January 2008

Poulin + Morris Completes WGBH Headquarters Located in Boston, Massachusetts

In 2004, construction began on WGBH's new state-of-the-art headquarters calling for the consolidation of 12 buildings into a 2-building, 290,000-square-foot complex, which houses production facilities, offices, and a technical operations center for television and radio broadcast studios.

Poulin + Morris was responsible for a comprehensive environmental graphics, wayfinding, and donor recognition program for this new LEED accredited building. The designers used a combination of large-scale imagery, typography, and video/digital displays to emphasize the WGBH brand. Wall murals featuring characters from well known WGBH produced programs, including Bob Vila, Jim Henson's Sesame Street Muppets, and Julia Child, mark both public and non-public spaces.

One unique feature of this project is a 30-foot-high, digital façade which features changing images from broadcasts of public television programs. Most of the façade's imagery is concentrated at the north end of a glass-skinned, 2-story, 250-foot-wide "connector" that unites the new studio structure with an existing 7-story office tower located across the street. Narrow video strips are spaced along the curtain wall at various intervals toward the south. The connector serves as both a bridge between the 2 buildings and also contains one-third of the complex's office space.