Amenta Emma’s new Boston studio occupies 4,929 RSF inside a converted timber warehouse at 285 Summer Street, a space that arrived with strong bones and a short list of real constraints.

Reuse drove the design from the first day rather than arriving as a value-engineering exercise at the end. Before anything new was specified, our team surveyed and cataloged every door, partition, and light fixture already in the space, then designed around that inventory. Existing wood doors and glass partitions were salvaged into the conference rooms and wellness room. Kitchen and copy area millwork, countertops, and backsplash stayed. Every light fixture was kept or relocated, and the open plan was proportioned around the workstations the studio already owned, which moved from the previous office rather than being replaced. Common area furniture came partly from a local vendor dealing in gently used office furnishings. New finishes, including carpet, paint, and cork flooring, were screened against the Human Health and Climate Health principles of the AIA Materials Pledge. The building’s heavy timber columns and wood ceiling set the tone, and planting locations were built into millwork, partitions, and shared areas at the outset rather than added afterward. A feature wall designed and built in-house from plotter paper tubes, a material every design firm otherwise recycles, now works as a modular display for models and samples.

This is the first project Amenta Emma has formally reported through the Materials Pledge, and the exercise changed more than one office. Screening every finish sharpened the materials library the firm recommends to clients, and the reuse inventory proved a method that scales well beyond a single tenant fit-out. The Boston team now works each day inside the standard the firm asks its clients to adopt, which is a more durable argument than any presentation slide.