Proposed Allston residential building would be topped with veggies

The Boston Real Estate Collaborative has filed plans to build a 54-unit residential building at 44 North Beacon St. in Allston's Union Square that would feature a mix of apartments and condos, a courtyard and a rooftop vegetable garden atop the seventh floor.

The 54,000-square-foot building would feature 38 apartments and 16 condos - with a total of 12 three-bedroom units and 35 parking spaces.

About 20% of the 0.4-acre site, which now houses an ambulance garage, would become open, planted space, the company says, adding that it is planning a series of decks with native plantings and that it would top the building with a farm for a "a hyper-local Community Supported Agriculture program."

Historically, Boston has been a mix of brick and wood framed construction that are the core of the pleasant, approachable residential districts of Boston. The building design, along with the landscape, will provide a transitional interpretation of the brick and wood material palette that contributes to the place-making of the neighborhood and local context. The building incorporates setbacks, changes in wall plane, and sensible uses of different materials that creates a dynamic and approachable fenestration strategy.

The street facing three-story components will be comprised of a neutral- colored brick base with extensive use of warm, vertically oriented wood louvers on the second and third floors. Large windows in the second and third floors will be masked by the wood louvers, which not only create a dynamic façade from street view but also provide shading and privacy for the residents.

While wood and masonry provide a transitional vernacular to the streetscape, the mid-rise mass in the rear will employ a light, neutral-colored recessed metal panel system that mimics the vertical fenestration of the shorter three-story components. The metal panel system is extremely durable and subtle; providing a neutral backdrop to the more expressive three and five story components. The wide range of readily available colors, textures, and shapes will allow the natural wood and masonry elements of the lower portion of the three and five story masses to come to the foreground, while the recessed design of the metal panel system will ensure that the mid-rise still provides an architectural quality to the fenestration.

The company hopes to began an estimated two years of construction in the winter of 2019.

44 North Beacon project-notification form.