Lessons from the underground : the pedagogic possibility of urban infrastructure

Abstract

There is no end of superlatives regarding Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel project [CA/T] , also known as "The Big Dig". Each day, as the budget grows and the construction progresses, another benchmark is passed. It has been ubiquitous in the city for over a decade, and yet, the goal of this project-that has literally torn through the earth of downtown, South Boston, East Boston, and finally stretched across the Charles River to Charlestown-is to conceal the enormous infrastructure change as much as possible. The artificiality of a city is easily forgotten-in part because it is tremendously complex to consider how a city is formed. Repeated visits to the same places yield distinct impressions. An enriched awareness of a place makes it unique among the complexity, a destination. This thesis proposes four new destinations, distributed along the CA/T path through Boston, that will enrich the awareness of the city and its supporting infrastructure. By strategically choosing installation points, each with different architectural requirements, unique aspects of the CA/T can be revealed. A visit to the four sites will yield an understanding-through direct physical experience-of the CAIT and its path through Boston, and of urban infrastructure there and elsewhere. All of the locations present opportunities to explain the myriad urban implications- from hydrology to neighborhood formation-inherent in such an enormous endeavor. The hope is to increase a visitor's awareness of their surroundings, and to foster the questions that lead to a deeper awareness of this and other places.