"Coca-Cola Loft"

See the before and after photos.

128-132 Bucknam Street is a small commercial building of approximately 60'x40' on a 2,840 s.f. lot. The building sits on the corner in a residential neighborhood in Everett, Massachusetts, just north of Boston. It began it's life at the turn of the 20th century as three storefronts, which housed various tenants throughout the years such as a corner store (thus the Coca-Cola painting), tailor, local library branch, etc. A local upholstery company, McLoughlin, later bought the building and converted the three spaces into two spaces with an opening in between. The building was purchased from McLoughlin by BEXT in 2001. The residential side at 132 Bucknam Street became known as the "Coca-Cola loft" by Boston-Area real estate agents. BEXT was somewhat of a trailblazer, as no lofts existed in Everett at the time. The old Charleston Chew candy bar factory was converted into lofts soon afterwards.

Rezoning

To rezone the building, an approval from the zoning board of appeals in Everett was needed. Stamped plans from an architect are needed to rezone a space, and BEXT hired Eric Nelson Architects (ENA) for this job. As McLoughlin upholstery had twelve employees and only two parking spaces, the neighborhood had been very crowded with cars. The board of appeals recognized that this change would lessen the parking burden for the neighborhood, and the plans were approved.

Architecture

ENA kept the main McLoughlin division line between the spaces. Approximately 60% of the building was designated for 132, the residential side corner unit made up of the former sewing room and office. The remaining 40% was given to 128, the commercial side, the former construction room. No longer needing a passageway between the spaces, the wall opening was filled in and a firewall was created, including a fire door installed in the basement. Electric, gas, and HVAC were also separated out. Amongst the people in the ENA offices, the residential side of Bucknam Street was referred to as the "white loft" because BEXT specified everything to be white: from the concrete countertops by Ray Iacobacci, to the kitchen cabinets, walls and ceilings, and even a white-stained bamboo floor.

Kitchen

One of the most striking features of the ENA design is a 22 foot long countertop that spans and marries the kitchen and living room together. The countertop is a trapezoid - getting shorter and shorter as it enters the living room - but looks like a normal rectangle when viewed from the narrow end due to the foreshortening effect. Another feature of the kitchen is the original upholstery shelf which is partially suspended from the ceiling with steel rods. These shelves, which are also on the commercial side and the bedroom, were one of the few original upholstery shop features that were kept in place on the interior. In the kitchen these shelves were used as a mounting point for track lighting. In the bedroom a piece of existing shelving was joined to a new shelf supported by a new wall between living room and bedroom. Unlike the original office at McLoughlin, this new bedroom/living separation wall is installed at an angle, playing on the overall angle of the building, which itself is a parallelogram.

Design elements

Design ideas from the architects such as the glass panels between the bedroom and living room, and wooden beams crisscrossing underneath the skylight, were implemented in-house by BEXT. Later on, similar beams were used to create a dining table for the Limousine Garage Loft. 

Bathroom

The bathroom features a skylight above the shower, and a two-person soft soaking bathtub with jacuzzi jets (which BEXT had seen on a television commercial for Dupont). A wall hung toilet was chosen for ease of cleaning the floor and for an overall simpler look. Vermont slate tiles were installed in the bathroom (similar slate was later used on the Limousine garage project). BEXT designed the bathroom sink, and used left-over beams from the skylight design element to create the vanity base. The concrete sink was fabricated by Ray Iacobacci.

Glass Garage Door

McLoughlin had installed a 12 foot wide glass garage door to allow for the loading and unloading of furniture into the space. This door was kept in operable condition, allowing an opening to the living room. Privacy was achieved by adding frosted film to the glass. ENA's design included four large stage lights which can illuminate the garage door at night.

Basement

Unlike most city "apartment" lofts, being a stand-alone building has the advantage with this loft having its own back lot and full basement. BEXT utilized the basement space for ping pong and band rehearsals.

BEXT Interior Design

For the interior, BEXT hand-made their own shoji-inspired sliding doors for the living room bookshelves. In the bedroom, BEXT created solid panel sliders for the fourteen feet of closets. Chunky furniture being thrown away by MIT was given a new life in the living room. Kitchen cabinets were installed as bedside "tables".

Engineering

There were several projects needed to improve upon the overall infrastructure and building envelope at Bucknam Street.

Basement

In the basement, a full French Drain system with two sump pumps was installed for complete peace of mind against dampness and flooding. Therefore, carpet could be installed to increase the warmth of the floor without worry. A tankless gas hot water heater was installed for endless hot water. 

Firewall and Egress

When there is a division between a commercial space and residential space, a two-hour firewall is needed. This means that the dividing walls needs to have two layers of 5/8" drywall on each side, in the basement and upstairs. A steel fire door also needed to be installed in the basement for a second means of basement egress. For upstairs egress, the glass block window in the bedroom was replaced by an operable window.

HVAC and Roof

The commercial-style HVAC system was removed from the roof and new separate systems installed in the basements of each unit. The air return for the roof unit had been on the ceiling, meaning that in the heating months, it was not cold air that was returning to the unit. With the updated design, the return air could be near the cold floor which is more efficient. The basement had never been heated, so BEXT added heat to make it a more usable space.

The hot water heater was vented into the single chimney that was kept. Three other chimneys that were not in use were removed. The fewer roof penetrations the better!

The ceilings are so high that a "heat fan" was installed in the living room, which pulls hot air upwards towards the ceiling where it then cascades down again to those seated in the living room below during the winter months. "Up and over" is a surprisingly efficient (and non-intuitive) way to push hot air downwards! One would commonly think to run the blades of a fan so that they are pushing air downwards directly. 

With the old HVAC system and three chimneys gone, the old tarpaper roof was then replaced with a rubber roof.

Floor and Stairs

McLoughlin had installed steel columns and a glue laminate beam (shown painted white in the photos) between the former 130 Bucknam "middle unit" and 132 Bucknam (the former corner store) but left an inch and a half of unevenness between the floors. This was rectified by raising the floor of 130 Bucknam with two layers of 3/4" plywood before the bamboo flooring was installed. This necessitated redesigning the staircase to the basement. 

Roof Drains

McLoughlin had installed steel roof drains from the flat roof to the back lot which would freeze up in the winter time. The pipes exited near the roof line and went all the way down to within a foot of the asphalt lot. Whenever there was any snow cover this made the roof melt quickly ice up the entire drain line. The roof drains were redesigned with PVC to act more like scuppers at the roof level to avoid the freeze-ups.

Today

Today 132 Bucknam Street is https://www.artlabeverett.org/ and 128 Bucknam Street is a salon.