Paul Cote: A Study of the 100 Acres Plan

Paul Cote

Prepared for GSD2201

Harvard Graduate School of Design

November 10 2010

The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) has several plans to redevelop the Boston Seaport area. The Public Realm Plan (1999) set out a master plan for the entire Seaport district. The Public Realm plan considers a specific subdistrict on the eastern edge of Fort Point Channel, and sets out a vision for a mixed use development in this area, which would include a large promenade, a new facility for the US Post Office. In 2006 a final masterplan for this neighborhood was issued, now named the Fort Point 100 Acres neighborhood. The Public Realm Plan and the 100 Acres Plan provide a similar vision for this area, with a couple of exceptions. Since no construction has happened, the vision is likely to evolve.

At the bottom of this page you will find my Google Earth Model, Evolving Vision of the Boston Seaport. This model provides a compilation of seveal images frm the Public Realm Plan and the 100 Acres Plan, plus a 3d massing model of the 100 Acres plan. This model can be used to explore the way that these ecolving visions relate to one another. Below are some screenshots of from the Google Earth document. Click each image to view the image in full size. Download the google earth document at the bottom of this page to explore all of this in 3D.

BRA Public Realm Plan Page 13: District Plan (viewed in Google Earth model)

Birds-Eye Rendering of Seaport Vision (page 53 of the Public Realm Plan)

Perspective of the Wormwood View Corridor (Seaport Public Realm Plan Page 79)

This study takes several images from the BRA's plans for the purpose of making some comparisons and tracing the evolving vision of the 100 Acres area. I was particularly interested in the way that the promenade park was designed to open a view corridor. A perspective rendering form the public realm plan indicates that the view looking east through the promenade park is anchored on the Wormwood Smokestack. The configuration of buildings and the park in the 100 Acres plan is similar, but there is not a similar rendering to help us understand what the view corridor consequences will be of this plan. So I made a three-dimensional model based on the massing footprints and heights given in the 100 acres plan. This model permits us to investigate these view corridor impacts.

Rendering of same view corridor from 3d model of the 100 Acres Plan

The 100 acres model was developed using Google Sketchup. This model has been exported to a KMZ file that can be opened in Google Earth for viewing from any angle in the 3d context of Boston. The Google Earth model (provided below) can also be used to investigate other questions you may have.

The 100 Acres Promenade

Our interest is focused primarily on the 100 Acres Promenade and how itr performs as a public space. Paralell to "A" Street and bounded on the west and east by the Fort Point Channel and the SOuth Boston Haul Road. The plan is eventually to build a bridge over the latter to connect the promenade to the Convention Center. The Promenade will feature sidewalk dining on the northern side. Note in the illustration that the tall buildings on the south side will begin to cast shadows on the dining area in early October -- near the end of the outdoor dining season.

One purpose of a view corridor promenade is to provide an inviting prospect. The corridor invites visitors to explore an intriguing theatre of experiences. What would it be like to stroll through this corridor. The BRA did not provide an artitsts rendering of what the view would be like form the other end. We used out sketchup model to prepare this video that may answer some of these questions.

The materials gathered and created for this project are made available below for future studies of the BRA's Seaport Public Realm Plan and the Fort Point 100 Acres Plan.