Reusing the Orange Line : explorations of building associatively within an urban grid

Abstract

City grid organizations are a contextual reality. Given a dominant, all encompassing urban grid context, such as the South End area of Boston, Massachusetts and the opportunity for a small single-block sized intervention within, how does one deal with it? To what extent can the built environment, while ordering our existence, also allow association with the diversity of forms, uses, and activities around it? Furthermore, can understanding and transferring some of the underlying principles which govern the additive development of small, older, more associative urban centers, begin to provide clues which can aid us in creating richer and more associative urban environments? An alternative to methods of uniform alignment of building elements is sought. Greater multiplicity within the urban framework is desired though there are few natural landscape elements to guide the process. This thesis explores building more associatively relative to an urban grid. It attempts first to begin to understand the given site using five attributes of associative behavior: dimension, direction, registration, reciprocity and exchange. It then proposes an architectural solution which is a dynamic transformation of surrounding spatial, structural, formal, and use organizations into an organization of greater flexibility and association. The site concentrated upon in this work includes a 200 foot long vacant block area along Washington Street southeast of the comer of Massachusetts A venue, and portions of Washington Street and other streets adjacent to this vacant area. The area was initially built up around 1850. Surviving buildings are composed primarily of masonry partywall buildings. The site is a unique one, however, because of the existence of the Orange Line, a soon to be dismantled elevated rail system. Because of its mass, continuity, and noise, the Orange Line has been a barrier to the development of Washington Street and a major contributor to the decay of the area. Dismantled and introduced as an additional constituent system in a transformation process however, it now has an opportunity to contribute positively to the life of the area. Simultaneously, the Orange Line's relationship to Washington Street provides precedent for building associatively above the street zone, beyond the political limits of lotlines and city blocks.