Julia Anderson

Housing for a Working Waterfront: The Channel Community

GSD2201 Site Representation and Research

December 2010

Plan Objective

Mayor Menino has identified the South Boston Waterfront as an Innovation District, an area that will become the key site of growth in the cutting-edge business sectors of technology, energy and sustainability. In conjunction, I am proposing an Equity District to provide much needed workforce housing. A key component of creating a sustainable city is locating housing near jobs. Additionally, there already exists a severe crisis in the availability of housing affordable to households making between 60 and 120% of the area median income. For example, in the heart of Boston - a major job center - nearly 16,000 homes are needed for workforce households.

If the South Boston Waterfront is going to develop into a economically thriving and socially just district, the housing needs of people of all income levels must be met.

Presentation of Ideas in Google Earth

To begin my analysis I examined the entire South Boston Waterfront - to both identify the existing community assets and to understand which sub-districts were working well or had significant planning efforts already underway and which sub-districts offered opportunity for growth and development. After this initial analysis I established my sub-districts.

Schematic Analysis of the South Boston Waterfront. Click image to view full size.

Final Districts of the South Boston Waterfront. Click image to view full size.

Once my sub-districts were established I began to think about my area of focus - The Channel Community (the area between the Convention Center and the Reserved Channel). I imagined this would be a good location for a residential district. Housing could front on a channel front open space. The precedent I referenced was the new Mission Bay neighborhood in San Francisco.

Precedent of Mission Bay, San Francisco, imposed above the Reserved Channel. Click image to view full size.

Note: Entire Google Earth file available for download in Model Resources.

The Channel Community in 3D

For the next stage of the studio process, I created my plan for The Channel Community in Google SketchUp. This allowed me to dimension my block pattern, lay my street grid, and determine the acreage of key community facilities, like parks and parcels reserved for community facilities. I have uploaded my model for The Channel Community to the 3D Warehouse; the model can be downloaded here.

Envisioning an Equitable and Sustainable Future

A Video Fly-Through

Below is a video fly through taking the viewer from a bird's eye view of the entire South Boston Waterfront, down to the Reserved Channel park, down the major park linking the Channel area to the E Street Commercial Corridor, and then back through the park to the view show in the schematic renderings above.

My hope is that this project will inspire people to consider alternative options for the post-industrial properties of the South Boston Waterfront - specifically to generate ideas for creating an equitable, sustainable residential community.