The Architectural Team's Bob Verrier Honored for Rental Housing Design Excellence

CHELSEA, Mass., Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The award-winning Boston-based architecture and master-planning firm The Architectural Team has announced that managing principal Robert J. Verrier, AIA, has received a prestigious industry award for excellence in rental housing from the Boston trade group Rental Housing Association (RHA), recognizing his community and civic activities and excellence in development.

Said RHA president Richard Henken, "Over the course of Bob Verrier's illustrious career, in addition to being the best developer's architect, many of us have known Bob as a recognized leader in the affordable housing community," including more than 45,000 multifamily housing units and dozens of developments winning awards for historic preservation and adaptive reuse.

The announcement comes as Verrier's firm celebrates its 40th anniversary, and this award adds to a long list, including Verrier's 2010 American Dream Award from Habitat for Humanity of Greater Boston. Said Henken, "I cannot think of a better recipient for this honor." Previous RHA award recipients have included developers Joseph E. Corcoran, Arthur Winn and Edward Fish; many have been Verrier's clients.

Said Verrier, "We're proud of our accomplishments in creating rental housing with innovative layouts and attractive designs, but I'm especially honored by this recognition for our work in affordable housing. Our firm is deeply supportive of creating more quality affordable housing for all Americans, which transforms neighborhoods, communities and families' lives."

Since 1971, The Architectural Team (www.architecturalteam.com) has quietly transformed U.S. neighborhoods with major waterfront, mixed-use, institutional and historic preservation and adaptive-reuse projects. Verrier and his staff of 60 professionals have designed 250 affordable-housing developments, including many national models for high-quality, mixed-income housing to revitalize blighted areas.

Verrier holds a strong reputation among business and institutional leaders, real estate developers, and charitable groups, and he currently serves as president of Boston Architectural College's Alumni Association Board. His designs have earned more than 30 awards for design achievement and excellence, including a 23-story, mixed-income tower in Boston's Chinatown; luxury condominiums and five-star hotel at Battery Wharf; and West End Place, winner of an American Institute of Architects (AIA) design award.

In addition, The Architectural Team has converted buildings of all types, including historic hospitals and mills. Baker Chocolate Factory, winner of seven awards for historic preservation, transformed defunct industrial structures in Dorchester, Mass., into a mixed-income community. Its final phase, a 17-unit loft-style renovation of a former boiler building, earned Boston Preservation Alliance's 2011 Preservation Award. Other projects have been noted as exemplary by the National Affordable Housing Management Association and the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, among others.  

About The Architectural Team, Inc.

Founded in 1971, The Architectural Team, Inc. is a 60-person architectural firm with a portfolio of distinctive design solutions for a broad range of building types and programs, with more than 75 awards for design excellence. Visit www.architecturalteam.com.

Contact: Valerie Capone, 617.889.4402

SOURCE The Architectural Team, Inc.