as it was coming together. But
you know, people on our team kept went out there
and helped build it. Some some days we had these
these sessions where everyone came out and we we helped
put the insulation on the building, and you know, we
(24:32):
just really took it as a learning challenge and I
think by the by the fact, and once we started
to kind of like see we could corner this like
claim that we were the first certified passive house of
the city, it really became kind of a special notion
for that project. Plus it's a cool part of our work.
(24:53):
And then we really liked how it turned out, had
fun designing them, did all those things that Eric and
I were talking about, trying to make them it in
with the roof pitches and not feel totally out of place,
although there are a lot of different materials we use
on there, and Metropolis really is a great design publication.
(25:15):
So we're just honored to win something that actually has international,
you know, kind of credibility. So I'm very proud of
that well.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
And I'm proud of you as well. That's wonderful news.
So if people want to get connected to the work
you're doing over at Roady, if they want to maybe
talk with you about a future project, they just want
to gag at your stuff on social media, Eric, how
can they find you?
Speaker 2 (25:38):
They can come visit us because Kevin and I are
here basically every day with our office where we're fully
in office staff, so it's kind of cool. And we
have a website and we have all our social media.
Roady Architects dot Com is our website, and you know,
(26:00):
all our contact information is readily.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Available and we're active on all.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
The social media platforms as well, and I think it's
really important and it's hard actually to keep up with it,
but to get our messaging out it makes it. It's
awesome for us and our staff to be able to
get the recognition. And you know, I think Kevin's right,
these awards are you know, we don't set.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Out to sea to get an award for things.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And you know, we've been the last handful of years,
we've been really lucky to receive a bunch of different kinds.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Of awards for our work.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And I think it goes to show that, you know,
early on when we were like, hey, we can do
something different, we're starting to sort of see the fruits
of that labor for us taking the chance to do it,
but also our staff and the commitment to it. So
we'd love to talk to anybody and feel free to
reach out and we would love to say hi, and
(26:57):
we will answer our phones.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
That's one thing.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Just actually finished our new website www. Dot Rody Architects
dot com.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
So that's that's r O D E Architects dot correct.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
And do you know why it's Roady?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I was going to ask, but then I decided not
to ask, But now I want to know why is it?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
So I think.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Maybe not the hardest thing of starting a firm or
enduring a firm, but one of the.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Things is complicated is creating a name for the firm.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And so it is the last letters of our last name,
So Robinson, our people are D E mashed up in
a cool way that we think represents UH sort of
the ideals of what we're looking at.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
So that's where Roady comes from.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Not Concert Roady, but just Kevin and Eric Rudy Okay's
got it. Roady Architects Okay, r O D E Architects
dot com. Kevin and Eric. It has been wonderful chatting
with you. Thank you for the education and UH enjoy
this year. I hope it brings you all sorts of
fun new opportunities.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Thank you, Nicole, Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Have a safe and healthy weekend, and please join us
again next week for another edition of the show. I'm
Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend,
where each and every week we come together right here
we talk about all the topics important to you and
the place where you live. It is always good to
be with you, and it's good to be back with
you again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. Now, if you
live in the Boston area, you probably know firsthand that
the housing market is so tight. I think this city
(00:28):
itself is something like one or two percent vacancy. It
is really difficult to move with that. There's a lot
of conversation about new construction and all the factors that
go into it, affordability, making sure the neighborhood character doesn't change,
making sure that rats don't get tug up all over
the place, so on and so forth. There is another
major factor, though, to consider, and that is climate change.
(00:50):
Here in New England. Experts say it is making an
impact faster than anywhere else in the country, so our
architecture has to respond in kind. Roady Architects was founded
by two friends who put sustainability first in all their projects,
everything from hotels to apartments to breweries. Let's learn a
bit more now about their process. Eric Robinson, Kevin Diebler
here to tell us all about it. Guys, thank you
(01:12):
so much for your time. And Eric, I will start
with you. What brought you two together to create this company.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I feel like we've we've tried to tell the story
many times, and I feel like it's fairly similar most
of the times.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
But Kevin and I met back in undergraduate.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Studies at ets State back in the i'll say in
the nineties, nineteen hundred seven, and you know, we were
we were classmates and and sort of part of the
same studio group that went through undergraduate and you know,
(01:53):
that's the sort of basis, and then sort of took
a little bit different paths maybe, and but then both
ended up in Boston a handful of years later with
different things in between, and really kept the friendship together.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
We were our class was very close.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
We have other architect friends that are around in the Northeast,
but Kevin and I stayed friends. And then at some
point in time we both ended up living in Dorchester
on the same street. And to that point, which was
in two thousand, basically to that point we hadn't worked together.
(02:36):
We were just personal friends. And you know, I think
as as we lived together and working in our separate jobs,
but having personal connections with our families and starting young
families in Dorchester kind of got to a point where,
you know, I think we really were i'll say maxed
(02:58):
out at our previous Employerloyees employers, and we're looking for
something different and a change, and it was sort of
a magical moment of hey, why don't we try to
start a firm that is maybe a little bit different
than some of the other things and some of our
other experiences.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
And it really was built out.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Of living in Dorchester, living on the same street, wanting
to make our neighborhood better, and having many years of
being part of our community groups and our little planning
board of the Sabine Hill Dorchester area, feeling like we
can do better for our own neighborhood. And that's really
(03:44):
where it started. We just kind of opened up our
sort of eyes and ears and mouths and talked our
neighbors and started helping around the community with different aspects
of project types, some tiny, small and some you know,
had a little more interesting kind of i'll say, you know,
(04:07):
results with some of the local nonprofits and and you
know what, we kind of I think came to this
conclusion is that we can run a firm that's different.
It can be very respectful of the communities we're working in.
Since we were working in our own community, we can
do a better job of communicating to the neighbors and
(04:31):
butters of what we're doing, why we're doing it.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
And that really seemed to.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Let down some of the kind of typical guards of
working in communities and where people are either nervous about
change or or.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Don't understand change, and you know, and.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Became a very nice dialogue with our own community that
while we not everybody might love everything, we the real
goal was to make our neighborhood and our community better.
And I think we learned a lot about each other
from a professional standpoint. We learned a lot about what
(05:12):
each of our ideals are and they were very in line,
i will say.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And you know, coming out of.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
That, we were able to take this idea and it's
just translated, i'll say, very nicely over the last eighteen
years to touch most of New England in some way.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Since we're doing a.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Lot of working in Boston and Greater Boston and Cambridge,
and but we're now working in New Hampshire and Maine
and you know, down to New York and some other things.
And so we see this message resonates with communities and
clients that want to be able to do good work
(05:57):
in the in you know, in the communities that we're
all living.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So yeah, and you talk about community knowing that you've
been in Boston a long time. This makes it easier
for me to ask you this question because I've lived
in Boston a long time as well, and our city
is struggling with a housing crisis. We just do not
have enough space. I think it's like ninety nine percent
of the city of Boston is booked up. You can't
(06:20):
find a place to go. And I also appreciate that
the city of Boston is very forward thinking when it
comes to its climate goals and decarbonization, so on and
so forth. How has living in Boston? How are you
seeing the city? Kevin? I'd like you to answer this one.
How are you seeing the city evolve to meet the
moment when it comes to climate friendly, sustainable architecture or
(06:43):
do you think that we need more work to do
or we have more work to do?
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I think the city's policies and I'll include each of
the last few mayors. I'll say, I don't think there's
been a mayor that has been against climate goals. I
think that they have risen to.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
A point of.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
You know, law now obviously policy and doing development in
the city of Boston, you really have to be ready
with a solid strategy for for how you're going to
make your building resilient, how you're going to make your
building sustainable. And I think that they have, you.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Know, risen to that challenge.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And it's it's been something that's obviously kind of an
awkward dance between you know, city goals and aspirations and
the development slash business community, which I think is more
of a probably you know, making this too broad, but
like an American phenomenon of building fast and just building
(07:52):
to get it done. So I think that you know,
folks need to really understand how to do you know,
sustain ability in building in today's technology, and so I
think that the city has has made it the goal.
A lot of times. It had it started as a
(08:12):
suggestion like why don't you look at these programs or
why don't you try this, and oh, there's a rebate here,
and there's a rebate there. Now I think that folks
are starting to see it in.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
A different light.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
The market is catching up and demanding this. I think
that even if you're in a position to build deeply
affordable housing for those with a very low income, which
is important, I think you can't really do it and
lower the standard and say, oh, well, you don't get sustainability,
(08:49):
you're just lucky to have a home. It is both
you have to achieve, you know, both goals and aspirations
and our you know, this is where the kind of
like proud Bostonian comes out. Now that Eric and I
maybe have transplanted from a different place, but being from
Boston and you are a smart person, you know, let's
(09:11):
just say that, like you're you're smarter than the average
person in the country. But like, I think that we
also have a lot of pride in the fact that
we've been at this for a long time. You know,
even from where we were studying in North Carolina, we
learned about how to design something in the in a
(09:32):
passive mindset that you can orient things, you can do
things that don't cost any money that just really are
the way you should make a building work. But we're
probably getting off track with your main question.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
But the you know, uh, the world.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Has has advanced and there are more tools available to
designers to understand the science and use data and how
you put buildings together. We're automatically designing everything with a
computer model, so it's just.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
A couple more steps.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
It sounds easy, but it takes a little bit of learning.
But at this point, we're we've learned how to ride
the bike and deliver these buildings with less effort than
they used to be. However, we've learned quite a bit
about making our buildings uh sustainable, and you know, we
(10:34):
really try to make sure that we're above and beyond
what's being asked of us.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
And you bring up a really good point there with
your Passive House award that you just won. So we're
gonna touch on that in just a few minutes. But
I also think that when people hear sustainable buildings, they
either think, a it's not going to be pretty, or
it's not going to be easily liveable, or or b
they think it's going to be super expensive. And you know, Eric,
(11:00):
tell me a little bit about how you can kind
of debunk those myths, because that's not the case.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It's definitely not the case.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I mean, there's some aspects of it that might have
some more cost on enough front basis, but I think
what we strive to do is think about longevity and
life cycle costing and thinking about the long haul. I mean,
the majority of our developers, especially our affordable housing developers,
(11:29):
are in it for the long haul, and so creating
those type of stable buildings from a sustainable sustainable perspective,
it's crucial to their kind of model and their sort
of idea, and you know, we have a handful of
them that really they think about sustainability from a holistic
(11:52):
standpoint where they want buildings that are yes, environmentally sustainable
from every aspect of you know, the way it's built,
in the walls and the materials we use, which is
all fairly standard mainstream practice now. But what they are
also thinking about is the residents and their buildings that
live there that are on fixed incomes and sort of
(12:15):
don't have the ability to manage spikes in their disposable income.
So these buildings that are built more sustainably have kind
of a more consistent impact on their income or their expenditures. So,
you know, I think that's a really progressive way to
think about sustainability on a bigger picture.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
And you know that's frankly.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
That's the kind of clients that we are really seeking
out and that are seeking us because.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
We can bring those two things together.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And do you know, use our design skills because you
mentioned earlier, you know that we're running out of sites
and and that's true.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
And Kevin and I.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Both you know, when we went undergrad we learned about
sort of these basic principles that he mentioned, but those
aren't always applicable to certainly the city of Boston because
of the shapes of our sites, the locations of our sites,
the way that they work.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
We have to be.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
More creative as designers on how to address all the
issues that we're talking about with regardless sustainability, we have
to address all the issues that we are dealing with
when we're working in the communities to understand well.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Why are you building so big or what are you doing?
And you know, we have to explain that and then
what we.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Do try to do is make sure it comes along
with an understanding of why we're doing these things and
what can the community benefit from new buildings in their neighborhood,
Not just negative. We think there's positive impacts to infrastructure,
better sidewalks, better public realms. Those things are the responsibility
(14:02):
of buildings and developers, no matter if they're affordable or
market when they go into the communities that we're serving.
And so I think kind of bringing those items and
those aspects together in through the dialogue of an entitlements
or a public process really brings that to the forefront.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
And if to me, it makes it we ensure that.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
The community understands sort of the different aspects and the
pressures on the project. And you know, it's not always
about just the greedy developer. That's not that's just not
the reality. It's really expensive and difficult to build in
the city of Boston, and you know, I think we
have to embrace that this is moving our city forward.
(14:47):
And that's something that I think Kevin and I both
believe in our souls that development and building is the
way to make our city better. And building, you know,
as of now and current using the tools we.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Have, is really the path to do that move forward.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
And it's all about responsibility and sustainability, which you channel
as an architect. And I know when it comes to
responsibility for the community, as long as the community is
taken care of as long as you know, these buildings
are affordable and the city can stay in the city,
you know, because a lot of people in Boston are
getting pushed out because it's simply unaffordable to live there.
(15:28):
But also something that I think about too, we have
such a rich history in Boston. What have the many
reasons people love to be here is the history. And Kevin,
how do you take that history, those beautiful historical like
the brick buildings we have and all the different facades,
how are you able to take those in your work
and make them sustainable or even how do you embrace
history in Boston in your work.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
It's one of the reasons that kind of inspired me
to be an architect. I mean, before North Carolina, I've
actually live farther north and just always love Boston for
the exact reason. I mean, I think you know, if
you travel to Europe, you realize every one of the
cities has some kind of like medieval center and you're like, wow,
(16:13):
the Romans really did a lot, and then come back
to Boston and move around the country. You know, our
city has that sort of basis of of kind of
like something original, unique, yet there was like the Hancock.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Tower that's been here and it's just.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
This glassy, powerful thing that stood by itself for a
long time right next to Trinity Chapel. And you know
that that is just a wild kind of like here's
an architectural We're just a position of two different things,
you know, And that that is what sort of like
(16:51):
inspired uh inspires inspired me. And I know I'm not
the only one who sees these things and like, wow,
that's pretty cool. You can see there were election and
you know, so I think that we just really try
to celebrate the moment. We don't want our buildings to
look like they're from eighteen hundreds or even the nineteen
(17:11):
hundreds at this point.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
No, So I think that we love having actually that
rich history. Like one of our perfect scenarios would be like,
you know, a really amazingly important historic building and then
an empty site next to it, and we have to
come up with something new today that feels like it
(17:36):
fits in, like it maybe it was meant to be there.
That is that's an amazing design and creative challenge that
we you know, we really love love doing. And if
you come to our office someday, we all invite you here.
Now you'll see models are everywhere, and we kind of
look and try to use those kind of old world
(17:58):
methods to sort of make sure that our.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Our buildings are going.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
To feel and fit right in their context. And it
is something we've been doing a lot since we started. Uh,
every every neighborhood in the city has that kind of
like opportunity too. It's not just Deacon Hill or Charles Street,
it's you know, West Roxbury and Lower Mills in Dorchester
(18:26):
and and all these kind of like really amazing pocket
neighborhoods that have these these opportunities. So I think that
making them sustainable also is like you shouldn't there shouldn't
be a building that looks that would would give it away.
It's sustainable secrets, you know. I think that now it
(18:46):
really is possible to kind of like use any type
of style or aesthetic that you you feel like using,
just understand how to keep the air out and keep
the air sealed and put the kinds of systems into
that building that are going to be be robust over over.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
The life of the building. You know.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I think the when we when we work in the
neighborhoods and you know, they all have their own identities
and pressures and you know, concerns and feedback and all that.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
You know, we do do a.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Fairly a large amount of analysis and understanding of kind
of the historical context, and that has a big range, right,
it can be like history, older buildings, but it also
can be you know, mid.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Century buildings and things.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And I think we do we try to really understand
things like proportions and and different kind of cues in
the neighborhood that create the scale or or whatever it
might be that's attractive or comfortable for people. But the
reality of it is, you know, we lived differently than
(19:58):
we did back then, or the chain changes of use
of the buildings are real, and so you know, how
do we embrace kind of contemporary or modern ways that
we live and work. And then you know, layer that
onto sustainability, which is is a real, you know, a
piece to think about. Things are going to look a
(20:18):
little different. But I think what we try to do
is make sure that we're not mimicking, as Kevin said,
historic history, but we're building today. But we can use
it as a canvas or sort of a guide or
framework to help us locate or design things that can
we believe fit as designers, but they fit as of today, not.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Sort of something in the past.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
And so you know, that is kind of the to
be honest, the really nice i'll say, architectural dialogue when
we're in the communities, to try to get our kind
of approach and our thought process out into the public discussion,
because that is where I think we really been able
to create a level of trust and understanding that like, hey,
(21:04):
these guys are actually trying to do the right thing
by us, and let's let's give them the benefit of
the sort of discussion.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
And you know, I believe that.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Our early days of being a being willing to risk,
you know, seeing.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Our neighbors at the local coffee store and get an
ear full of.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
But I think we're you know, we still work in
our neighborhoods. So and we love it, you know, we
love the opportunities to do that, but there is a
little bit of if you can do it in your
own neighborhood and stand by it, yeah, you're you know,
you're you're earning it, right, and and we don't take
any of that for granted. And I think we've really
appreciated the education we've gotten in sort of working in
(21:52):
the sort of different neighborhoods, and it's it's been really
a pretty interesting and uh and.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Challenging and sometimes times arride, but I think it's rewarding
all together.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
And our staff who is amazing, and you know, we're
so lucky that they show up every day and you know,
there's forty of them plus out there now and where
it was really.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Just Kevin and I dropping out what we're going to do,
you know, But I think.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
The goals and the mission has been very much embraced
by our staff and they get what we're trying to do.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
And I think that's where we're really proud of, you know,
the place we are at.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
So I do want to hear about your major award.
It's from that movie Christmas Story or whatever. A major
award Bruce Wood Holmes Passive House project. Kevin, What is that?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
What did you do?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Tell me about it?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (22:46):
That is actually three homes we did and we finished
them around twenty twenty two, and that was part of
a you know, second third project.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
With one of our clients. Is a kind of a
nice theme there.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Dimitri Baskin, he had purchased these lots and they really
could could fit only three single families. We do a
lot of multi but we looked into using a passive
house UH standard to build that. We didn't really know
(23:28):
at that time that none had ever been actually built
and certified in the city of Boston. So we took
it upon it ourselves. And you'd have to understand Dimitri
very driven developer, a great builder himself, so a builder
uh and developer owner uh. And it's kind of neat
(23:51):
that these were respect homes and uh they were built
without an owner, and they were designed with this idea
that they're probably going to be people that really want
this passive house. So we took it upon ourselves to
learn the system and build it.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
And doing three of.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Them at the same time was kind of interesting because
we could we could adjust exactly how we were doing
it with each home as it was coming together. But
you know, people on our team kept went out there
and helped build it. Some some days we had these
these sessions where everyone came out and we we helped
put the insulation on the building, and you know, we
(24:32):
just really took it as a learning challenge and I
think by the by the fact, and once we started
to kind of like see we could corner this like
claim that we were the first certified passive house of
the city, it really became kind of a special notion
for that project. Plus it's a cool part of our work.
(24:53):
And then we really liked how it turned out, had
fun designing them, did all those things that Eric and
I were talking about, trying to make them it in
with the roof pitches and not feel totally out of place,
although there are a lot of different materials we use
on there, and Metropolis really is a great design publication.
(25:15):
So we're just honored to win something that actually has international,
you know, kind of credibility. So I'm very proud of
that well.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
And I'm proud of you as well. That's wonderful news.
So if people want to get connected to the work
you're doing over at Roady, if they want to maybe
talk with you about a future project, they just want
to gag at your stuff on social media, Eric, how
can they find you?
Speaker 2 (25:38):
They can come visit us because Kevin and I are
here basically every day with our office where we're fully
in office staff, so it's kind of cool. And we
have a website and we have all our social media.
Roady Architects dot Com is our website, and you know,
(26:00):
all our contact information is readily.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Available and we're active on all.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
The social media platforms as well, and I think it's
really important and it's hard actually to keep up with it,
but to get our messaging out it makes it. It's
awesome for us and our staff to be able to
get the recognition. And you know, I think Kevin's right,
these awards are you know, we don't set.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Out to sea to get an award for things.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And you know, we've been the last handful of years,
we've been really lucky to receive a bunch of different kinds.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Of awards for our work.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And I think it goes to show that, you know,
early on when we were like, hey, we can do
something different, we're starting to sort of see the fruits
of that labor for us taking the chance to do it,
but also our staff and the commitment to it. So
we'd love to talk to anybody and feel free to
reach out and we would love to say hi, and
(26:57):
we will answer our phones.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
That's one thing.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Just actually finished our new website www. Dot Rody Architects
dot com.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
So that's that's r O D E Architects dot correct.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
And do you know why it's Roady?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I was going to ask, but then I decided not
to ask, But now I want to know why is it?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
So I think.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Maybe not the hardest thing of starting a firm or
enduring a firm, but one of the.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Things is complicated is creating a name for the firm.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And so it is the last letters of our last name,
So Robinson, our people are D E mashed up in
a cool way that we think represents UH sort of
the ideals of what we're looking at.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
So that's where Roady comes from.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Not Concert Roady, but just Kevin and Eric Rudy Okay's
got it. Roady Architects Okay, r O D E Architects
dot com. Kevin and Eric. It has been wonderful chatting
with you. Thank you for the education and UH enjoy
this year. I hope it brings you all sorts of
fun new opportunities.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Thank you, Nicole, Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Have a safe and healthy weekend, and please join us
again next week for another edition of the show. I'm
Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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