Common Spaces I
An architectural intervention on the Boston Common exploring the synergy between organic and inorganic — a responsive surface that adapts to pedestrian movement, creating ambulatory, observational, and sedentary spaces.
Situated on a subdivided plot within the Boston Common, Common Spaces represents the synergy between the organic and inorganic. As society continues to forge into modernity, we must reevaluate architecture's responsibility to respond to the environment and user group.
The design process was initialized through the creation of a conceptual surface that responds to user movement. This surface was sliced into five-foot-wide lines, each manipulated in response to data collected on the movement habits of commuters through the common. In areas where higher traffic was observed, the secondary surface rises — exposing the existing pathway below.
As a multiuse space, we can extract three forms of play: ambulatory (accommodating movement above and below), observational (10 ft elevation provides views of the surrounding urban environment while retaining sightlines of the Massachusetts State House), and sedentary (unprogrammed open space with grass top surface providing seamless transition into the landscape).