Design review focuses on parking garage materials, parapet screening and hotel detailing at Factory campus (230 Franklin Road)

Representatives for The Factory campus presented proposed designs for a parking garage, refuse enclosures and a hotel on the site at 230 Franklin Road. The applicants discussed two facade approaches for the garage — a panelized thin‑set brick solution and a traditional stacked brick — and showed parapet and material studies intended to illustrate how parked cars would be visually screened from Franklin Road.

Applicants argued the thin‑set, factory‑cast brick panels would reduce on‑site scaffolding and construction impacts where the new garage sits adjacent to historic masonry buildings (Buildings 3 and 5). They said the thin panels can be finished with varied mortar/joint profiles and distressed faces to better match historic masonry while limiting disruption to adjacent structures. Staff and several DRC…