North Bank Bridge Park, IBI Placemaking, Massachusetts Trails, US Waterfront Architecture
North Bank Bridge Park, Boston
Apr 4, 2020
North Bank Bridge Park, Boston Landscape
Design: IBI Group, Architects
Location: waterfront – NCR Basin, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
North Bank Bridge Park : Creating the first river-edge connection between Charles River and the Boston Harbor
The North Bank Bridge Park project in Boston, MA reclaims a derelict underbridge space overwhelmed by vestigial industry, highway ramps, and the looming Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (built 2003), and transforms it into a safe, vibrant, welcoming, aesthetically pleasing and fun Underbridge Plaza, that gently tames its gritty urban character while still honoring it.
The IBI Group-designed bridge and its associated park component are the final park project in the NCR Basin, one that encompassed a complex public process, balancing the needs of several public agencies and numerous public constituents.
The 11-acre park contains waterfront esplanades, passive open space, and special treatment to animate the underbridge pedestrian environment on both the Boston and Cambridge sides of the river.
The planning process included siting a maintenance facility and accommodating such active recreation facilities as multi-use trails, soccer fields, tennis courts and a skateboard park, much of which will be added in future phases.
The centerpiece of this project is a multi-use bridge which features dramatic curvilinear or ‘sinusoidal’ structure that provides a counterpoint to the adjacent angular geometry of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge.
The North Bank Bridge, which provides pedestrian access across the commuter rail tracks leading into nearby North Station, finally executes famed landscape architect and Boston regional planner Charles Eliot’s century-old vision of connecting the parks along the Charles River with those of the Boston Harbor.
North Bank Bridge Park Boston Placemaking – Design Information
Client: Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation/Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation & Recreation
Plot area:11 Acres
Programme – typology: Parks & Open Spaces, Waterfronts
Design Team:
John Amodeo, Principal
Cathy Offenberg, Principal
Horace Aikman, Senior Associate, Director of Construction Technologies
Steven M. Woods, Jr., Senior Associate
Architectural Awards:
2017 WAN Awards, Landscape in Architecture Award
Boston Society of Landscape Architects, 2017 Excellence Award in Design
Photos: Chuck Choi Photography
Aerial photo: Mark Flannery Photography
North Bank Bridge Park, Boston Landscape Design images / information from IBI Group, Architects
Location: MA, USA
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