When the only public-access rowing club on Boston’s Charles River required a new facility, Anmahian Winton Architects saw a chance to modernize the vocabulary of local rowing structures while taking inspiration from antecedents such as covered bridges and tobacco barns.
The team developed three types of functional cladding for the project. At the main boathouse, an assembly of composite panels with operable vents allows for natural ventilation. Patterned louvers on the south face mask mechanical vents, offer privacy for locker rooms, and induce natural cooling. At the adjacent sculling pavilion, glass shingles—held in custom extruded and fabricated aluminum clips—protect, ventilate, and display the smaller boats.
“It’s very rustic; it’s a hard environment, and they somehow softened it,” commented juror Cristobal Correa.
