Millennium Tower

The Millennium Tower is a Contemporary skyscraper designed between 2012 and 2013 by Handel Architects, with Blake Middleton as lead architect, and built between 2013 and 2016, for a reported $375 million dollars, in Boston, MA.

Millennium Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as One Franklin.

Its precise street address is 1 Franklin Street, Boston, MA. You can also find it on the map here.

In 2018 the Millennium Tower was awarded with the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute (CRSI) Honors Award.

The semi-silver facade of Millennium Tower contrasts with the context of stone and masonry. The facets of the tower were utilized to provide more of the residences with views to the south and west, overlooking The Common park.

Handel Architects, with Blake Middleton as the lead architect, was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Millennium Tower a reality:

• DeSimone Consulting Engineers in charge of Structural Engineering
• Millennium Partners as the Main Developer
• Cosentini Associates in charge of MEP Engineering
• Richard Burck Associates in charge of Landscape Architecture

The Millennium Tower can be categorized as a Contemporary building.

The Millennium Tower uses a frame structure made of concrete columns and beams.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a continuous blue-tinted glass curtain wall that is only interrupted by a dramatic cut on the rooftop terrace, continuing with a beveled peak that accentuates the building's verticality.

The tower sits on a five-level podium. The facade of the podium features folded glass panels engraved with a rhythmic series of vertical band panels.

Other materials found at the Millennium Tower include, limestone, used on the enormous panels framing the entrance doors to the building, wood , found on the walls of some rooms and on the stairs landings, and marble, used in different colors on walls and floors.