Roxbury Open-Air Food Market

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Building Type: Pavilion, Retail

The Roxbury Open-Air Food Market brings together local businesses in the Roxbury neighborhood to create a place for community and engagement amongst diverse population groups. Located at the Roxbury Crossing intersection on the Southwest Corridor, the food market restores the cultural connectivity between neighborhoods that was severed when the corridor was implemented into the street grid.

Some of Boston’s most vibrant neighborhoods are located in or near what are known as Main Street Districts. These districts serve as the intersection of cultures. Boston’s street grid is generally pedestrian-friendly allowing easy access across these districts and neighborhoods, but that is not the case here.

In this placemaking proposal, the Roxbury Crossing intersection where main street districts run along either side of the corridor is re imagined as a hub that encourages pedestrian engagement and gathering while also encouraging movement between newly connected districts. Introducing topographical interventions to the site that create spaces to sit and gather, while also serving as the site for an open-air food market would stitch together the fabric of the community and create stronger connections between the fragmented main street districts.

Site Analysis

Main Street Districts

Throughout Boston there are main street districts populated with commercial buildings and others dedicated to retail and recreational activities.

Urban Intervention Site

The Roxbury Crossing intervention site is also the site of the MBTA station by the same name. It sits between two main street districts in Fenway and Roxbury

Commercial parcels used primarily for business, retail, governmental or professional

The Southwest Corridor is a linear park that stretches 4.7 miles between Forest Hills and Back Bay. The park was created in place of an Interstate 95 expansion that was faced with immense protest and consequently canceled. Due to its length and location, however, the park still creates some division between neighborhoods

The MBTA Orange Line was rerouted to follow the course of the SW Corridor. It is used by more than 100,000 riders on a daily basis and is an essential mode of transportation

Site Analysis

Fragmented main street districts do not allow for connections across the SW Corridor

Fragment Scar Relief

Busy, high speed traffic creates division

Activity Barrier

Land used for commercial purposes generates areas of activity

Open spaces provide relief from urban activity

The SW Corridor creates a barrier between main street districts

Main Street Districts

Districts formed around main streets, often for commercial use

Nubian Square: Arts & Culture Gateway

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Building Type: Residential, Mixed-use

Nubian Square was once the primary commercial center for the Roxbury neighborhood in Boston, MA, but today it sits in a state of desolation and does not serve the community. The arts & culture gateway calls upon Roxbury’s rich cultural history and abundance of artistic talent to transform the area into one of celebration and promote a healthy and vibrant community.

Nubian gateway refers to the parcel at the entrance of Nubian Square that is crucial to drawing people and further development into the area. The arts & culture gateway consists of a mixed-use development that includes housing as well as retail and dining from local businesses to provide a place of belonging for artists and diverse cultural groups in Roxbury.

Washington Street Crossing

Nubian Square Public Park and Plaza

Nubian Village Housing, Retail, and Artist Studios Mixed-Use Development

Artist Residences

Nubian Sq. Park

Historic Elliot Burial Ground