Yawkey Distribution Center
Greater Boston Food Bank
Boston MA

Chan Krieger Sieniewicz provided planning, programming, design and permitting for the new Yawkey Distribution Center at the Greater Boston Food Bank, a 117,000 sf headquarters and food distribution warehouse facility that increased the capacity of the Boston-based non-profit hunger relief organization by a factor of four.

Recognizing the prominence of the site from the highway, the project’s design is intended to serve as a billboard which will distinguish the façade from its large, utilitarian application while highlighting the important mission of the organization. The Food Bank’s wheat shaft logo is distributed across tabs on the exterio wall such that what at first seems to be a random pattern comes together momentarily as a coherent image, before fragmenting again as the car continues past the building.

In addition to the warehousing processes of shipping and receiving dry product, refrigerated product and donated goods, the Food Bank required office space for staff and hosts to 16,000 volunteers and visitors annually. All visitors are directed to the second floor, where they travel along the length of the project on a catwalk that allows views down into the warehouse. The catwalk is aligned with a 200 foot long translucent light monitor that allows natural light to blanket the warehouse and offices.

The project is pursuing LEED certification.