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Clara Wineberg
Executive director and principal, SCB Boston
Age: 55
Industry experience: 25 years
Boston’s active development pipeline prompted Chicago-based architects Solomon Cordwell Buenz to select it as the home of the first East Coast office in its 90-year history. SCB played a role in one of Boston’s largest recent mixed-use developments in designing the 38-story Hub50House apartment tower at Boston Properties’ Hub on Causeway, and the firm is looking for more opportunities to design complex mixed-use projects. Clara Wineberg, who leads the new Fort Point offices, split time in her childhood between Miami and Colombia and moved to the U.S. permanently during high school before obtaining her degree in architecture from Tulane University. The Boston office oversees 11 East Coast projects currently in design and under construction.
Q: What was the impetus for opening the East Coast office in Boston, and what were some of the other potential cities?
A: Establishing an East Coast office has been part of our strategic plan, and we looked at a series of cities, but Boston really stood out as a city that resonated with our background and experience in large urban and mixed-use projects and complicated jobs. We looked at the usual suspects, New York and Washington D.C., and Boston stood out as having an incredible amount of innovation and growth. As a Hispanic and woman architect, which is a unicorn in our industry, as we approach hiring here in Boston, we’re casting a wide and diverse net in our ethos as a firm to grow.
Q: What are some of the notable Boston projects that SCB has been involved with?
A: We were brought in to design Hub50House because of our expertise in multifamily, and because of that project and the relationship with that client, it accelerated the desire to have an office in Boston. We were brought in when the whole [Hub on Causeway] development had already advanced in terms of design. We were brought in to support that project and acquired the commission for the residential tower. From a complexity standpoint, that podium has a lot of pieces coming together. From a construction standpoint, Boston is very comfortable using steel as the primary structural frame. A lot of the components of the podium were already in place and we were able to work with JMA [John Moriarty Assoc.] in proving out that concrete was the better solution. It added flexibility and it added better spaces. What was previously considered wasn’t efficient and wasn’t leading to good residential units and a good tower experience.
Q: Did the pandemic disrupt the timing of the Boston office opening?
A: The timing of the Boston office had been in play for a couple of years. We had not anticipated a global pandemic, but opening up in early 2021 allowed us to come in when things were a little bit more quiet and find a nice space that quite frankly had not been available had it not been for COVID. Another tenant had closed up their shop. It was a nice strategic call. My partner Bryan Irwin, who leads our campus efforts, if a lifelong Bostonian. We have 12 people right now, mostly locals and key people we moved from Chicago.
Q: How has your own relocation from Chicago worked out personally?
A: It’s great. I’m at an interesting juncture in that I can jump on a new challenge. As an architect, it’s exciting. I’m living in the Seaport, walking to the office and getting to know the city. I’m enjoying the Seaport and the urban experience.
Q: Coming from Chicago, a city with high-density development on its waterfront, what’s your perspective on Boston’s debate over building heights on Boston Harbor?
A: We bring a national perspective on coastal and waterfront living. We’ve done luxury projects in Hawaii, Florida and in August we were [designing] one of the first high-rises along Lady Bird Lake. Boston’s a lovely city and the harbor is an amazing civic amenity: a way of bridging responsible development and allowing the harbor to be a resource people can enjoy. I’m a strong proponent that they can be done well and respectfully.
Q: What’s next on SCB’s plate in local projects?
A: Boston is certainly our beachhead and the starting point for our East Coast presence, but our work extends from Boston to Texas and Florida. One of the reasons we opened a Boston office was precisely because of our urban campus practice. Bryan [Irwin] is part of our national team as well, and that is very much one of the reasons we’re in Boston. A lot of institutions are cash-strapped right now and looking for ways to remain competitive and do projects off-book. Instead of having to raise capital in a big campaign, they rely on developers to bring in their financial resources to develop a new residential hall or learning space, and have a development management fee arrangement that allows the university to benefit from the new facility without having to lay out that cash.
Wineberg’s Five Favorite Books:
- “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- “Palace Walk: The Cairo Trilogy” by Naguib Hahfouz
- “Blindness” by Jose Saramago
- “The Perfect Peace” by Amos Oz
- “Go Tell it on the Mountain” by James Baldwin
