ResilienCITY
©
Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism “A new approach is called for on the waterfront – one that is both more deliberate and more experimental… The massive expanse of the South Boston waterfront, with its existing knowledge base, opportunity for growth, and world-class infrastructure is ripe to produce world-class products and services.” - Mayor Thomas M. Menino ResilienCity seeks to set the vision for the future of Boston’s Innovation District, a new neighborhood built on greyfield and brownfield sites that will provide residences and workplaces for over 300,000 people. We have reached the tipping point where we need to think of the whole, not the self. We have arrived at a time when we need to stop behaving selfishly and begin to explore how we can all come together as a community to create environments that are culturally enriching, healthier, and equitable. We come back to nature to do this. Our research and our solutions meet all of the imperatives set by the Living Building Challenge 2.0. Our 1100 acres of project site falls into the L5 and L6 higher density category. Our design strategy for this project initially focused on resolution of planning problems within the district. We relocated a cruise terminal that currently leaves visitors to Boston stranded in an industrial part of the city. We rerouted tractor-trailer trucks thereby eliminating the wide streets required by their size and turning radiuses. We closed a street to automobiles and replaced it with a trolley, bicycles, and pedestrians. We have proposed to install solar panels on the roof of an existing convention center and demonstrate that this can power over 250,000 homes. We have given 100 acres of land back to the sea to help foster a better relationship between people and the ocean and to address rising sea levels associated with global warming. All of these moves set the stage for deeper investigations that are advantageous to the relationship between nature and humankind.
Collaborators
William Plyler
William Plyler Human and Community Development Ph.D. student Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry, Natural Resources and Design West Virginia University
Chloe V. Green
Research Assistant, Massachusetts General Hospital Volunteer, Altneratives for Comminity Environments (ACE)
Special Thanks to: Chris Doherty Zhen Wu Tony Nguyen Naomi Sherman Alexandra Kontsevaia
who we are :: about us
Creative solutions to complex problems. THINK :: map-lab specializes in creating spaces where people interact - for work, enjoyment, and inspiration. Through our unique combination of architectural and project management experience, we continually explore ways to create these spaces by balancing each owner’s unique program with the appropriate design solution D E S I G N :: We understand the extraordinary pressures our clients face to attract the best talent, customers, and investors to their business. We also understand that creating beautiful and functional facilities can contribute greatly to a
client’s success. This is why as manager, architect, or planner, we skillfully guide our clients through the design process to deliver a thoughtfully-designed, artful space that fulfills their functional, operational, and financial needs CONS TRUCT :: As building professionals, we have an obligation to consider the infulence a project has on individuals, society, and the environment. Ultimately, we want to deliver a project that meets our clients needs but does so with an eye always on a beautiful, healthy, and well-thought design.
#1 WE LOVE A #2 BE RESPONSIBLE, CHALLENGE BUT NEVER #3 DESIGN FOR THE LONG RUN
#5 EARS MAKE
BE DULL
#4
PROGRESS IS NOT PROPRIETARY #6 BUILDINGS
GOOD PEOPLE TOOLS
ARE FOR
#7 ARCHITECTURE MATTERS
DAVID J. SILVERMAN
registered architect #9747 commonwealth of massachusetts massachusetts certified public purchasing official
David Silverman is a registered architect and President of map-lab. Prior to founding map-lab, David worked at MIT for four years as an in-house architect and then for six years as a Senior Project Manager on the $300 million dollar Ray and Maria Stata Center in Cambridge designed by the prominent architect Frank Gehry. map-lab was founded on the principles of the good work that David completed while at MIT. Guided by the belief that good design should accommodate the needs of the owner and occupants, we lead a collaborative process that offers the knowledge, perspective, and creative solutions to put the owner in control. David serves on the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of the Boston Architectural College and is the Co-chair of the Thesis Committee working with students on their final projects. He is also the Alumni Board President at the BAC. In addition,
David also works with thesis students at the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University. David collects snowglobes that are proudly displayed in the office and on the company website. Outside of the office, David enjoys playing guitar and congas and other hand drums. EDUCATION AND AFFILIATIONS :: David received a Bachelor of Architecture from Boston Architectural College. His affiliations and participations include, being the former treasurer and co-chairman for the Arlington Arts Council, a founding partner of the design studio named aStudio, and working closely with high school children for the Boston Latin Academy/Citybuild program.
STEPHEN E. MOORE
director of design and sustainable initiatives leed ap
Stephen joined map-lab in 2009 with thirteen years of experience in the field of architecture, to head up the firm’s overall design and integrate its sustainable initiatives. Since earning his Masters Degree in Architecture from Boston Architectural College in 2007, Stephen has focused exclusively on environmetally- and sociallyresponsible design, acting as the Sustainable Design and Research-Office Green Team Leader at Elkus Manfredi Architects and most recently, as a designer at Architerra where he collaborated on LEED-Gold and Platinum Buildings, as well as one of the first Zero Net Energy facilities in the Commonwealth. Stephen also practiced in New York City at Perkins & Will and the Liebman Melting Partnership (now a part of Perkins Eastman) from 2002 to 2003, respectively.
Stephen’s dedication to innovative design that respects the community and the environment was most recently recognized at the 2008 AIA National Convention, where the Boston Society of Architects awarded Stephen’s conceptual design of “Roxbury Gardens” in Dudley Square with the prize of Best Green Design. EDUCATION AND AFFILIATIONS :: Stephen graduated from the Boston Architectural College in 2007 with a Masters in Architecture degree. Previously he studied ecology and geology and also has a professional degree in interior design from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. He continues to teach at the Boston Architectural College, serving as an Advanced Studio Instructor, Guest Critic, and Thesis Advisor with a focus on sustainability and urban design.
DANIEL P. CONNOLLY
design project manager
Dan joined map-lab in 2008 as a design project manager. Since then, he has proven his ability to effectively assist on a variety of management, architecture, and planning projects, most notably on the New England Conservatory Pierce Hall project. While earning his Master’s Degree in Architecture at Northeastern University, Dan gained valuable experience working as a Community Planning / Urban Design Intern for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Prior to joining maplab Dan worked as a designer for such firms as Scott Payette Architects and Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects. Dan articulates his pas-
sion for design and urban planning on his blog: PanamArq and has helped to pioneer map-lab’s social media presence. EDUCATION AND AFFILIATIONS :: Dan received a Bachelor of Science as well as a Masters Degree in Architecture from Northeastern University in 2007. Recently he was selected to be a member of the Housing Subcommittee of the ONEin3 Boston Mayor’s Advisory Council, which advises the Mayor on issues related to 20-34 year olds in the City of Boston.
ABBY R. GORDON
design support UNDA program coordinator
Abby joined map-lab in January 2010 to fill two important roles. In her design and production role for map-lab, Abby provides support to projects and tasks during various stages of design and construction. Responsibilities include research, design, drawing production support, and detailing. Her first project at map-lab was researching, coordinating and designing material for the Boston Architectural Colleges Strategic Planning Retreat. Project work has included a laboratory renovation at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a new Synagogue building in Newton, Massachusetts. Abby’s second role is as the Program Coordinator and a Designer for the Urban Neighborhood Design Alliance (UNDA), the non-profit arm of map-lab. She coordinates, teaches, and implements programs as well as works to generate a community presence for UNDA through program development, volunteer recruiting and grant writing. Currently she coordinates and teaches two educational
programs, City/Build and Just Around the Corner. The City/Build program, geared toward city of Boston High school students promotes educating Boston Youth on the fields of design, development and construction. She hopes to generate career motivation and vested interest in their local communities. The Just Around the Corner Program provides middle school students with a new understanding of their school and home neighborhood’s social and architectural heritage. As a Designer for UNDA, Abby has developed graphics and marketing materials for UDNA. Abby currently studies Architecture at the Boston Architectural College where she is able to pursue her interests in community-centered socially and environmentally responsible design. Prior to joining City/Build, Abby worked in two of Boston’s small architectural firms and, at YouthBuild Boston’s Designery, developing curriculum and educating local high school students on sustainable design.
Site
Water
Energy
Health
Materials
Equity
Beauty
“We are going to have to find ways of organizing ourselves cooperatively, sanely, scientifically, harmonically and in regenerative spontaneity with the rest of humanity around earth... We are not going to be able to operate our spaceship earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody.” - R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)
Project Imperatives
Site:
Materials:
Our design proposal for Boston’s Innovation District incorporates a strategy of new canals that gives 100 acres of land back to the sea and provides for roof gardens and living walls throughout the district with the goal of re-establishing long lost ecological conditions. In total our proposal provides over 15 million square feet of green spaces for recreation and green roofs. In addition, we transform a major downtown Boston street into a pedestrian friendly boulevard modeled after the Ramblas in Barcelona.
An important part of our strategy is reuse of existing buildings and a self-imposed limitation of 500 km radius for sourced materials. All buildings in ResilienCity will contain a building nutrition label that provides nutritional value to occupants. This label will provide information about energy, water, waste, and will also warn occupants of red list materials. In addition, the label will provide occupants with the current embodied energy “debt” related to the building construction.
Water:
Equity:
Our net zero strategy includes transforming an existing bus tunnel into a 20 million gallon district water cistern. Our “coastline” restoration at the Canal Districts residential developments remove existing hardened edges (granite seawalls) to provide permeable surfacing that allow for aquifer recharge through reconstructed wetlands.
Energy:
Our energy strategy provides 4 times what is required in our district. Our project is able to do this using a variety of processes including photovoltaic systems on building roofs and the roads, biogas using organic waste, and MicroCHP strategies at individual building scales.
Health:
We have designed ResilienCity to encourage all visitors, workers, and occupants to be active and educated about their health. Vehicular traffic has been substantially reduced in the ResilienCity by increasing public transportation and by relocating the tractor-trailer trucks to a new Eco Industrial Zone.
We have stitched ResilienCity together with the previously divided South Boston community and provided them with new waterfront and a new trolley system. From a planning perspective the community will feature programs that help build community including day care facilities, an elementary school, a food market, a medical center, and community center buildings for residential areas.
Beauty:
Our project provides for educational opportunities about nature, self (health), buildings, and community. Along with the physical signage (nutrition labels on buildings and functional diagrams of the ecosystem at work) comes the embrace of the ever expanding “ondemand” information and the devices evolving to meet that demand for information. By taking the precedent of the carbon card deployed (in research) by London, we expand on that to create a model for the engagement and tracking activities. This “carbon card” (though really it’s a resource card) is an embedded synthesis of the economic (debit card) and the ecological (embodied energy factors) “costs” of things. This device, an evolution of smart phone technologies, becomes your “wallet”. Accessed by the user only, through bio-activation, are your ID card, your communications/data accessing device, your credit/debit card, embodied energy measurer, as well as health status (i.e. blood sugar levels, cholesterol, etc.).
Site Petal 1 Site: The design intent of ResilienCity meets all of the imperatives for Site. Existing Conditions All sites in our 1100-acre area project are built on greyfield and brownfield sites. Of these 1100 acres, approximately 25 percent of this area is currently used as asphalt parking lots. There are some planned developments already permitted (Fan Pier and Seaport Square projects) that are beginning to move forward as the economic conditions for Boston allows. Shown here for reference is a layering of maps showing Boston’s landfill history since 1630. This pattern has led to an unnatural expansion of Boston over time. The Floor Area Ratio of our project site is 1.5 - 4.0 (both L5 and L6 depending on site location). The existing height restrictions are 200’ near the Boston Harbor and 50’ at the waters edge and 300’ at the southern end of the district. This FAR requires a 10% mandatory agricultural allowance for a L5 and no mandatory requirement for our higher density areas.
Currently, the only existing “major” parks in this neighborhood are “green roofs” on two parking garages. While lowering the heat island effect and providing a space for recreation, these are maintained monocultural lawns with some non-native ornamental grasses/plantings requiring irrigation, and petrochemical (fertilizer & pesticide) needs. Also, these parks do not “recharge” the aquifers through percolation. The current site location is home to storage and warehouse facilities and delivery storage companies (UPS, Federal Express, and DHL). As a result, large tractor-trailer and box trucks drive throughout the project area throughout the day and night. Limits to Growth: Our Solution
LG
Our design proposal for Boston’s Innovation District reverses Boston’s expansion pattern by giving 100 acres of land back to the sea to help prepare for rising sea levels associated with global warming.
Existing Conditions: Innovation District boundary, 1100-acres.
Existing Conditions: Innovation District Trucking.
Existing Conditions: Innovation District energy supply.
Existing Conditions: Innovation District mass transit.
Existing Conditions: Innovation District Green, toxic & impervious spaces.
Existing Conditions: Innovation District grocers.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ymx9e66vrGc/TMdNwsfXDqI/AAAAAAAAM3M/K3adz8IaH2w/s1600/boston_landfill_full.jpg
Existing Conditions: Aerial.
Fan Pier
Congress St Ramlas
Seaport Square Canal District Agriculture Zone Performing Arts Mid-Rise Community
Maritime Institute
Aquaponics Zone
Eco-Industrial Zone
Canal District
Canal District
Proposed Innovation District: Aerial.
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Site Urban Agriculture: Our Solution
UA
Our design proposal for Boston’s Innovation District is of a lesser density than the allowable FAR and we dedicate 12% of our land, roofs, and building facades to urban agriculture. Our design strategy seeks to create a healthy walkable city where visitors, workers, and residents alike are always aware of their current health condition. The RMD (resource management device) allows everyone to be aware of their heart rate and caloric intake and as a result people know when to exercise, take a rest, or have an apple. Our proposal seeks to provide a shift in assessment of value to include a tally total “caloric capacity” of development. We need to have an evaluation of the building’s capacity to grow food as a metric for building performance and by extension its marketability to those who wish to grow there. Urban agriculture is possible throughout our site offering a variety or opportunities for visitors and residents to get fresh fruit, vegetables, and eggs. We have estimated that our project site can provide 13% - 20% of the required USDA calories to the 100,000 residents that will live in the Innovation District. We are able to do this by using greenhouses, vertical farms, aquaponics, and controlled ecological life support systems. These systems offer year round agricultural production to meet dietary and cultural needs as well as offering year-round economic benefits. We anticipate that short storage crops such as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, etc. are well adapted to controlled growing conditions and are economically feasible in these systems. In addition to public urban gardens and greenhouses there are multiple strategies proposed to meet the caloric needs. High-density residential developments integrate capabilities to grow greens, herbs, etc. in each unit. This allows for a diversification of production varieties, and reduces the demand on other areas for production. At the exterior of the residential developments space is devoted to fruit trees and other long-term storage items.
grown hydroponically.
HE
Habitat Exchange: Our Solution
CF
Car Free Living: Our Solution
Our design proposal for Boston’s Innovation District incorporates a strategy of new canals that gives 100 acres of land back to the sea and provides for roof gardens and living walls throughout the district with the goal of re-establishing long lost ecological conditions. In total our proposal provides over 15 million square feet of green spaces for recreation and green roofs.
The Boston Innovation District is completely accessible by new public transportation trolleys, bicycle paths, and an innovative elevated bicycle called Shweeb. The design extends the existing subway system’s Green Line trolley along the currently underutilized Congress Street (we have closed an existing street). Accessibility issues along Congress Street improve considerably as curbs are eliminated in this car free zone. The trolley as a mode of transportation is also more accessible and more safe for everyone including sight impaired individuals as the sound of the trolley car rolling up to station stops is more legible than the anonymous drone of buses stuck in traffic. Bicycle paths are provided throughout and help connect the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to this Innovation District. It is expected that new businesses will establish themselves in incubator facilities if proper transportation modes are provided to this neighborhood. All of the existing truck traffic has been relocated to a separate shared facility in a new Eco-Industrial Zone that will shorten travel distances, isolate and treat exhaust, and provide for more efficient freeway access. Tractor-trailers are no longer expected to travel throughout ResilienCity.
It is also proposed to have chicken coops on the building roofs for the production of eggs. Chicken manure and compost are a great nutrient source and will be beneficial to our urban agriculture needs. In addition we will create an interior agricultural production facility in a large existing industrial building that will be devoted to aquaponics production for fish. This facility will also include long and short storage crops. The fish in an aquaponic system provides a protein source as well as a nutrient source for the vegetables
Enclosed residential plant growth area.
Residential building section.
Updated MBTA plan.
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Shweeb: elevated bike rail
Agriculture roof.
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Community bike shelter.
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Water Petal 2 Water: The design intent of ResilienCity meets all of the imperatives for Water. Net Zero Water: Our Solution Our solution for the ResilienCity gathers 100% water from captured precipitation and closed loop systems. Based on historical data, Boston receives 44 inches of rain every year. This amounts to 1.3 trillion gallons of rain on our 1100 acre site. 32% of current residential indoor water use goes to flushing toilets and 22% is used for showers (source: The Worlds Water 2004-2005 p113). Our closed loop waste system takes the composting toilet to the next logical level by incorporating methane digesters into the system, producing biogas that is used as the fuel supply for the micro-CHP energy system for the buildings. The processed solid waste is nutrient rich and can be used as fertilizer.
NZ
Smart meters can track use (the “gas tank� indicator) that will show how much stored water remains based on the storage tank/cistern integrated into the building systems. Sizing of the cistern will be based on average per person use. In existing commercial buildings that do not have a storage capacity suitable, they will be eligible to tap into the Silver Line Tunnel District Cistern. The Silver Line Tunnel District Cistern, created from an existing tunnel currently used for bus transit will be replaced by our cistern with a 20 million gallon water capacity, will also serve as RODI/UV Filtration Plant in order to provide potable water for distribution to buildings unable (do to existing constraints as evaluated by 3rd Party determiners) to store their own water. This should be seen as the fail safe and security measure vault for the districts water supply. With the escalation of water security issues and failing water infrastructure (as seen last summer in Boston), self-sufficient districts will stem the tide. It will also serve as tidal rise vessel where rising ocean water can enter the tunnel via the Ft. Point Channel and pass thro a series of locks (with back flow prevention) that at fullest capacities is desalinated, purified, and redistributed (topping off) to point within the system as needed. Landscaping (traditionally 35% of commercial and industrial water use) will be done by xeriscape.
toilet 32%
shower 22%
washer 25%
other 3%
sink 18%
RMD (resource management device) monitors water usage and expenses.
Mixed use development.
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Water Ecological Waterow: Our Solution 100% of storm water and building water discharge will be handled onsite or through natural timed release methods such as biofiltration. Buildings will capture what they can and reuse water where they need and can. In cases where conditions limit that ability the system will be supported through a district cistern system.
EW
Our “coastline� restoration at the Canal Districts residential developments remove existing hardened edges (granite seawalls) to provide permeable surfacing that allow for aquifer recharge through reconstructed wetlands. These reconstructed wetlands work, along with building integrated living systems to provide a defensive system for removing particulate matter from surface runoffs as well as surplus waste streams. Our Congress Street Ramlas provides bioswales for rainwater filtration and a permeable transit way for our new proposed trolley system. We believe cooperative legislation must accompany any district with measures that prevent private corporations from tapping fresh water reserves for the purpose of profit. Water rights as a measure of social justice must be maintained. Private corporations must also follow the same rules as all individual-scale water allotments and collect and store based on capacity. Use will be dictated and measured thus incentivizing greater commitments to efficiency measures in production. Private well extractions should be linked to watershed and replenishment data that caps extraction based on real time data to eliminate repercussions to overall water access rights (draining the aquifer for private gain). Watering systems for agriculture of any scale can be done with efficiency measures and drip irrigation. Though, as the Land Institute is attempting to create the standard for, profitable farming techniques that utilize polyculture crop strategies that build natural resiliency, requiring less capital and overall labor to run a farm. This strategy also reduces dependency on petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides from entering the water tables.
Canal home.
Projected 4’ sea level rise by 2035.
Coastline restoration: reconstructed wetlands
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Energy Petal 3 Energy: The design intent of ResilienCity meets all of the imperatives for Energy. Net Zero Energy: Our Solution
NZ
Our solution for the ResilienCity provides almost 400% of the project’s energy needs with systems that are both site and district supplied. We have calculated that 5,741,020,030 kwh/ yr is required and are able to provide 21,626,228,200 kwh/ yr. Our project is able to do this using a variety of processes including photovoltaic systems on building roofs and the roads, biogas using organic waste, and MicroCHP strategies at individual building scales. Our solution first places solar panels on the existing Convention Center roof. This is a new facility planning an addition that considered solar panels when the building was initially constructed. At an estimated 1215kWh/SF production and 724,000 SF of uninterrupted solar access, the array will produce 8.6 million kWh/day. This is enough to power 287,000 homes (at 30 kWh/day average need). In addition to this large solar array, and the arrays placed on buildings throughout ResilienCity, we are proposing to use Solar Roadways throughout our project. This product is still in the research phase but holds promise. Because this product has not yet come to market we have not included the amount of energy that it would produce in our calculations.
green line light rail turns down bypass road to provide south boston residential core with dedicated transit service
rooftop solar array will provide energy for 250,000 homes
NEW RESIDENTIAL RAIL CORRIDOR (Bypass Road)
ENERG NEW AGRICULTURE & ENERGY INNOVATION CENTER @ THE BOSTON CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTER
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Solar Roadway components
GY Y
truck exhaust is filtered through the “growing” layer of vegetation
NEW COMMERCIAL E Street TRUCKING & RAIL DISTRIBUTION FACILITY
NEW RESIDENTIAL CANAL DISTRICT
Mixed use development.
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Energy Our next part of our energy strategy is a waste-to-energy strategy, a progressive approach to diverting methane-intense organic waste from landfills to a district energy supply resource (biogas). Methane is a greater threat as a greenhouse gas than CO2, thus aiding our push towards carbon neutrality. This allows for a relatively painless conversion of existing energy infrastructure that currently uses natural gas (also methane-based) saving tremendous embodied energy factors in building new energy delivery infrastructure (as well as high public costs). The use of organic waste streams for energy will divert from landfills requiring individuals to separate all wastes into appropriate categories into biogas. At the individual level we are proposing MicroCHP (Combined Heat and Power) at the individual building scale and energy efficiency measures and strategies such as energy efficient appliances and occupancy sensors and other smart building systems. Regarding construction methods, we promote Passivhaus strategies including shading strategies in the Summer months and thermal mass design for passive heating and cooling. Because our proposal creates far more energy than is necessary for our 1100 acre site, we propose to retrofit the existing South Boston power plant on Summer Street for efficient distribution of our excess energy to other adjacent communities.
Harvest Energy cycle
Innovation District Site Section
Canal home.
DISTRICT ENERGY DELIVERY
RECYCLING (non-compost)
FARM GRADE COMPOST
NEW RESOURCE MATERIAL
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Health Petal 4 Health: The design intent of ResilienCity meets all of the imperatives for Health. Civilized Environment: Our Solution Our solution for the ResilienCity provides fresh air and daylight to every occupiable space. Our design for new commercial-scale buildings caps heights so that they don’t interrupt solar access to adjacent buildings. Our design also features centralized atrium spaces providing light corridors for typically internalized programs. These spaces expand the occupiable area for active programs. Vertical transportation in the buildings will also allow for a more equitable approach to wayfinding by locating stairwells and elevators near natural light to help visitors orient themselves in unfamiliar buildings.
CE
An important part of our project is consideration of people of all ages and we intend to provide an elementary school and day care programs. Schools for young children help build community and we envision a community that welcome children throughout. A problem that we are addressing is that particulate matter tends to waft at the “stroller” level due to the fact it is heavier than cleaner air. We propose to address this by creating passive solar chimneys to capture black carbon from the ground level. These would be incorporated into new buildings throughout ResilienCity. Mentioned earlier, our site strategies for landscaping, bioswales, urban agriculture, and reconstructed wetlands all help towards carbon neutrality while acting as a cleansing mechanisms for air and water.
Healthy Air: Our Solution Our proposal features a number of strategies to provide for clean air indoors and outdoors. At the building level we provide dirt tracking and walk off mat strategies. Regarding dirt, an important lesson here is that the issue is really the black carbon particulate matter and petrochemical toxins usually stagnant on the surface of impermeable paths and roadways. Separate exhaust for kitchen, bathrooms, copy rooms, janitorial closets and chemical storage spaces must also be provided for. ASHRAE 62 compliance for ventilation rates and the related CO2 monitoring will also be provided. Smoking is not allowed in buildings in Boston and smoking will not be allowed near building fresh air intakes or entrances.
HA
Vehicular traffic has been substantially reduced in the ResilienCity by increasing public transportation and by relocating the tractor trailer trucks to a new Eco Industrial Zone.
RMD (resource management device) monitors personal health
green line light rail turns down bypass road to provide south boston residential core with dedicated transit service
NEW RESIDENTIAL RAIL CORRIDOR (Bypass Road)
rooftop solar array will provide energy for 250,000 homes
NEW AGRICULTURE & ENERGY INNOVATION CENTER @ THE BOSTON CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTER
Congress Street Rambla
truck exhaust is filtered through the “growing” layer of vegetation
NEW COMMERCIAL E Street TRUCKING & RAIL DISTRIBUTION FACILITY
NEW RESIDENTIAL CANAL DISTRICT
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Health Biophilia: Our Solution ResilienCity promotes human interactions with natural systems and processes. The Canal Districts residential development “softens� the existing hard edged granite seawall so that people can experience the changing of the tides on a regular basis. The canals bring light into homes and businesses in exciting and surprising new ways and with the sky change the surrounding colors. A canal added into an existing alley between two existing industrial buildings connects nature and people together in a powerful new way. Natural shapes and forms are used at the waters edge and where new canals are introduced.
BP
Throughout the district environmental features like bioswales, living walls, new shade trees, and natural landscape elements including once threatened plant species provide a closer connection to the natural world. Our urban agriculture solutions help teach people about the sensitivity of natural systems. Chicken coops on the roof of a resident that reuses chicken manure as compost offers learning opportunities for children.
Canal connects nature to people within the district.
Mixed use development.
Existing Conditions: Innovation District Green, toxic & impervious spaces.
Existing Conditions: Innovation District grocers.
Proposed Innovation District: Aerial. Connects people within the district to nature and provides a healthy active lifestyle.
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Materials Petal 5 Materials: The design intent of ResilienCity meets all of the imperatives for Materials. Red List: Our Solution We believe that one of the most important points raised in this section is transparency. New buildings are being planned and constructed today that we know we will need to remediate in the 2035 ResilienCity. It will be a requirement that none of the Red List materials be used in new buildings in 2035 and also that current building owners document any red list materials they are aware of for future remediation. All buildings in ResilienCity will contain a building nutrition label that provides nutritional value to occupants. This label will provide information about energy, water, waste, and will also warn occupants of red list materials. In addition, the label will provide occupants with the current embodied energy “debt” related to the building construction.
RL
Embodied Carbon Footprint: Our Solution All new buildings will be required to calculate their total building footprint. Shown here is an example of the embodied energy for the major building components of a 1000 cubic foot building. The carbon “debt” of a building will be public knowledge and building owners will need to advertise this information as mentioned above on the nutrition label. Companies seeking to rent space will also be required to pay for carbon offsets relative to their build out of space.
EC
Solar Energy Elements Roof Insulation Fireproofing
Windows
Walls
Asbestos Cadmium Formaldehyde Halogenerated Frame Retards
Doors Foundation
Building Envelope
Lighting
Heat Plumbing
Lead PVC
Building Envelope
Mercury Phthalate e PVC C Lead ead Formaldehyde Formalde ormalde
Fiberglass Silica Zinc Vapor-deposited aluminium Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) Chlorine-free plastics
Building Envelope
Citrate-based plasticizers Chlorine-free plastics Steel Concrete
Ceiling Flooring
Building Components
Steel Concrete Wood
Building Structure
Red list materials.
Building Components
Asbestos-cement Halogenerated Frame Retards Lead Cadmium Wood treatments containing Creosote, Arsenic and Pentachlorophenol
Building Structure
Building Components
Portland Cement, Silica or cement-bonded wood fiber Fiberglass Zinc Vapor-deposited aluminium
Building Structure
Glass 3
Embodied Energy per 1000 ft
293
354
Timber
16,250
2,760
Steel
1,628
389, 550
1,740
kwh/ft3
Concrete
Walls
Floors
Roof Building components and information are listed on plaques on the facade so the public is educated on the built environment and its impact.
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Materials Responsible Industry/ Appropriate Sourcing: Our Solution ResilienCity incorporates place-based solutions and supports a regional economy rooted in sustainable practices, products and services. We believe that due to our location in Boston we can do better than the restrictions shown in the Living City Appropriate Sourcing chart. It is intended that Boston’s Innovation District will be home to many companies from the green technology sector (50% of MIT faculty are working on sustainable practices at all scales) and as a result we are hoping to implement new strategies being developed in the neighborhood. We intend to source all materials and consultants within a 500 km radius of our project site. Furthermore, we advocate for sustainable resource extraction and fair labor practices. Boston was built on local materials and we believe it is time to do this again.
RI
Conservation + Reuse: Our Solution ResilienCity will renovate existing buildings and all of them will meet all petal intentions. For buildings that are deemed unsafe that cannot be reused materials will be salvaged for reuse in new buildings. Waste will be minimized in new building construction and all designs for new buildings will be required to plan for End of Life Phase adaptable reuse and deconstruction. All buildings will need to document their building operations plans regarding building systems management and durability of materials. Building material waste will be collected for recycling and/ or energy biomas use. Construction and deconstruction of buildings will be done in a way that is respective and sympathetic to nature.
CR
Existing Site: All construction will meet petal intentions.
Material sourced from local enconomy.
Proposed Canal: materials are locally sourced.
Existing Site: materials will be salvaged for reuse in new buildings
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Equity Petal 6 Equity: The design intent of ResilienCity meets all of the imperatives for Equity. Human Scale + Humane Places: Our Solution The design and planning for ResilienCity is human-scaled throughout the district and the project embodies active design principles that encourage people to travel by foot or bike and discourages the use of the automobile. Bike share programs and covered parking for bicycles is provided throughout ResilienCity. We envision the car-free Congress Street Ramlas to be thriving with pedestrian activity with restaurants and retail lining up both sides of the street. The pedestrian experience will be enlivened with maximum transparency and multiple entrances to retail and restaurants along the Ramlas. Additionally, colorful awnings will mark entrances and provide opportunities for pedestrians to close their umbrellas during inclement weather. Building lobbies will be accessible to the public so that on bad weather days pedestrians will be able to navigate the neighborhood indoors. Our pedestrian friendly Solar Roadways system
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Congress Street Rambla
will have a built in snow melt system that will not ice up. ResilienCity, like other successfully scaled cities, has a variety of outdoor community scaled places for use by the public. Open air markets provide opportunities for people to sell their fruits, vegetables, eggs, chickens, and fish – all of which are produced within the neighborhood. It is expected that other organic farmers will also come to these markets from western Massachusetts and other New England states as a result of the ease and increased public transportation options. From a planning perspective the community will feature programs that help build community including day care facilities, an elementary school, a food market, a medical center, and community center buildings for residential areas. A performance arts center is also located centrally in ResilienCity and performers will be performing sustainably (LED lighting, carbon offset, electric or alternative energy fuels such as vegetable oil based biofuel for their tour transportation). This will be the expectation in this district for performers and will be normal practice in 2035. In addition, a Maritime Institute is located where there is an existing drydock and this will attract college students.
Proposed Site: accesibility to performing arts, greenspace, public transportation, seaport and downtown Boston.
5 minute walking radius within district.
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Equity Democracy + Social Justice: Our Solution Our project abuts an existing thriving community in South Boston. This neighborhood of Boston has more lowincome and moderate income housing than any other Boston neighborhood. The existing condition between this neighborhood and the Innovation District is a heavily trafficked street and a street of industrial buildings. We propose to add another extension of the Green Line trolley system along this street edge to discourage car use. Our new Canal Districts also help to ease this transition by creating a lower scale of buildings that invite existing South Boston residents to the waterfront. ResilienCity will maintain the already high percentage of affordable housing that South Boston has and will require that 15% of new housing meet the affordable housing standard.
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According to the Administration on Aging, “between 2010 and 2050, the United States is projected to experience rapid growth in its older population. In 2050, it is expected the number of Americans aged 65 and older is projected to be 88.5 million, more than double it’s projected population of 40.2 million in 2010”. We can longer design for accessibility as if we are designing for a minority of the population. Our proposal provides complete access throughout ResilienCity at all scales, from the urban scale to the pedestrian scale. Following is a list of criteria being established throughout ResilienCity to encourage active pedestrian use and full accessibility:
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Rights to Nature: Our Solution
ResilienCity provides fresh air, natural light and expands access to Boston’s harbor. The Canal District residences are open to the public and allow visitors to explore the water’s tidal edge and natural plantings and vegetation. This access ties into a Harborwalk plan established by the City of Boston. Currently most of the water’s edge at the existing site is inaccessible to the public. An existing 500 meter long industrial building runs parallel to the shoreline on our site. We have opened up the entire length of the building (see image) to provide full access to the water’s edge. All rooftops have full access to sun – this is critical for our thriving roof gardens, many of which have greenhouses or chicken coops. New buildings are arranged so that adjacent buildings minimize shadows to the first 15 meters above street level.
1. Benches for rest will be provided every 200’ throughout the district. These “rest stops” will all provide something to look at or do and all will be shaded. 2. Where stairs are provided they will be wider than normal and will have shallow comfortable risers. Interior stairs will have rests at landings between floors. 3. Ramps will be incorporated naturally and efficiently into the landscape. 4. Urban design should incorporate predictability into the planning strategy to help orient pedestrians. Landmarks, markers, and gridded streets at the mid-rise community have been incorporated to help people to become familiar with ResilienCity. 5. Related to above, streets will use a nomenclature of names that assists with familiarity. As an example, the mid-rise community that is gridded will have alphabetical street names running north to south and numbers running east to west. 6. Street signs will be located on buildings and will include Braille. A hearing assistance system will also be provided for the hearing impaired. 7. Paving materials will be considered to make certain they are easy under foot and don’t create trip hazards. 8. Vertical transportation in the buildings will also allow for a more equitable approach to wayfinding by locating stairwells and elevators near natural light to help visitors orient themselves in unfamiliar buildings. 9. Public spaces will be designed to accommodate use throughout the year. Some of the mid-rise community buildings will have covered streets that allow natural light while protecting users from the weather.
Charlestown
Allston/ Brighton
NorthEnd West End Beacon Hill Back Bay Fenway/ Kenmore
South End
Downtown Chinatown Innovation District South Boston
Roxbury Jamaica Plain
West Roxbury
Mattapan
Hyde Park
Boston Neighborhoods.
Dorchester
Roslindale
East Boston
Street names are listed on plaques facade so the public can read them in various languages as well as braille.
Buildings react to the environment around them and create safe healthy places for people to enjoy.
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Beauty
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I wake up early with sunlight streaming in my bedroom and get up to make coffee. It’s going to be a long day as I have a couple of meetings to prepare for and attend and I need to pick up some food for dinner tonight. Luckily, I can do most of this in ResilienCity as the planners paid attention to creating this wonderful part of Boston modeled on some of the best parts of Europe such as Paris, Barcelona, and Amsterdam.
I pick some fresh strawberries for the children’s cereal from the greenhouse off our kitchen and we enjoy our breakfast overlooking the Boston harbor. We live in one of the Canal District residences and we enjoy a really great sense of community.
We always walk to day care, which is only about 10 minutes away. On nice days, and when we have the time, we take alternate routes to day care to explore different parts of the neighborhood. The district offers educational signage to explain how the variety of systems and ecosystems within the neighborhood work. I love that my children will be raised informative citizens who understand the workings of the environment around them.
Walking is easy to do because cars are not usually around – there is no street parking and streets are used primarily by pedestrians and bicycles. This is unusual for Boston – it is clear that the planners spent some time traveling in some nice car free cities.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YyfV7SWJd4Q/RuBJ-5bjehI/AAAAAAAAAq4/ngRkqFIDS0g/ IMG_0120.JPG
I grab one of the bike-share bicycles to ride back to ResilienCity to grab lunch. I’ll go back along the Ramlas since it is car free and there are lots of lunch options – my favorite though is the Living City Café which only sells organic food, much of which is grown or prepared in ResilienCity. I park the bike and grab lunch and get a vegetable quiche made with 100% ingredients from the neighborhood! After lunch it’s back on the bike and off to the Maritime Institute where my company is being interviewed to help create their new brand identity. Sometimes I wonder why we used cars for so long – it’s so much easier to get around on the bike!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Barcellona_ramblas_2004_09.jpg
The interview went well, I think we got it – of course it didn’t hurt when I told them I lived a 5-minute walk away. Now I need to go to the market to pick up some food for dinner tonight. I’m going to head over to the aquaponic building to get some fresh fish – we have such great seafood here in Boston! The fun part about this trip is that I get to take the Shweeb, an elevated bicycle “pod” that gets me there quick while looking at the amazing views of ResilienCity, the skyline, and the airport across the Harbor.
http://cdn.mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2010/10/15/1287135907292-130liww1oih43-500-90-500-70.jpg
In addition to the community building where we have functions, there are many opportunities to see our neighbors in and around the canals. Most everyone goes for a walk at some point during the day or evening because the planners did such a nice job designing these canals. Because they are tidal, the light and color outside is always different and the plantings change with the season. The kids love playing in the water, especially at low tide when the water is shallow.
It’s time to get the kids up and off to day care where they spend most of the day with their Grandmother. This facility has an intergenerational programming component that has really started to catch on given the aging baby boomers. My mother has a bad back and has a difficult time getting around however she enjoys spending time during the day with the kids – this lifts her spirits and the kids get to grow up with her. http://www.estatevaults.com/bol/_Intergenerational_Day_Care.jpg
Today we meander through the mid-rise community buildings – these are interesting because they all have streets that cut through them and it is common to see markets set up, street musicians playing, or people sitting outside at cafes. The day care is in one of these buildings and the street that cuts through the block is actually the playground. This is nicely designed – much more natural with landscaped hills and water features – a refreshing change from the usual brightly colored play structures typically found in playgrounds. Kids will always like digging in dirt and water.
Okay, the kids are dropped off and it’s off to my first meeting. I need to travel now to the Financial District and can easily do this by jumping on the train at the Congress Street Ramlas. Since moving to ResillienCity I don’t like going into the Financial District – with the 30 and 40 storey buildings it always seems so dark over there compared to my neighborhood. The Ramlas is one of the nicest parts of Boston. This makes it interesting to look out from the trolley at the bustling activity.
We are having my mother over for dinner tonight – fish, a nice salad, and some roasted potatoes all grown in ResilienCity and we’ll sit outside looking across rooftop gardens to admire the amazing city views. My mother has a bad back and has been in a wheelchair for the last five years. She lives by herself in the mid-rise community buildings that are wonderfully designed for people of all abilities. Despite her condition, she tells me it is easy for her to take the chair over to our place without assistance because there are never any cars around and it is very easy to get around. We finish up dinner and clean up - another thing that always surprises me is how much we used to throw away when I was a kid – everything now is recycled or composted. Well, it’s back to bed and we start all over again tomorrow – how lucky we are to live in ResilienCity!
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
Beauty Inspiration and Education: Our Solution The “nutrition label” – this is a key educational facet to ResilienCity. Buildings especially have an incredible impact on resources. To be in better balance the amount you take for a building must be given back in equal measure. The labeling of the building and district that measures the embodied resourcing for their creation puts in greater perspective the responsibilities of the clients, designers, builders, and inhabitants that we bare equal responsibility to steward a natural balance. The buildings in ResilienCity are open year round for educational programs and tours.
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“how does this work” - signage throughout the district explains what is happening in the landscape (bioswales, canal-wetland relationships) in order to promote not just transparency as to how systems are actually working but also that we can plan with intention. If we want “zero waste” we need to explain how you get there. One particular strength of our project is the distribution of responsibility (from district to building to individual). If you put it all on one or the other the objective is too easily passed on to someone else to “fix” the problem. RMD (resource management device) – along with the physical signage (nutrition labels on buildings and functional diagrams of the ecosystem at work) comes the embrace of the ever expanding “on-demand” information and the devices evolving to meet that demand for information. By taking the precedent of the carbon card deployed (in research) by London, we expand on that to create a model for the engagement and tracking activities. This “carbon card” (though really it’s a resource card) is an embedded synthesis of the economic (debit card) and the ecological (embodied energy factors) “costs” of things. This device, an evolution of smart phone technologies, becomes your “wallet”. Accessed by the user only, through bio-activation, is your ID card, your communications/data accessing device, your credit/debit card, embodied energy measurer, as well as health status (ie blood sugar levels, cholesterol, etc.). In the same way that we cultivate the longevity of our environmental elements and the structures of a city, growing a population that will inherit and steward the city in the desired ways is essential. A livable city is one with good schools that are locationally and economically accessible to all families and which raise intellectually and emotionally healthy and strong young people. Beyond primary and secondary schools, a livable city has paths for these young people to transition well into adulthood- ample college and job-training opportunities, strong spiritual and ethical and intellectual mentors/communities who groom them into contributing members of their city who want to stay there.
Signage through out the district give educational and contextual information relating to the district and its systems.
Building d2r2 Land Area
34,255 sf
Building height
7 stories
Population
1000 people
Annual Water Usage Residential 30,500 gallons Hotel n/a Retail 11,112 gallons Cultural/Educ/Arts n/a Office 12,050 gallons Annual Energy Usage Residential 2,190,000 kwh Hotel n/a Retail 1,245,000 kwh Cultural/Educ/Arts n/a Office 1,600,050 kwh Energy Gen: 6,300,000 kwh Water Storage: 60,000 gallons Caloric Capacity: 200,000 cal/yr
Warning, building contains PVC, asbestos & lead.
RMD (resource management device)
Building Nutrition label
Proposed Innovation District: Aerial.
ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District as Organism
map-lab
21 drydock ave 7th oor
boston, ma
02210 617.426.5401
f617.426.5491
www.map-lab.com