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Summer Show 2023
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(Un)Folding Terra Incognita – The Revitalisation of Boston Charlesgate

Project details

Programme
Unit PG11
Year 5
Award
  • Distinction

The novel Looking Backward presents a utopian vision of life in a future Boston. It inspired a generation of enthusiasts and designers to work towards achieving the future described in the novel. A direct line of influence can be traced to the great pioneer of landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted.

(Un)Folding Terra Incognita focuses on the Back Bay Fens and Charlesgate in Boston. The large, picturesque marshland designed by Olmsted in 1879 connected the Fens to the Charles River. It formed the first link in the ambitious parkland chain that later became the city's Emerald Necklace. However, in the second half of the 20th century, the erection of the Bowker Overpass took over the space above the parkland, resulting in seriously compromised green space.

This project explores ways in which the park could be restored in a future where cars are redundant, and expressways are eliminated. Public education buildings such as a gallery, an amphitheatre and a series of research huts are the main built structures, most of which sit on the remnant piers of the overpass. The new marshland controls the flow of the Muddy River and purifies the area as a great green infrastructure.

The Emerald Necklace Central Gallery and the Exhibition Space

The gallery is a public education centre and hosts exhibitions about the Emerald Necklace. A geographical model of Boston with a fictional underside forms a permanent exhibition. Mounting boards can be moved around for temporary shows.

Revealing the Layered Stories

Charlesgate is discovered by unfolding maps. Boston is divided into 5,000 square feet ‘tiles’ in the contemporary digital database, yet the once critical place is now on the edges of two ‘tiles’, metaphorically disintegrated in the public awareness.

The Amphitheatre and the Backstage Walkway

The Amphitheatre has an iron mesh canopy that sits on four remnant columns of the Bowker Overpass. The canopy is recognised as the phantom of the overpass that reminds people of its shadow in contrast to the reclaimed green space.

To the Central Gallery

The roof structure of the amphitheatre performs as a cantilevered foot bridge reaching out to the corresponding structure from the gallery. The two parts of the bridge meet in the air without hard joinings. The Muddy River is no longer ‘muddy’.

The Revitalised Charlesgate Park

As the Bowker Overpass is removed, the lost green space is regained from the grey infrastructures. The Muddy River is rejoined with the Charles River, and Charlesgate is reopened to a future with better ecology and improved visitor experience.

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The Bartlett
Summer Show 2023
23 June – 8 July 2023
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