Lower Allston Landing, currently owned by Harvard University, is the site of a now defunct CSX rail yard, the Houghton Chemical Company, and left-over spaces of a major interchange of the Massachusetts Turnpike. The redevelopment of such a challenging site requires a synergy of infrastucture, programmatic adjacencies as well as place-making. Issues under scrutiny include: urban density, the campus typology, convention and typological innovation, the customization of the ground plane, and sustainability.

This proposal treats the highway as a barrier and divides the site into two parts with distinct programmatic and formal characteristics: a closed R&D campus on the Southern part of the site, and a residential campus along the Charles River. The distinction between public and private is constantly called into question through planimetric and sectional moves that introduce unlikely adjacencies and crossovers.

Type of Project: Urban Masterplan (unbuilt)
Location: Boston, MA
Project Date: 2008