A sign on the door of Dudley Dough, a soon-to-be opened cafe on the ground floor of Boston's recently inaugurated Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, advertises 'pizza, coffee, and economic justice.' This improbable menu gives a clue to the larger goals behind the construction of the 215,000-square-foot, six-story structure completed this past spring. The $96 million building, which is the administrative headquarters for Boston Public Schools (BPS), was first conceived about a decade ago by the late mayor Thomas Menino to help rejuvenate Dudley Square—the once-thriving commercial center of the city's Roxbury neighborhood.

One could hardly imagine a more challenging spot for such an urban-revitalization project. The client's roughly triangular block is bordered on two sides by traffic-filled streets and by a busy bus station on the third. And until it was rerouted in the late 1980s, an elevated train rumbled through the site. Although the tracks had been demolished long before Netherlands-based Mecanoo and local firm Sasaki Associates were hired as the architects in 2011, leaving the lot largely open, it was not a clean slate. Three late 19th-century structures occupied the property. At the northern corner was the five-story Ferdinand Building'a landmarked former furniture store with a graceful, but severely deteriorated, bowed facade of blond brick, granite, and terra-cotta confections. Two more modest four-story storefronts'the red brick Curtis Building and the granite Waterman Building'sat at the southwest corner.

Originally, the Bolling project, named after the first black president of the city council'a champion of investment in Roxbury'encompassed only the Ferdinand. But the team convinced the city that, in order to achieve the kind of transformation it envisioned, it was important to incorporate the other two.

The team opted to retain only the facades of the three historic buildings, in part to satisfy BPS's desire for open and flexible interiors but also because the structures were in very poor condition. At the Ferdinand, for example, stomping hard enough could have created holes in its shallow-arched floor slabs, says Jimmy Su, senior structural engineer with Arup. Saving the facades meant maintaining their stability during demolition and carefully weaving in a new permanent structure of steel framing and composite slabs on metal deck. The restoration work also entailed removing decades of grime, matching mortar, and recreating or repairing damaged ornamentation.

As the primary material for the new parts of the building skin, the architects chose a subtly reflective brown iron-spot brick in three different textures'smooth, a rough wirecut, and an almost bumpy artisan.

The new brick meets the old facades but steps back at angles, curving around corners as the building rises and culminating in a mechanical penthouse that is dramatically illuminated at night. This brick is laid in several patterns, including stacked bond between the windows and subtly corbeled spandrels of running bond and angled soldier courses. 'The older buildings have a tremendous amount of detail,' says Victor Vizgaitis, a Sasaki principal. 'We wanted to respect that idea of craft.'

Given the brickwork's complexity, the team placed relieving angles at each floor. The strategy provided bricklayers with much-needed adjustability. It also allowed the architects to stagger the windows'which range in width from 16 to 40 inches'so that neither the windows nor the two-brick-wide piers between them line up from level to level. The resulting skin has a delicacy sympathetic to the historic facades but with a 'jazzy' rhythm, says Francine Houben, Mecanoo's creative director.

Less successful is the treatment of the building's south and southwest corners. There the architects chose rough ashlar granite from the same quarry that the 19th-century craftsmen used on the Waterman. Sasaki and Mecanoo combined the stone with large glazed openings and smaller ones that mimic the rhythm of the windows on the new brick portions of Bolling. The intent was to assert, or 'grab,' the site's three corners and then tie them together 'in a sculptural way, with the brick as cement,' explains Houben. However, the new stone facades look like a mash-up of traditional load-bearing masonry and Modernist fenestration.

These caveats shouldn't detract from the design team's considerable accomplishments, including creating flexible and comfortable workspace for the BPS staff. The offices have basic finishes, like carpet tile and suspended ceilings, but are intelligently laid out to make the most of the odd-shaped footprint: easily reconfigurable cubicles are placed near the building perimeter, while conference rooms, private offices, and small enclosed spaces for collaborative work are located within cores. Cove lighting washes the walls'enlivening the few areas with little access to daylight.

The office floors, on levels three through six, are reached through the handsome double-story lobby, with its black terrazzo floor and a ceiling of birch-wood slats. A generously proportioned stair that doubles as informal seating leads to a mezzanine level with a school-committee room that can be reserved for cultural and community activities, as well as to the Roxbury Innovation Center, a business incubator. The top floor also features spaces for both the public and BPS staff, including meeting rooms and, at the prow of Ferdinand, a roof deck with a view of downtown Boston.

Arguably, the public amenity that has the potential to make the biggest impact on the vibrancy of Bolling's surroundings is its street-level retail. So far, five of the six spaces have been leased to businesses that include an optician, a clothing store, and Dudley Dough. This caf' will be run by Haley House'a nonprofit with a bakery training program for underemployed men and women. Houben says she was worried at first that Bolling would be 'just an office building.' But with its social justice goals, preservation of history, and revival of craft, it appears poised to become much more.

Boston Bricks with a Dutch Touch

Courtesy Mecanoo

People Client/User: Boston Public Schools Client/Owner: Property & Construction Management Department, City of Boston Architect: Sasaki Associates, Inc. 64 Pleasant Street Watertown MA 02472 USA t: 1.617.926.3300 f: 1.617.924.2748 Mecanoo architecten Oude Delft 203, 2611HD Delft, The Netherlands T. +31 15 279 8100 Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit: Francine M. J. Houben, Friso van der Steen, Fedele Canosa, Marta Maria Roy Torrecilla, Luuk van Wijlick, Richard Hagg, Louise Bjørk, Eduardo Garcia Diaz, Conxa Gene Garcia, Ines De Almeida Lourenco, Alberto Seller, Mecanoo project team; Fiske Crowell, Victor Vizgaitis, Elizabeth Meek, Steve Hamwey, Sasaki project team Architect of record: Sasaki Associates, Inc. Associate architect(s): Mecanoo architecten Interior designer: Sasaki Associates, Inc. Engineers Civil: Sasaki Associates, Inc. Structural: ARUP MEP/FP: ARUP Geotechnical: McPhail Associates Consultant(s): Landscape: Sasaki Associates, Inc. Historic Preservation: Building Conservation Associates Environmental: Weston & Sampson Lighting: LAM Partners Acoustical: Cavanaugh Tocci Associates AV: ACT Associates Construction Manager at Risk/General Contractor: Shawmut Design and Construction Photographer(s): Anton Grassl/ESTO PH: 914-698-4060 Size: 215,000 square feet Construction cost: $96 million Completion date: March 2015

Products Structural system Steel frame with composite concrete deck Exterior cladding Masonry: Endicott Medium Ironspot #46 Metal/glass curtain wall: Historic Façade: EFCO System 5900 New Façade: Kawneer 1600 Wall System, Kawneer Clearwall Moisture barrier: Carlisle Fire Resist 705FR Other cladding unique to this project: GFRP Cornice on Historic Facade: Duro Fiber Company, Inc. Roofing Elastomeric: Versico VersiFlex PVC Membrane LiveRoof Vegetated Roof Modules Windows Wood frame: Curved Round Windows in Historic Facade: Duratherm Window Corporation. Metal frame: Windows in Historic Façade: Graham Architectural Products Series 1500/S1500 Glazing Glass: Guardian SunGuard Doors Entrances: Historic Façade: EFCO D500 New Façade: Kawneer 500 Metal doors: Curries Wood doors: Eggers Industries Sliding doors: Stanley Dura-Glide 3000 Fire-control doors: Won-Door Fireguard 90 Security grilles: Wayne-Dalton Overhead Doors: Cornell Folding Partitions: Hufcor Hardware Locksets: Sargent Closers: Sargent Exit devices: Sargent Pulls: Rockwood Manufacturing Security devices: Continental Access w/ HID Card Readers Interior finishes Acoustical ceilings: Armstrong Ultima Tegular Suspension grid: Armstrong Silhouette XL ¼” Reveal 9/16” Bolt Slot Demountable partitions: KI Genius Walls Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: Beech finish, millwork manufactured by Legere Woodworking Paints and stains: Sherwin Williams Paneling: Beech finish, millwork manufactured by Legere Woodworking Plastic laminate: Pionite Solid surfacing: LG Hi-Macs (in open office); Formica (in bathrooms); HanStone Contempo (in pantries) Floor and wall tile (cite where used): Casalgrande (Bathroom floors and accent wall); Daltile (Bathroom walls, Pantry wet walls; upper public floor); Crossville Laminam (elevator lobby walls) Resilient flooring: Forbo Flotex (open and private offices, conference rooms) Armstrong Bio Based Tile (circulation spaces); Johnonsite Slimline + Roppe Pinnacle (wall base) Terrazzo: DePaoli Mosaic Company Furnishings Office furniture: Knoll Dividends and Knoll Reff Reception furniture: Landscape Forms – Chipman Chair and Parc Centre Table Chairs: Task Chair – Knoll Generation and Regeneration Stacking Chair – Hightower Four Cast Conference Chair – Allsteel Clarity Tables: Prismatique – 2Merge Falcon – Symetris and 800 Series Herman Miller – Everywhere Table, Tavolo Table Tuohy – Zi Custom Upholstery: Bernhardt – Mirador Sofa, Apel Ottoman Andreu World – Agora, RDL Lounge Chair Keilhauer – Celia Davis – Radius Lighting Interior ambient lighting: Corelite Jaylum; SSL eCOVELINE; Neo-Ray Downlights: BASYS LED; Bruck Track lighting Accent Rails: Architectural Lighting Works Task lighting: Knoll Copeland Light Exterior: Bega; Lumenpulse Lumenfacade Conveyance Elevators: Delta Beckwith Elevator Company Controller:  Motion Control Engineering Inc. Power Unit:  Hollister Whitney Elevator Corp. Fixtures:  Monitor Controls Door Equipment:  GAL Manufacturing Cab: Elevator Interior Design Inc. Entrances: Gunderlin Plumbing Kohler Bannon Service Sink Fiat Mop Service Basin Kohler Bardon Undermount Group SS Sink Congeniality Group SS Sink Kohler Kingston Kohler Brenham Halsey Taylor Water Cooler Oasis Water Cooler Temptroll II Shower Sloan Solis solar powered hand washing faucets Energy Energy management or building automation system: Siemens