The Lawn on D

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE AIA: 

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) is gearing up for a major expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC), beginning in 2016. This expansion - which will allow Boston to compete for top tier conventions - will require additional hotel rooms, parking garages, supporting retail, and, critically, a vision and identity for D Street. D Street was - until the construction of the Lawn on D this past summer - a bleak and under-used landscape composed mostly of vacant lots, aged industrial buildings, and surface parking. An urban design team was brought on board by the MCCA to help shape a vision for D Street and its upcoming development. In collaboration with representatives from the surrounding community, the design team and the MCCA conceived of the Lawn on D - a flexible, vibrant, and temporary open space that would be an “early arrival” on D Street, setting the tone for civic impact and expressing the ambitions of the new district. Months later, the design team was re-commissioned as landscape architect of the Lawn on D. This new district occupies a critical mid-point between South Boston, the Innovation District and Liberty Wharf, and the Fort Point and Channel Center neighborhoods. This new district aspires to be interactive, flexible, technologically advanced, inspired by art and events, and inclusive of many constituents (residents, workers, conventioneers, tourists). The Lawn on D demonstrates and pilots these ambitions.

See all of the winners of the AIA's 2015 Small Projects Awards here.