SGA designed the 10 Prospect project in Somerville, featuring a lab-ready facility with materials reflecting the area’s industrial history, emphasizing transparency, and offering modern amenities for collaboration and innovation.

The nearly 200,000-square-foot lab-ready facility provides an innovative R&D environment in which high-growth Life Sciences organizations are empowered to cross pollinate and evolve. Along with strengthened public transit connections via the GLX light rail, 10 Prospect further positions Somerville as an attractive subcluster of the adjacent Life Sciences hubs in Cambridge and Boston. With ground floor retail and hospitality space, an activated public realm provides seamless connection to its urban surroundings while elevating the development as a destination workplace.

In the early 1900s, when Union Square was Somerville’s largest commercial district known as “Sandpit Square,” local industry included grist mills, brick manufacturing, ink, glass, and copper tubing factories. Drawing inspiration from this history, SGA implemented a palette that reflects these materials.

Vertically-oriented cladding modules are composed of natural metals to celebrate the neighborhood’s past and provide a high-contrast ocular draw to the transparency of the windows. While this facade collectively emphasizes a timeless expression of the industrial vernacular, its composition lends a contemporary articulation to Somerville’s evolving skyline.

To celebrate 10 Prospect’s prominent location across from Union Square Plaza, the rhythm of the building’s masonry reveals added transparency at key moments, emphasized by the corner cut-out and terrace facing this vibrant civic space.

Within the mechanical penthouse, intricate MEP planning ensures 10 Prospect is capable of carrying the high-capacity loads of labs today. Its programming allows this infrastructure to consistently evolve alongside new technologies and innovations that move the R&D space forward.

Offering comfort and convenience to the diverse populations of innovators that bring life to each floor, a series of community amenities spark impromptu moments of collaboration. From a sprawling top-floor conference space, lounge, and terrace overlooking Union Square, to the secured bike room, tenants are empowered to extend business operations and facilitate cultural moments beyond the boundaries of their own suite.

With its rich history, diverse character, entrepreneurial spirit, and unique community identity, 10 Prospect is proud to host the next generation of groundbreaking Life Sciences innovation in Somerville’s Union Square. 10 Prospect has recently been named a 2024 ENR New England Best Project Award winner for its innovative design, which presents a new model for R&D spaces and corporate interiors.