CITYLAB

Description (in your own words)...

CityLab is a 4-day immersion within Boston and East Boston; a sped-up, hands-on history class in an atypical setting. Comrades become co-captains as your team navigates a new paradigm of the world. Sketchbooks our our memory boxes. Unlike a field trip to an aquarium--students tapping the glass as they watch the fish go by. Rather, students control the depth of their own experience, and the glass retracts so that we can step into the experience.

Postcard

"Greetings from Holliday Park." (Madeline McGloin, BArch)

Personal Credo

I am... Madeline McGloin. I am Dad's personality in Mom's likeness. I am curious about the world and the people in it. I am a student of Life. I am a spiritual youth.

I believe... in competing with myself. I believe in serving others. I believe in long conversations with strangers. I believe in trying everything at least once.

I hope to... hold myself to the standard of my highest self. I hope to experience every opportunity that is meant for me. I hope to produce something every day. I hope to fill a library's worth of Grids & Guides journals throughout my life as an Architect.

I know this to be true... I have a multiplicity of individuals who love and support me. My luck runs as deep as my DNA. I am going to be the female architect who is unapologetic and unafraid of taking up space. The timing is always right.

BSA SPACE

Boston, MA

Lens: Social/Cultural Systems

Mental Map

(Madeline McGloin, BArch)

What did I sketch?

My Mental Map shows my walk from my first footstep off of the ferry into East Boston, all the way to the community garden by the East Boston Public Library.

Why did I sketch it that way?

Though the connecting lines may not indicate a consistent and directionally accurate path between each memory marker, the path is easy to walk with the help of my doodles. Each doodle captures a location along the walk that was visually significant for me.

What did I learn about one of the CityLab Lenses?

This lens challenged me to consider my day as a series of stimuli/sensory-rich moments, rather than a fleeting moment. By recovering quickly-forgotten moments, I was able to create a cohesive path that another person could follow day or night, summer or winter.

Lens: Mobility/Circulation

Threshold of Change

(Madeline McGloin, BArch)

What did I sketch?

I sketched a perspective drawing of the potted flowers to my left as I sat on the floor of the Prudential center mall. My second drawing is what I imagine to be the perspective of me that the flowers would see from inside of their boundary.

Why did I sketch it that way?

The short stone wall is what physically separates us, but the flowers and I breathe the same air, feel the same light.

What did I learn about one of the CityLab Lenses?

Despite how minute a detail in my surroundings might seem--such as the flowers--we can see each other, reach each other, and breathe the same air.

Lens: Built Form and Development Patterns

Palimpsest Quest

(Madeline McGloin, BArch)

What did I sketch?

I sketched the side of a building just outide of the gate to Chinatown. My sketch captures both palimpsest and a slice of something worn & broken. Along the side of this brick wall, I noticed window arches that were patched closed and some dissonant brick-laying. There is a new facade on the street-facing front of the building, but it is easy to see how this stretch of residence/offices was severed at some point in time.

Why did I sketch it that way?

My intention was to capture the remnants of the original building, and I left annotations so that I could return to this page and compare to future palimpsest findings.

What did I learn about one of the CityLab Lenses?

The pattern of selective preservation in Chinatown is very interesting. Old electrical boxes, storefronts, and cladding contrasts new usage of materials as well as modern architectural styles.

Lens: Mobility/Circulation

Worn and Broken

(Madeline McGloin, BArch)

What did I sketch?

At Site 2, there is an abandoned track and some timber. It seems to date back to Clippership times, but it stands out even on high-tide days.

Why did I sketch it that way?

I wanted to illustrate the way that the track runs into the water in the same direction that the tide runs. It almost looks like something may emerge from the depths of the water using this track.

What did I learn about one of the CityLab Lenses?

For something to be worn, it much be acted upon by a force that slowly deteriorates or weighs into/on it. To be broken, an object must have experienced one or multiple forces that begin to sever pieces of itself or crack it beyond natural repair/regrowth. The wood and the track are clearly worn, but perhaps only the track is broken in some way. It seems to stop somewhere, and it cannot participate in any active usage.

Lens: Open Space

Enclosure, Exposure, Buffer, View

(Madeline McGloin, BArch)

What did I sketch?

I made multiple attempts at a proper sectional drawing for the concept of Enclosure, Exposure, and Buffer. My sketches capture how light, air, sound, and access are buffered by the surrounding environment. Both manmade and natural objects conduct these acts upon the rest of the location.

Why did I sketch it that way?

I prioritized focus on what was closest and most visible to me. With a sectional drawing, I could properly depict the variety of forces in each environment.

What did I learn about one of the CityLab Lenses?

I was definitely able to practice and improve on the speed of my drawings by simplifying the idea of this lens. It is really only meant to be a quick observation, yet one that lasts longer than a glance. This lens helped me to gather an understanding of who and what these buffers and enclosures benefit.

Team Charette

Design Proposal Name

Team Charette Project Description

My group, Team Clarendon, proposed to renovate Site 2 at 102 Border St. into a community space entitled Muelle Seco. Muelle Seco, translating from Spanish to English as "dry dock," is meant to pay homage to the history of the site. To dry dock is to pull a boat ashore and onto land. We chose a title in Spanish to emphasize our intention for Site 2 to be open to the local communties, who primarily speak Spanish. East Boston has been a "Majority Minority" community. With gentrification and new tenants, the poorer, minority residents are being forced to move further from the shore. Muelle Seco is open to the public, with signage in Spanish, Portuguese, and small-font English.

After speaking with East Boston resident Tessa Kaneene, our group was able to develop a cohesive understanding of what the community would most benefit from. Tessa is an Architect herself, and conveniently, has been a resident of the adjacent condo building to Site 2 since August of 2018. She explained that due to Boston's Maritime Laws, the site has been one of the only off-limits areas for money-hungry developers. She has watched towering apartment buildings take over the rest of the area--expect for this 1.1 acre plot of land. Tessa let us up to the top floor of her building, giving us an encompassing scope of the shore and our selected site.

Muelle Seco incorporates the existing community garden, allowing cost-appropriate farm-to-table options for the community. A new dock and fresh seawall will increase the resilience to the forcasted rising shoreline. We added a fresh water pond for children and adults to safely swim, which many surrent minority residents have lost access to since the urbanization. We took into accoun the lack of public transportation to this area, and we proposed a new bus line, 118, honoring Trolley 118 that used to service this area. Our final addition is a small library space that the local church can use in expansion to the services the currently offer, such as English classes.

Final Reflections

One Sketch, Revisited

Caption: Briefly describe the image.

Which sketch did I choose to revisit? Why?

I chose to revisit this sketch that I made in the rain. Though I love the rain, I hoped to create some thin lines for contrast against the brush pens that I originally used.

What did I decide to change?

I decided to add some detail with the thin ink lines.

What did I learn about one of the CityLab Lenses?

I learned that sometimes, we should consider things twice. I realized that the rain was not a force that ruined my drawing, but rather enhanced it.

What did I learn from taking CityLab?

I learned that childlike wonder is always accessible. Fresh eyes can be welcomed with an ephemeral blink. Both the good and the bad are ephemeral. The breakthroughs tend to happen when you revisit your work and give yourself a break.

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