The New England Council of Carpenters (NERCC) has represented the interests of its members for more than 130 years.  While a long-standing regional presence, this traditional organization based in Boston also embraces modern goals for its membership of 22,000 carpenters in six New England states.  So, when the new home of NERCC and the Boston Carpenters Training Center was designed, it was important to organization leaders that it be comprised of both traditional and modern architectural influences.

Three architectural firms were challenged by the Vancouver Organizing Committee to design Millennium Water:  The Southeast False Creek Olympic Village in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for its first use as a temporary home for many of the 2,600 athletes from 82 nations competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics. (The Olympic Games were held Feb. 12-28, 2010, in venues located throughout Greater Vancouver, as well as in the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia, where additional athletes were hosted.)  More permanently, Millennium Water was designed as a sustainable mixed-use residential and commercial community, incorporating not only environmental sustainability but social and economic sustainability goals as well.