URBAN
PORCH

LANDSCAPE STRUCTURES & DETAILS,
THE NORTH END PARKS / AT CSS, FOR GGN

BOSTON (BIG DIG), MA

LANDSCAPE STRUCTURES & DETAILS,
THE NORTH END PARKS / AT CSS FOR GGN

Aerial view of North End Parks, set between two large roads and Boston’s red-brick clad North End, with two highways coming out from under them and headed underground again. From south-west to north east, the parks geometry shows bands/zones of: trees, bushes and plants, green lawns, walk-in fountains, dark brown steel pergolas covering a very wide walkway, and plants again.

Serving as the conceptual public porch of Boston’s historic North End, three urban-scale steel pergolas elegantly frame an elevated podium under which pedestrians can sit back and relax while looking out onto the modern city.

Designed by landscape architecture firm Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, the North End Parks, situated on top of The Big Dig sunken Interstate 93 tunnels, are incredibly thoughtfully conceived. While they are developed from the perspective of pedestrian experience, the design is also born out of a deep understanding of the site and its context.

The parks are layed out in zones of sensual experience and differing social interaction, which span their length. Layered between the two surface roads, on the more modern city side, is a zone of tall plants which engages the senses and allows for reflection. Partly shaded by high-rises, it frames a large grassy area open to larger and more dynamic social activities in the sun. That zone is followed by a hardscape covered in water, which invites people to play. Above that is a stone podium framed by thin, graceful pergolas whose geometry wane, waxes, angles, and curves, so that they, too, will appear to be part of the nature.

Throughout these zones are paths that lead people to various streets and landmarks on the site and in the North End. The Freedom Trail is integrated into the parks, and the history of the site can be read through markings in stone and bronze, with informational text integrated directly into the paving and handrail design (so that they don’t disrupt from the experience). Trees and plants have also been chosen that will bloom at the same time as important festivals in the North End.

It was a priviledge to participate on this very thoughtful public project. While I mainly developed the design of the pergolas, I also helped on the some of the paving and handrail design.

Although they are huge – with the biggest one over 220 ft long and almost 40 ft wide – the pergolas are meant to frame the podium, without attracting attention to themselves as sculptural objects. This was achieved through their flexing geometry, which becomes more open as they grow bigger toward the center of the park; by making them as thin-looking as possible; and by painting them a recessed, dark color.

Working for the local landscape architects, my specific tasks on this project were:

  • · developing the overall geometry of the pergolas (DD to CA), while taking into account the complex infrastructure of the highway tunnels just below, including ensuring that a whole bay can be removed for emergency access
  • · developing the design of the individual structural members and their connection details, including coordinating with and pushing the structural engineer to allow for more elegant and more minimal custom profiles
  • · coordinating with the electrical engineer to integrate (barely noticeable) lighting, electrical outlets, and bird-safe pigeon control
  • · keeping the pergolas within the $2M budget by researching and discussing the design with metal fabricators and galvanizers throughout the develoment process, including visiting metal shops & galvanizing plants
  • · ensuring a 1/16″ steel tolerance would be met across their huge sizes by drawing up each and every structural member for the builders
  • · constant communication with GGN, providing options for each and every detail and design concept
  • · developing some of the paving design and handrail details, including researching North End historic paving and visiting a local stone quarry
  • · participating in public design review meetings

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

  • · GGN, Design Landscape Architects (Shannon Nichol, Project Principal)
  • · CSS, Landscape Architects of Record (Deneed Crosby, Project Principal)

IOANA URMA’s ROLE

Project-based in-house design consultant at CSS, DD through beginning of CA: developed the pergolas, mainly, plus design/details for some of the paving and handrail

SITES

North End Parks, Rose Kennedy Fitzgerald Parkway, Boston

MATERIALS & DIMENSIONS

  • Pergolas (painted steel):
  • · 222′ x 28-39′ x 14-18′ tall
  • · 90′ x 30-36′ x 16-17′ tall
  • · 128′ x 15-27′ x 13-15′ tall
  • Parks (paved in grey granite): 3 acres

AWARDS (PARKS)

  • · 2012 Tucker Design Award, Building Stone Institute
  • · 2011 BSLA Honor Award
  • · 2010 WASLA Special Mention
  • · 2005 BSLA Merit Award for Design, Unbuilt Works

MEDIA (PARKS)

  • · Green City Spaces: Urban Landscape Architecture, Chris van Uffelen, Braun, Salenstein, 2013
  • · “Boston’s Big Dig”, Alex Krieger, Topos, Winter 2010
  • · “Park Here”, Sara Williams Goldhagen, New Republic, 10/2010

IMAGE CREDITS

Photos: Aerial & twilight shots with many people by Matt Conti; the rest by Ioana Urma. Construction drawings & Sketches: Ioana Urma at CSS, except foundation plan by Earth Tech.

Big steel pergola painted dark brown, changes rhythm and curves as it goes up and down vertically. It looks elegant against in its very lush green park setting, because it is made of long, but proportionally thin, structural members.
Construction plans of all three steel pergolas showing how they taper down in plan from the center of the parks out, how the large pergola covering the southern parcel curves in plan, and how the rhythm of the purlins becoming more dense away from the center of the park.
Colorful summer twilight in the park, with people walking and hanging out in social groups everywhere: on the grass, on the slightly elevated walk above the fountain zone which leads pedestrians into the space under the pergolas, and in the podium area under the pergolas. A few kids play in the walk in fountain as jets of water shoot up.
Vines are growing up on the dark brown painted steel purlins which form the leg part of the pergola which sits in the back side planted zone. Man in a red shirt sits in a row of elegantly angled golden benches, writing at a small round table he pulled close. The row of benches sits between a row of dark brown steel columns and a row of dark brown steel purlins, which are projecting out of the green bushes behind.
Man in a red shirt sits in a row of elegantly angled golden benches, writing at a small round table he pulled close. The row of benches sits between a row of dark brown steel columns and a row of dark brown steel purlins, which are projecting out of the green bushes behind.
Father next to toddler standing on golden trench drain grate in the long, walk-in fountain parallel to and below the pergola zone, bends down to touch water. The large paver slabs in the fountain have long diagonal groved lines on them inspired by the historic non-slip pavers in the North End.
The smallest dark brown painted steel pergola is seen at an angle behind layers of plants in the foreground.
Vines are growing up on the dark brown painted steel purlins which form the leg part of the pergola which sits in the back side planted zone.
Sketches of architectural details of the pergola’s construction, showing steel connections and electrical wiring.
Close-up view of a beam, showing the recessed-screw connection between beam sections, and the way that the purlins are hung off of the beam. Close- up view of the ends of the dark brown steel purlins which project out into the park, which are tapered. Close-up view of the downward projecting, rectangular dark brown light fixtures which are attached to the pergola beams. Close-up view of the connection between the downward purlin at the back of the pergola and the horizontal purlin parallel to the ground.
Close- up view of the ends of the dark brown steel purlins which project out into the park, which are tapered.
Close-up view of a beam, showing the recessed-screw connection between beam sections, and the way that the purlins are hung off of the beam.
People hanging out at twilight in the parks: on the grass, in the walk-in fountain beyond, and in the space framed by the large brown painted thin steel pergolas further back. The buildings of the North End can be seen through the pergola.
Working 3D model of the three pergolas shows how they grow toward the middle of the park, and shrink toward the outer edges.
Close-up view of the downward projecting, rectangular dark brown light fixtures which are attached to the pergola beams.
Tunnel view through all three steel pergola painted dark brown, highlighting continuity and rhythm of thin structural members. Some people are walking within the wide, semi-covered space paved with light grey stone, while others are sitting on metal benches and at metal tables.
Working 3D model of the three pergolas shows how they grow toward the middle of the park, and shrink toward the outer edges. Big brown painted purlin legs of the steel pergolas sitting in a long planted area along the street facing the North End.
Big brown painted purlin legs of the steel pergolas sitting in a long planted area along the street facing the North End.
Close-up view of the connection between the downward purlin at the back of the pergola and the horizontal purlin parallel to the ground.
Sketches of various options of covering the steel columns in bronze, showing assembly details and overall circumference dimensions.

One of the many detailed design studies looked at wrapping the steel pergolas in a bronze finish.

Photo-collage of the park in cross-section, going from the planted beds on the left, to the grassy fields and walk-in fountain in the center, to the brown painted steel pergolas on the elevated stone podium on the right.
On the left: Foundation plan of the big curved steel pergola, showing the insane amount of mechanical things below grade that the pergolas had to contend with and be designed around. On the right: A hand-drawn detail section sketch of the cantilever support structure for purlins sitting above an access panel.

Foundation plan shows the complexity of the highway tunnel infrastructure right below grade, which the pergolas had to be designed around.

Construction plan of geometry of large pergola which fans out as it curves.
Construction drawings of each and every member of all the pergolas on six sheets.

To ensure that the 1/16″ steel tolerance would be met and that the huge assemblies would fit together when erected on the site, and knowing that the lowest bidder would automatically get the project, I drew up each and every steel member.

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