Winthrop Center Building

The Winthrop Center Building is a Contemporary skyscraper designed in 2016 by Handel Architects, and built between 2018 and 2023 in Boston, MA.

Winthrop Center Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The Winthrop Center Building is also known, or has been known as, Winthrop Square Tower, or WSQ Building.

Its precise street address is 240 Devonshire Street , Boston, MA. You can also find it on the map here.

The original height of the building was supposed to be 775 feet (236 m), however just before getting construction approval in 2016 it was lowered to 702 feet (214 m), only to be lowered again in 2018, this time to 691 feet (211 m), and finally one more time until 690.7 feet (210.5 m) .

Handel Architects 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 Winthrop Center Building a reality:

• DeSimone Consulting Engineers in charge of Structural Engineering
• Millennium Partners as the Main Developer
• WSP in charge of MEP Engineering

The Winthrop Center Building can be categorized as a Contemporary building.

The Winthrop Center Building uses a frame structure made of reinforced 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 lightly faceted continuous blue-tinted curtain wall. The curtain wall is state of the art, with triple-glazed windows, consisting of three glass panels with insulating air layers between them and 10 centimeters of insulation.