Charlestown Navy Yard

Bringing the Future of Work to a Historic Landmark

As part of the US National Park Service, National Parks of Boston manages 16 historic sites on 3,400 acres along the Freedom Trail. Recently created by combining the portfolios of multiple public facilities throughout the Boston area, the new entity typically serves over 5 million visitors each year. Several other organizations, including National Park Service Northeast Region, US Navy, and USS Constitution Museum, also have spaces in the large complex of historic buildings. The US General Services Administration (GSA) engaged PLASTARC, along with Marble Fairbanks Architects, to enable experiences for staff and visitors that align with the work of National Park Service and its partner organizations.

Leveraging previous experience with GSA at other public sites, including Grand Teton National Park, PLASTARC uncovered a mismatch between the workplace and the organizations’ missions. Our architecture expertise enabled us to work closely with Marble Fairbanks to translate these findings into site plans. Using GSA’s “balanced scorecard”, PLASTARC evaluated both the existing and proposed workplaces, quantifying improvements in engagement, equity, sustainability, and other human-centric metrics. We supported the development of a holistic vision for the organization’s spatial strategy by developing goals for financial management, customer experience, internal processes, and organizational learning.