Night aerial rendering of the Boston Seaport waterfront development

Case study

Boston Seaport

Where culture, industry and community converge into Boston’s most vibrant district.

A waterfront planning project at city scale

Working directly for WS Development, Michael Abbott & Associates now part of Presenting Architecture produced CGIs, photorealistic renderings, and an eight-minute animation for one of the largest single real estate developments in Boston’s history — spanning roughly 23 acres, 20 city blocks and 6.3 million square feet of mixed-use development.

As a thriving, sustainable urban neighborhood, the Seaport was designed in collaboration with some of the biggest names in the industry: James Corner Field Operations, KPF, NADAAA, OMA and Sasaki.

The renderings and animation needed to speak to several audiences at once: the Boston Planning & Development Agency reviewing for public benefit and design compliance, prospective tenants evaluating the development for lease decisions, and the public seeing the Seaport’s transformation for the first time.

The imagery had to work at two scales — a single building elevation and a 20-block master plan — using ground-level pedestrian views and aerial context shots in the same visual language. The eight-minute animation let WS Development walk stakeholders through phasing, circulation, and public realm improvements that static images alone couldn’t convey.

Boston Seaport night aerial digital rendering
Boston Seaport district rendering

Have a project at this scale?

Call 925-254-4234 or email robert@robertbecker.com to discuss large-scale visualization and animation.