Jeff Belanger

Bringing Families to the Innovation District

Jeff Belanger

Prepared for GSD 2201

Harvard Graduate School of Design

December 17, 2010

Introduction

My proposal attempts to make the City of Boston's plan for an Innovation District on the South Boston Waterfront more economically vibrant and socially diverse by developing in a way that attracts families. Thus far, development that has either already occurred or has been approved for construction provides high-rise office and residential spaces that are preferred by single people and couples, but not by people with children. To convince families and the businesses in which they work to come to the city from the suburbs, or to prevent them from leaving in the first place, the SBW must provide housing and amenities that families want.

To provide context for this plan, I have pasted a screenshot of the SBW overlayed with the various districts that I think the SBW can accomodate.

This is an aerial image of the South Boston Waterfront. I have overlayed an image showing my sub-districts.

Fort Point Historic District

I have focused on the Fort Point Historict District, which is located on the western side of the SBW near Fort Point Channel, as a place where I think schools and family-oriented housing can fit well. The second picture on this website shows the entrance to the FPHD from Summer Street. This is depicted with an image from Google Earth overlayed with an aerial photograph from Bing. Google Earth provides a great platform for observing a site from any angle and any height. Google Earth also allows manipulation of the representation of a site by adding overlays, such as the district overlay in the first image and the aerial photograph in the second image.

I have also uploaded a Google Earth model of the FPHD to this website. It is a .kmz file linked at the bottom of this page titled "SBW Campus."

Birds-eye View of the Fort Point Historic District at the entrance from the Summer Street Bridge.

Campus within the FPHD

To provide a three-dimensional view of what the FPHD might look like if family-oriented buildings like an elementary school, a technical college, townhouses, and mixed-use buildings were constructed on undeveloped parcels, I have created a model in Google Sketchup. This model allows simulation of what the parks, pathways, and buildings would be like from any angle and any height. Of particular interest is the pathway spanning over 1,400 feet from the Fort Point Channel to the Boston Convention Center. This pathway and the public green on either side of it provides an amenity that would be attractive to families. To demonstrate the Sketchup model, I have uploaded it to the Google 3d warehouse, which is linked here.

I have used an image of the Sketchup model to illustrate the educational-residential neighborhood proposed for the FPHD. This image shows the development in the context of existing buildings. As the image demonstrates, the campus setting provides a green enclave within the FPHD, which currently has few trees or park space. The residential and mixed-use buildings around the schools are four and five stories high, which blends them in with the existing buildings.

This is another image of the Sketchup model, this time from higher up. The Boston Convention center is in the foreground and the finanical district is in the background.

Additionally, I have included a video fly-through of the campus. That video can be played by clicking this picture.

Please feel free to use the information and files provided by this website to explore the South Boston Waterfront and to create your own proposals.