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6' of sea level rise
(expected by 2100)
LARGE SITE REDESIGN
This project was located at the, now abandoned, Boston Globe headquarters building. As much as I love and am a proponent of adaptive reuse, the program for this particular project would have us start with a razed site. We would be designing on a blank slate assuming the "purchase" of the Globe's 2 parcels.
A major concern in our design precedence is that much of our site, and much of the surrounding areas will be underwater by the year 2100. If you take a look at the seachange sasaki website you'll also see the up until permanent submersion storm surge could cover much of this area as well. Protection from this issue can come from a few different design schemes. After walking and observing the site in person I took notice of Patten's cove just 50 yards to the South. The cove is not currently utilized for anything and is just sort of a swampy and natural area. Its proximity gave me the feeling that instead of trying to fight the ocean, I would welcome it to the site.
WHAT
Abandoned Boston Globe Headquarters
WHERE
Boston
WHEN
Fall 2017
The program called for housing of at least 500 residents, a certain sq. footage for commercial leasing, as well as public space.
A lot of research went into surrounding site research and designing an appropriate site including (but not limited to) wind patterns, circulation, population density, zoning, neighborhoods, and what the area was in need of.
This UMass campus has some 20,000 students but does not offer ANY onsite house. Many of these apartments will be desired by students.
There is a large high school just across the street. The nearest subway stop is a half mile North of our site. There are also dense residential areas to the West and South. It would be nice to provide paths for circulation between these areas.
A raised interstate runs along our site's Western border. We should find a way to cut off noise pollution for our residents.
Air circulation would be very important to me in this particular project so I paid quite a bit of attention to it. Generally the wind blows in from the ocean during the summer months and out from the city in the winter.
Sustainable design is very important to me and I spend a lot of time researching and learning new theories and techniques to save energy. These are some of the many ideas and diagrams that I used as precedents to help me design my site and its architecture. Building our structure underground can actually be a green building practice as it can help save a lot of money and energy normally needed to help heat and cool the living spaces.
Since living underground in a sort of dark dank cave isn't most people's preferred tenement, I had this plan of creating a fair amount of light wells that would bring sun down into the apartments. I was picturing the interesting glass abstractions that protruded from all the lush vegetation of the site. The front face of the apartment buildings would face South and each get plenty of natural daylight. This Southern exposure could also be used to efficiently heat the buildings during the winter. By combining the light wells and apartments just so, theoretically we would also be able to cool the apartments in the summertime through passive ventilation.
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younglove.us
I have plans for this large greenhouse space that could be used by the public community. The greenhouse of course would need a large amount of natural sun which it will get from our southern facade of windows, as well as a large skylight above. The "greenhouse effect" provides necessary sunlight for vegetation and also heats the space significantly. My plan here was to design the layout to be able to pump excess heat into the apartments above during the winter months.
Since of course water is a main concern at this site, the project called for proof of proper drainage. That rainwater would of course be invaluable to the greenhouse residents, but could also be used to flush toilets, wash hands, and wash clothes. Excess will be directed to the inlet.
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The structure partially and irregularly covered by the green roof/infill. This is to give the impression of landscape being in the process of reclaiming these areas naturally.