Interior Perspective of Boat House

Diagrams – Form Finding

Angle defined by slope of Storrow drive exit
The bridge that connects the Back Bay grid to the Esplanade must have a maximum slope of 6%. This informed the angle of the bridge in order to clear the Storrow drive off-ramp

Finding the bridge edge condition
In order to find the edge condition of the bridge – Continually halving the grid between each new node until a connection is made between the Esplanade and the Back Bay

Cone of Vision Diagram
A 60 degree cone of vision from the Halfway point of a single block from the Back Bay grid and its tangent on the edge of the newly defined curve of the bridge.

Congestion Diagram
The Boston Esplanades access is pushed away from the city grid, which makes the access to the site more dangerous – having to pass a highway exit before being able to enter a park, made for relaxation and allowing one to engage the waterfront.

Esplanade entry from the bridge
This section shows the entry from the Harvard bridge (Mass ave) – Access to the Esplanade is limited – The diagram on the right shows desired solution.

Diagrams – Site Analysis

Park Relationship to Urban Fabric
This diagram illustrates the relationships that the form has to the Back Bay. Gloucester street intersects with a monument to the Storrows and a very popular rectangular dock. Fairfield and Exeter streets define the shape of the lagoon by using two circles with the intersection in the middle of the circumference. These relationships occur in varying manners all along the Esplanade.

Section through the Back Bay to the waterfront

Massing Proposal
The allotment of green space to road is significantly reduced the more East one travels on the Esplanade – nearing the Harvard bridge.

Wind Analysis

Circulation

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Architect: Christopher Janning

In plan view it is quite easy to see that the entry is on the left, but my intent for this design was to strengthen the procession to the entry of the Baseball stadium. There was an intent to create a material style for the entire Athletic complex that could be recognized and understood as an Athletic facility.

Often I find it hard to justify the investment into athletic facilities, while the same investment is not put into the scholarly facilities. I often think of it only affecting the players involved — how the percentage of individuals involved in the program will not be accepted into the professional field, where the investment will be paid off. A recently published book The Rise of Stadiums in the Modern United Sates – Cathedrals of Sport, shed an inspiring parallel relationship to sport and community. Sport is replacing the cathedrals and civic buildings as the meeting place for man. I will end with an excerpt from that book:

Sport seduces the teeming ‘global village’; it is the new opiate of the masses; it is one of the great modern experiences; its attraction astonishes only the recluse; its appeal spans the globe. Without exaggeration, sport is a mirror in which nations, communities, men and women now see themselves. That reflection is sometimes bright, sometimes dark, sometimes distorted, sometimes magnified. This metaphorical mirror is a source of mass exhilaration and depression, security and insecurity, pride and humiliation, bonding and alienation. Sport, for many, has replaced religion as a source of emotional catharsis and spiritual passion, and for many, since it is among the earliest of memorable childhood experiences, it infiltrates memory, shapes enthusiasms, serves fantasies. To co-opt Gay again: it blends memory and desire.
The Rise of Stadiums in the Modern United States
Mark Dyreson and Robert Thumpbour

I think I just might get an iPad. When I am on my desktop growl keeps notifying me of emails, tweets, rss feeds, and instant messages. I can’t ever seem to keep my concentration on a single task. Congrats to apple for creating a machine that does not embrace the most technology, but is built for the human. Btw, all this might just be a justification for purchasing the iPad, but there is something to say about our civilization and multitasking. Our next generation will be far worse in starting many more things, but the completion rate will be far less.