UPDATE ON THE SOUTH STATION AREA:
DEWEY SQUARE PLAZA
SOUTH BAY PLANNING STUDY
PARCEL 24: CHINATOWN HOUSING
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK PLAZA
THE DARWIN PROJECT
Dewey Square Overview
TIM LOVE, AIA, Principal, Utile, Inc.
In April, 1999, we did a master plan for Dewey Square. It was difficult because of all the various jurisdictions, [among them] the Central Artery Project. It was a kind of design emergency. Through political maneuvering, it was permitted for abutters to fund a four-month "fire drill".
The final plan was the most organized thing we could do, considering all the various interests. There was a consensus where the limits of Parcel 22 were. Together with the [Federal Reserve] Bank project we entered upon a consensus about the grading and paving. Some of this already is in place. See Fig. 1.
I don't think Fred [Salvucci] thought we could do it. We had tedious meetings with the City locating all signs, etc.
The newly designed MBTA head houses are more difficult to build than I originally envisioned. There is a plan for an outdoor café function in Dewey Sq. when the weather is appropriate.
There is a problem of implementation of these edges.
Another issue is the Parcel 22/Dewey Square edge. It could also have an outdoor café bleeding into the Square. There is a possibility of a built edge [i.e. a building].
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The Federal Reserve Bank Plaza Reconstruction
Colby Rottler, Assistant Vice President for Property Management, Federal Reserve Bank
We process $400 billion a day. The main concern is safety and security. We want people to use our property, but yet to observe [security] guidelines. We decided to put a secure building in back for inspection of incoming vehicles.
In building it, we want something that would blend in with the [surroundings]. We have to follow State Department guidelines to stop vehicles from entering the plaza. But yet to allow access to pedestrians. An open, well-lit, safe space. We are going to follow a brick plan. The inner plaza will be a granite paver. Benches are also security barriers. We also had to address the issue of a raise [in profile] due to the Silver Line.
Fig. 1: Dewey Square: A Mosaic of Jurisdictions
Source: Utile, Inc.
We have added barriers each three feet so vehicles won't be able to drive on the sidewalk. We are looking at—Along the Summer St. edge—A pick up and drop off by the side of the street. There would be a five-minute standing zone.
Along Congress Street was a neglected area. We will put in a wall, partly to mitigate the wind problem. We shall also install street lights that are not already there.
Construction will be done by this time next year. We shall have green spaces. We are doing asbestos abatement.
We have agreed to adopt Dorchester Avenue, to make sure it is well-maintained and cleaned.
It is a massive project. We have been in the building for twenty-five years, and this will prepare things for the next twenty-five years.
Q. Why were large trees cut down?
A. We looked into relocating the trees, but it was cost-prohibitive. The trees in the front plaza, the whole plaza, had to be removed. We have given some of the trees to the City of Boston.
Q. The sculptures?
A. They are in temporary storage, and will be put back in.
A technical difficulty is sinkholes, which were foundations for previous buildings.
Q. Are you coördinating with the Artery, so you are getting similar [tree] items from the same supplier?
A. Not necessarily.
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The Darwin Project
Linda M. Haar, Boston Planning Institute, Darwin Project Management
[Editor's note: This presentation included slides, the text of which is shown in italics.]
Mission: To create a 21st Century botanical garden and conservation learning center in the heart of Boston, focused on the beauty and vast diversity of nature and on exploration of new possibilities of a sustainable future for our small planet.
Jonathan Haar and I started this project eleven months ago. It derived its name because it is about evolution. It represents an amazing opportunity to contribute to the environment.
It would involve Parcels 19, 21 and 22 (Fig. 2). They need to be integrated into Dewey Square. The project includes a Twenty-First Century botanical garden and conservation learning.
The project has Three Primary Objectives:
1. To create a common ground that looks to our future and that of our children.
It will reach to our diverse population to bring people together to explore our relationship to nature.
The Boston Planning Institute also has formed collaborations with other local cultural [elements] including the Boston Harbor Islands, the Children's Museum and Zoo New England to share ideas and programming related to nature, and with other botanical gardens including New York and Montreal and with the White Mountains National Forest.
2. To create a nature learning center for all generations.
3. To focus on exploring the beauty and diversity of nature around us.
This will be a living exhibit, showing biodiversity all around us: Plant and animal life. Always exotic and wonderful.
A tropical rainforest [will] comprise the majority of the space on Parcel 19. [It] will be a lush year-round garden with plants and small creatures changing as you go through the different vertical tiers. It would be built in a closed environment. This is something exotic to Boston.
The horticulturalists will try to create as close an ecosystem as possible in an enclosed urban environment where you can just enjoy spending time in nature. The visitor would come from the tropical rain forest and proceed to various levels, each with its own environment. With regard to the tropical rain forest, we are working to determine the ‘location' in the world where this would be.
Source: Boston Planning Institute.
Fig. 2: The Botanical Garden will be on Parcels 19, 21 and 22. 19 and 21 will contain the glass conservatory and 22 will be the outdoor park.
Biodiversity Learning Gardens
You will have the opportunity for more direct learning:
- Preservation
- Restoration
- Reconciliation
- Action
E.g. issues surrounding biodiversity and feeding our growing planet will be explored. Water is a very important part of any biome. It will factor into an important part of the building.
Destruction of habitats or sprawl and what it means to species on the verge of extinction.
There will be a young naturalist center in the Learning Gardens where students will experience hands-on learning about nature. Indigenous culture. It will raise questions, but not necessarily answer them. There will be hands-on displays in coördination with the Boston Public Schools. But this is not a science museum, but a piece of exploration. We cannot separate people from the environment. But yet, this should be a meditative, a healing place for those of us caught up in the rigors of life, while having lunch. There would be an archway over Pearl Street. The visitor would see species of the past as well as nature as art. The building itself has to be a world class space. We hope to select architects this winter. Fig. 3.
Source: Boston Planning Institute.
Fig. 3: The programming of the space has started from the inside out and spans from Parcel 21 on the left to Parcel 19 on the right.
Species on the brink and new discoveries.
Nature, people and places in film and media.
Species past.
Nature as art.
Having developed the program framework, the Darwin Project team has defined a short list of renowned architects who have done significant work in glass. The glass conservatory will be a landmark building reflecting the beauty and organic qualities of the living materials it encloses.
Technology: A huge challenge is the technology involved.
- Energy efficiency.
- Energy retention.
- Energy production.
For more information, ref. www.darwinboston.org.
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South Bay Planning Study and Parcel 24 Chinatown Housing.
Stephen Hines, Chief Development Officer, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
Richard Garver, Deputy Director, Planning and Zoning Commission, Boston Redevelopment Authority
R. Garver: The Crossroads Program
The axis of the city, which has been shifting, is now doing it with a vengeance. Many of the streets allowed to re-cross the corridor are at a lower level of design. We need something enhancing the neighborhood. Parallel streets deserve analysis and upgrading.
Broad Street is a mishmash of paving and every kind of lighting. There is a feasibility study to see what needs to be done. The conclusion would be a series of design contracts, street by street, under an all-over design approach. Summer Street is one of those crossroads.
S. Hines: We have a series of parcels at the southern end of the corridor which would serve to extend the downtown. We have developed the Joint Development Protocol to guide the planning process in partnership with the community.
R. Garver: Design guidelines.
The Protocol is one under which the Turnpike Authority puts out certain guidelines. For example, Parcel Six, the YMCA, is not entirely aligned with zoning, but they amount to a statement of what the neighbors would support. An advisory committee is in place. [They are interested in] housing, featuring maximum affordability. The RFP [i.e. request for proposals-ed.] has run its course for all comments.
South Bay
We went through a massive planning process. South Bay and Parcel Twenty-Four are the last areas going through the planning process. The Chinatown community did a plan, which is characterized by dense, mixed-use planning. A comprehensive plan is needed to guide developers.
The Process
A task force is in place. There are several layers. Not only a plan, but it has to inform a RFP process as well as new zoning. We have only been able to get to Phase One, the big picture. [See Fig. 4]
If you look at adjoining parcels, you are looking at twenty acres of development, which would include full meshing of the area into the Leather District and the Chinatown community. It should act as a gateway to the city from the south. It is a chance to do something remarkable on the skyline.
The principle is city streets. Can we take a ramp into the city and make it into normalized city area? All these ramps ascend.
S. Hines: South Bay. There is a RFP—invitation to bid—out on the area. If a developer is going to provide a park, then this project will have to use the economic opportunities of other areas.
Q. Curtis Davis: What is the City going to avoid the Columbus Center's torturous process and to avoid what happened at City Square?
A. R. Garver: We have done the easy part, because there are not now developers. We have to learn the lessons from the Columbus Center. It has to be timely.
A. S. Hines: We cannot completely avoid these pitfalls under the time constraints.
Fig. 4: The South Bay Planning Area
Source: Boston Redevelopment Authority
Q. Barry M. Steinberg, Association for Public Transportation: The South Station Area is an important regional public transportation facility, but curiously there is not much in the way of local public transportation in the area. Previously, there were comments about rerouting existing bus routes through here. There has been a proposal for a north-south streetcar, which I would suggest should be extended through the hinge area to Park Square.
A. R. Garver: Regarding public transportation, there is an opportunity for people to use commuter rail: A local station on a rail shuttle service between South Station and Allston. Another possibility is some sort of jitney transportation to get people from the two stations.
Editor's note: In a private conversation with Move Mass. Executive Director Dan Wilson following the meeting, Dan said that in Phase Two, they are going to get more into local public transportation.
Notes on Move Massachusetts meetings are provided as a public service and do not represent an official statement of Move Massachusetts. The Association for Public Transportation is a member of Move Massachusetts.