King Open / Cambridge Street Upper School and Community Complex One of 10 Winners of Urban Land Institute's 2023 Awards for Excellence

The King Open / Cambridge Street Upper School and Community Complex has been selected as one of 10 winners of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) 2023 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence.

ULI began the Awards for Excellence program in 1979 and it is one of the most prestigious awards in real estate. It recognizes superior development efforts in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Winning projects represent the highest standards of achievement in the land use profession and encompass a wide range of land uses, sizes, investments, and geographic locations. This year’s winners were selected out of 68 projects and programs from across the Americas region. The project criteria included design, planning, technology, amenities, management, community engagement, innovation, and sustainability, among others.

The King Open / Cambridge Street Upper School and Community Complex was not the only Cambridge development to be recognized. Cambridge Crossing was also selected as an award winner. The other winners were from Seattle, Oklahoma City, San Francisco, Vancouver, New York, Tampa, and Merced, California.

Designed by William Rawn Associates with Arrowstreet Inc., this project was the first Net Zero Emissions and first LEED v4 Platinum school in Massachusetts. It was also recognized in the “Low-Carbon Development” category. The 74,070 square foot photo-voltaic array on the roof achieves 60% on-site power generation with the balance provided by purchased green power. In addition, the project is 100% electric, resulting in both a carbon and emissions free building. The complex includes the Gold Star Pool and the Valente Branch Library, which offers over 10,000 square feet of space.

The winners of the ULI Americas Awards for Excellence become finalists for the 2023 ULI Global Awards for Excellence, competing against projects from the Europe and Asia Pacific regions.

“This latest recognition is a testament to the many years of work and thoughtfulness that went into the design and planning of the project,” said Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang. “It is a transformational building that has been an amazing asset to our community.”

“This year’s ULI Americas Awards for Excellence winners represent a diverse group of projects that share in common a responsiveness to the needs in our communities,” said Ben Tranel, principal at global architecture firm Gensler and chair of the 2023 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence jury. “Our built environment reflects our values and priorities, and the final award winners demonstrate innovation and excellence in the criteria established for the award.  It was a privilege and an honor to work with my fellow jurors and the amazing team at ULI to select these winners from among all the well-qualified finalists.”

In January 2023, a jury convened by the Boston Society of Architects/AIA awarded the King Open / Cambridge Street Upper School and Community Complex with the 2022 Harleston Parker People's Choice Award, which recognizes “the most beautiful piece of architecture, building, monument, or structure built in the metropolitan Boston area in the past 10 years.

To read more about the King Open / Cambridge Street Upper School and Community Complex, please read this past issue of The Cambridge Life magazine.

View a video of the early design phases of this project.