Client: Napier Residents

Location: Boston, MA, United States

Completion date: 2017

Artwork budget: $100,000

Project Team

Artist

Jacob Kulin

KULIN MODERN

Landscape Architect

Jon Pate

Pate Landscape Architecture

Industry Resource

Alex Morena

Smith & Sons Machine Inc.

Overview

Perched five stories above the streets of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, this roof deck—actually three distinct spaces spread out over nearly 2,000 square feet—had the potential to be an urban treasure. NewEnglandHOME Mag.-

Goals

The main difficulty was working around the mechanicals.
Dryer vents, condensers, and the other not-so attractive accoutrement of modern living dotted the roof. We needed something that would take your eye off the utilities but allow air flow. Landscape architect, Jon Pate and sculptor Jacob Kulin collaborated to create panels of high-grade aluminum with an intriguing asymmetric honeycomb lattice pattern. NewEnglandHOME Mag.-

Process

Behind each aluminum panel, an acrylic sheet with a cut pattern offers both additional screening and the opportunity for ambience-enhancing lighting effects. A plan by lighting designer Sergio Mazon, with controls by South Shore Audio Video, lets the homeowners create effects to match any mood or occasion. Adding to the challenge: everything from the panels and lighting to the plants selected by garden designer Mark Corbin to the extra-heavy furniture Pate chose had to be hoisted by crane. NewEnglandHOME Mag.-

Additional Information

A Herculean task, to be sure, but a group effort that yielded spectacular results.