Window | Precinct | Housing | Thesis

North End Police Precinct | Critic: John Fernandez

We were assigned the challenge of designing a new police precinct for the historic North End of Boston. This is an area in transition, as the elevated highway gets submerged as part of the Big Dig project. This highway has served as an edge to the neighborhood: an eyesore to be sure, but also something of a wall, protecting the North End from encroaching development. I attempted to address this in the project by making a multilayered facade for the building: On the outside is a sheer wall meant to address the highway, and offer some idea of delineation after the highway disappears. Behind that is a pedestrian arcade, part of an attempt to create pedestrian interaction with the precinct house: A community center was part of the program, and in keeping with that a number of pathways lead from the community into a central semi-public space.

The first image shows an early painting of the proposal: the dark color represents the highways and tunnel entrance. The second shows a series of study models used to understand potential movement within the site. The six final sections, and a final model, comprise the last two images.