From Box to Building: Modular At The Graphic
The Graphic is a unique project in Charlestown’s busy Sullivan Square.
It consists of 2 buildings: the first is an adaptive reuse of the old Graphic Arts warehouse into 46 units of housing. The second is the construction of a modular residential building, currently the largest modular building in Boston.
The Graphic is a safer, cleaner, quieter, faster, more sustainable way to build. With forward-thinking developer Berkeley Investments, savvy architect ICON, and adept fabricator RCM, the team is more than 50% finished stacking boxes.
The Graphic’s Modular Building
The modular component of The Graphic is 4 stories of multifamily housing on a steel and concrete podium with a parking garage beneath. 125 units, amenity spaces, and corridors are fabricated by RCM. Throughout the last three weeks, these modular boxes have been trucked to Charlestown and are now being stacked. The team is averaging about fourteen boxes per-day.
Local residents are amazed by the swiftness of the operation, noting they drove by in the evening to see a building that wasn’t there that morning. That’s the true beauty of modular. Less noise, less disruption, increased quality, increased speed.
Tocci’s Modular Experience
Tocci has developed modular expertise over 2 decades:
- Its first project, the VNA Senior Living in Somerville, was a 96-unit senior living complex completed in 2000.
- Next, Tocci finished Park87, a 73,400 sf building in Cambridge; 75 modular boxes created 54 residential units.
- Tocci then built Chelsea Place, an 80,000 sf residential with 70 modular units on a structural steel and concrete parking podium.
Experience from these projects more than qualifies Tocci to partner with a knowledgeable developer, architect, and fabricator to build the largest modular project in Boston.
from box to building – the graphic’s modular process:
The experienced crew lifts the box into place with a crane while workers in lifts guide them to their destination.
Structural connections are made to secure them in place, and then next boxes are ready to fly.
Moving forward, the Graphic’s team and its subcontractors button up the modules, make inter-box connections, and complete the building finishes.
The flexibility to this set-up is a great asset – it allows for multi-bedrooms or public areas (like a fitness center).
Boxes come complete with drywall, cabinets, rough MEPs, lighting, showers, and even tile flooring.