Dana
Hogstedt
In the
Back Bay Fens I am creating an infrastructure, both conceptual and
physical that would facilitate the legitimization and reintegration
of the displaced populations of Boston back into civic life. To do
this I have chosen existing pieces of physical infrastructure within
the park and adapted them to serve the essential (immutable) needs
of the these populations, while creating spaces that can easily be
adapted to uses for the general population. The idea is that making
spaces that welcome and focus on those that have been previously dismissed
will make the park better for everyone.
The essential physical elements to be included in each of these structures
include an outlet for potable water, a basin for collection of water,
a place to affix belongings, an area off of the ground large enough
for a prone body, a space for the collection of refuse, and a space
for the collection of recyclables. The necessary conceptual ideas
to be provided for at each of these structures is a place of shelter,
a sense of privacy and most important the assurance of safety.
These given component, or immutables, would be manifest in each piece
of infrastructure adapted in the park, where the immutable of the
structure namely its support, becomes the support for the immutables
of its new use. However beyond this similarity, how these physical
and conceptual elements become manifest would depend on the structure
being adapted, its location within the park, its adjacencies and its
primary function be it a bridge, bleachers, a wall, bench etc.
This way of developing or re-developing the fens park suggests a strategy
for adapting infrastructural elements throughout the city for expanded
use, becoming a new way of designing the "permanent" elements of these
infrastructures, to allow them to support more than one population
and purpose and in essence make them truly civic.
|
|
|
