PROPOSALS AND ADVOCACY to adapt to climate change 

Competition for the redesign for the Fort Point Channel Area:

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 This neighborhood is designed to easily adapt to the sea level rise predicted for 2100. We’ve never been afraid of the water. As a maritime city, Boston has always lived half in and half out of the water. This design proposes a long term multifaceted approach that will enable Boston to accommodate and continue to enjoy the presence of the sea. It incorporates actions that will be implemented and adjusted over time to minimize storm impact:

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• Create a coherent & imageable community with strong connections to the surrounding city.

• A new park with a hotel connects existing neighborhoods & the convention center to the channel, a community center and a pedestrian bridge to the other side of the channel.. 

• Water is the visual and activity focus for the New 100 Acres. 

• By employing multiple strategies our design adapts to a variety of changing conditions.

• A protective loop-highroad protects historic structures. A soft edge absorbs rising waters.

• New buildings and parks are raised and existing historic buildings are modified and stabilized.

• Weave nature into the built environment to provide agricultural production and a more resilient and attractive environment. 

• The neighborhood is complete with multiuser with its own food and energy production as well as waste and storm water recycling and organic treatment.

Redesign of Boston City Hall Plaza:

The Plaza has been a stark and inhumane space for decades. It is heat baked in the summer and ice cold in the summer. There are no places for people to sit and congregate or nature to soften the atmosphere. It lacks an edge and feels like a space to traverse fast  rather than a pleasant space that can be a destination to linger and interact with others. This new sustainable design transforms the plaza into a welcoming user friendly space that is flexible and can accommodate both small and large events.

• A new edge building to this vast plaza gives it definition and human scale and a dialogue between plaza and city hall. 

• The new building snakes along Cambridge Street. It provides space for a subway station, a market building and a cafe in its concave forms. Its walkable green roof adds "Highline" like green spaces. 

• Water from this roof drops down at the end of the building to a brook in which recycled water from stormwater collected under the vast plaza is cleaned by plants before it is stored in a reflecting pool.

• The later will cool the plaza and can be used for iceskating during winters.  

• Moveable planters and benches on the plaza bring nature and scale to this vast space. They can be pushed aside during large events giving the plaza the flexibility needed for diverse needs.

• The subway stop, the cafe and its outdoor seating and the market building activate the plaza and provide comfortable spaces to "hang out" for the community.

• Added trees all along the edges of the site, the green roof and the moveable planters add nature and  soften the plaza. 

• This proposal is the result of many conversations and merging many visions.

   This was a commission for the 'Foundation for a Green Future'.

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