Harvard Square Post Office Renovation
Cambridge, Massachusetts

ARCADD, Inc. was commissioned to renovate the Harvard Square Post Office in Cambridge, MA. This single story building was renovated with a progressive concept to house an open retail store. The design is sensitive to the Historic District location, yet also is in keeping with the high- technology sophistication of the area while welcoming customers in an open and friendly manner and providing easy handicapped accessibility.

The floor concept features four activity areas. Quick Post, Box Lobby, Stamp Display/Retail Lobby, and Service Lobby. This plan minimizes customer dependence on service personnel, increases the flow of services to individual customers, and creates a self-help setup for customers at the Quick Post area.

The project posed two main challenges. ARCADD had to bring the handicapped customers up approximately three feet in a welcoming and respectful way while maintaining space, beauty, and utility. This was accomplished by building a ramp that traveled around the Quick Post area (seen above). The second challenge was to keep the post office operational during construction. This was accomplished by appropriate phasing

Although the building had a total square footage of only 14,900 sf, ARCADD created one of the most progressive post office design concepts in the United States. The total building cost was $933,000. ARCADD completed this project within the estimated time and budget.