North Adams Options Studio Final Studio Book

NORTH ADAMS CENTRAL PARK: MASS ART & MASS MoCA

Harvard University Graduate School of Design | Fall 2018 Options Studio

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Studio Instructors Martha Schwartz Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture Edith Katz Teaching Associate Studio Students Meredith Chavez Anna Curtis-Heald Nam Jung Kim Harry Wan Fung Lee Hanying Li Mengfei Li Maria de la Luz Lobos Martinez Yanni Ma Matthew Macchietto Catherine McCandless Timothy Webster

Master Master Master Master Master Master Master Master Master Master Master

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Landscape Architecture Landscape Architecture Landscape Architecture Landscape Architecture Landscape Architecture Landscape Architecture Landscape Architecture Landscape Architecture Landscape Architecture Urban Planning, 2019 Landscape Architecture

I AP & Urban Design, 2019 I, 2019 I AP, 2019 I AP, 2019 I AP, 2019 I AP, 2019 I AP, 2019 I AP, 2019 II, 2019 I, 2019

Written, edited, and designed by Catherine McCandless Photography by Maria de la Luz Lobos Martinez, Catherine McCandless, Matthew Macchietto, and Hanying Li, unless otherwise specified

A special thank you to those who met with us during our visit to North Adams.

Your time and insight was invaluable to our work this semester.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 |

History of North Adams.....................................1

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Studio Overview & Site Visit.............................11

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Downtown Master Plan....................................17

Connectivity........................................20

Climate Change & Natural Systems.......30 Housing & Densification.......................38 Economic Development........................42

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North Adams Central Park Designs....................51

01 | HISTORY OF NORTH ADAMS, MA

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NORTH ADAMS 2018

County: Berkshire Population: 13,708 Land Area: 20.6 mi2 Median Income: $32,380

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Muncipal Boundary Municpal Boundary Muncipal Boundary

Municipal Open Space Open Space Municipal Open Space Wetland

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Open Water Open Water

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HISTORY OF NORTH ADAMS, MA A former mill town powered by water

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North Adams is a small city in the northern region of Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Historically, North Adams was a mill town located in a stunning valley surrounded by 3,000-foot mountains. The city is situated near beautiful outdoor recreational amenities such as the Mohawk Trail and the Appalachian Trail that pass through the western part of the city, crossing the summit of Mount Williams and briefly through Williamstown before heading north towards Vermont.

The river was once accessible to the public, but, after several severe flood events between the 1920s and the 1940s, the City sought an engineering solution from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that resulted in the construction of 15-foot-high concrete chutes in which the river is contained to prevent and manage flooding. However, in recent winters, the water almost breached the tops of the channels and threatens to flood the downtown area.

For much of its history, North Adams, like many historic mill towns, was once a thriving industrial center due to its location at the confluence of two branches of the Hoosic River, which provided water power for a variety of manufacturing industries.

The Hoosic Revival Initiative has proposed the re-naturalization of portions of the river to help deal with heavy rain events. However, there are many areas that still need to be redesigned to improve the visual environment of the downtown area.

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Left: Aerial view of the Hoosic River, pre-1940s. The river was once publicly accessible along the water’s edges. Top Right: View of the Hoosic River today. After a series of extreme flooding, the river was channelized with 15-foot chutes to prevent overflow.

Now, the river is shallow and barely flows. Bottom Right: View of the Hoosic River looking towards MASS MoCA.

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1 01 Top Left: View of North Adams Main Street before Urban Renewal.

Top Right: Plan for Urban Renewal in Downtown North Adams, 1960s.

Bottom Left: View of North Adams Main Street during Urban Renewal demolition.

Bottom Right: View of Downtown after Urban Renewal.

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A disruptive past with Urban Renewal

The end of the manufacturing era

North Adams has a long history with Urban Renewal starting in the 1950s. Main Street was once a bustling double-sided commercial corridor until properties on one side of the street were demolished.

The dense housing in the middle of the city was also demolished. What was once described as a booming community of downtown businesses eventually became a car-centric sea of pavement, the effects of which resulted in torn down buildings and the displacement of countless residents and business owners. The center of the city is now a vast swath of asphalt with parking lots that are seldom filled and big-box retail stores that are economically struggling.

North Adams has seen many iterations in its identity as a manufacturing center. In 1942, after the Great Depression pushed out many of the existing industries, Sprague Electric Company bought a former print works site. The company served as a lead manufacturer of electrical components for weapons and electronics and by 1966, the company employed over 4,100 workers in a community of 18,000. However, in 1985, Sprague Electric closed due to failure to keep up with the international manufacturing market and the closing of the company devastated the local economy, and consequently, the population declined.

Top Left: Sprague Electric Company, 1970. Top Right: Former print works site that was purchased by Sprague Electric, 1955. Later the location of MASS MoCA. Bottom: Female Sprague Electric Factory workers, 1955.

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The burgeoning of an Art Mecca After Sprague Electric closed, leaders in North Adams sought ways to reuse the vast factory complex. the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, or MASS MoCA, purchased the site and reopened it in 1999. Since it opened, MASS MoCA has been part of a larger economic transformation in the region. As the largest contemporary art museum in the United States, MASS MoCA has become a center for tourism, culture and recreation, drawing visitors from surrounding states and from New York City.

MASS MoCA was developed by Thomas Krens, a real estate developer and former director at the Guggenheim, and consists of a vast, multibuilding museum with wandering corridors and spacious galleries.

Renowned contemporary artists such as Sol Lewitt, James Turrell, and Laurie Anderson are among permanent and changing featured exhibitions. The large-scale, immersive installations are liberated in massive gallery spaces. In addition to the art installations, MASS MoCA also presents more than 75 performances year-round, including an annual music festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, and offers a wide range of educational opportunities.

To add to the existing cultural offerings, there are plans for a new “Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum� in Downtown, a vision by architect Frank Gehry and Thomas Krens, that aims to generate even greater tourism for the city. A huge and intricately crafted model will include 1,256 precision scale buildings ranging from a 40-foot model of the World Trade Center in New York to smaller examples of local and residential architecture. The museum also will display 2,000 model trains that will snake through the exhibit on a network of tracks.

While there is movement and investment coming into the city as a result of the presence of MASS MoCA, there is also a tension with the residents who do not participate or feel part of the growing art-based economy. This schism, and the economic discrepancy between the new-comers and locals, forms a social, economic, and cultural tension that must be recognized.

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Top: MASS MoCA Sol Lewitt exhibit, 2018. Bottom: MASS MoCA grounds and interior, featuring exhibits from September 2018.

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Left: View of the Hoosic River; chainlink fencing and concrete chutes block public access to the river.

Middle: Many homes in North Adams have fallen into disrepair.

Top Right: Storefront vacancy on Main Street.

Bottom Right: View of the Hoosic Mill, which remains vacant and derelict.

A city steeped in intergenerational poverty Despite the City’s accomplishments over the last two decades, North Adams still aches from the economic devastation of the past. These days, North Adams is the least populous city in Massachusetts and one of the most impoverished. 18.9% of the population lives in poverty and the median income is $38,300. The visual impact of blight and condemned buildings upon entry to the city creates little incentive to stop and explore the amenities of North Adams. Chain link fencing blocks off the river, countless storefronts in Downtown remain vacant, and there is a lack of aesthetic and other pedestrian and bike amenities.

Although some new businesses have recently been established along Main Street, blighted conditions and a lack of quality job opportunities remain a major obstacle to improving resident’s lives and attracting and retaining new residents, employees, and new businesses. Due to loss of its manufacturing industries, its population has dropped from 20,000 in 1980 to 13,000 today.

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02 | STUDIO OVERVIEW & SITE VISIT

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1 Right: Professor Martha Schwartz discusses North Adams’ historical context with students and City of North Adams staff members during the class site visit.

02 STUDIO OVERVIEW This studio course focuses on reshaping the urban landscape of North Adam’s central urban core in response to the City’s Comprehensive Plan of 2014. The Plan’s primary agenda is: “to attract people to visit, work, and live in North Adams, through rebranding and marketing the city.”

The Mayor of North Adams, Tom Bernard, aspires to use the city’s urban landscape to weave together the prominent threads of North Adams to rejuvenate the city into a destination as well as a desirable place to live, work, and engage its natural amenities, culture, and history.

The threads of the civic landscape will include the desires and needs of North Adams’ inhabitants, the vibrant art culture generated by MASS MoCA, and the youthful energy of the 2,000 students enrolled at North Adams’ only university, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA).

The Mayor foresees a public realm where the local inhabitants of the city feel welcome and that also attracts and engages visitors who come to North Adams to see and experience the city’s blooming art culture.

His vision is to regenerate the city’s urban landscape for the community and its visitors.

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The Studio speculates upon the future of North Adams’ in the year 2050. From research done in the first phase of the studio, it was found that climate change will have drastically affected Southern and Central regions of the United States, causing populations to migrate north and eastwards to escape extreme heat, seeking areas with adequate water and food. In this scenario, small cities and towns like North Adams will have become increasingly desirable places to live and work.

The Studio seeks to demonstrate how an urban landscape can create a more sustainable city and improve the quality of life for the people living in North Adams in terms of economic mobility, housing affordability, innovative technologies, public realm enhancements, and climate adaptation.

The Studio is an opportunity to study landscape-oriented adaptation and mitigation techniques to climate change and to elevate them into a designed art form. The issues of social, environmental, and economic equity are themes that drive the studio as we create a Downtown North Adams Master Plan framework, within which will include individual Central Park design proposals from each design student.

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STUDIO SITE VISIT The Studio visited North Adams for five days in mid-September of 2018. Students became immersed in North Adams by partaking in a guided walking tour of Downtown and a driving tour of the outer neighborhoods, spending a rainy afternoon amongst the vast art collection housed in MASS MoCA, and visiting the wealth of outdoor recreational amenities such as Mount Greylock and the Natural Bridge State Park. Much of the visit to North Adams was spent meeting with practitioners from across multiple sectors, including: Mayor Tom Bernard, City of North Adams Bob O’Connor, Forest & Land Policy Director MA Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Cindy Delpapa, Riverways Program Manager Massachusetts Division of Ecological Research Tim Lescarbeau, Commissioner of Public Works North Adams Department of Public Works Joe Thompson, Director of MASS MoCA Timur Galen, Vice-Chair, MASS MoCA Board Amber Besaw, Executive Director Northern Berkshire Community Coalition Amanda Chilson, Project Coordinator Mass in Motion James Jarzyniecki, Project Architect Extreme Model Railroad Museum Elena Traister, Professor of Environmental Studies Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) Stephen Sheppard, Professor of Economics Williams College

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The Studio also had the opportunity to partake in a community meeting organized by the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition to hear from North Adams residents about improvements they would like to see in their city. Attendees included long-standing and newer residents, including a local musician, an MCLA professor, a high school student, and others who offered valuable input regarding the past, present, and future of North Adams.

What we learned from our conversations...

The variety of conversations provided insight from multiple perspectives. The Studio heard that the Hoosic River is an untapped resource and that many North Adams residents are not even aware that a river runs through their city.

There is an overabundance of parking and impermeable paving, which is an issue specifically relating to stormwater management and flooding.

Connectivity throughout the city and to the local recreational amenities is a great issue, and the Route 2 flyover creates a physical and visual barrier when entering and traversing the city.

There is a significant need to provide new mixed-use housing and commercial space downtown to encourage job growth, relieve housing cost pressures, and stitch together the physical fabric of the city.

Additionally, while MASS MoCA has been an incredible catalyst for economic improvement, North Adams needs a diversified economy and workforce development programs that capitalize on its local and regional strengths. North Adams has certainly been making significant progress over the past two decades, but there are pressing challenges that need solutions.

Top Left: North Adams Main Street, photographed during the walking tour. Bottom Left: Professor Martha Schwartz with the Studio students. Top Right: Students explore a parklet on Eagle Street. Middle Left: View of a few of North Adams’ iconic church steeples. Middle Right: View of the Hoosic River from a pedestrian bridge. Bottom Right: Students explore the scenic views of North Adams from Mount Greylock.

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03 | DOWNTOWN MASTER PLAN

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03 DOWNTOWN MASTER PLAN FOR 2050 The Studio’s Master Plan for North Adams presents opportunities for growth and improvement based on the issues that were identified during the site visit and from students’ independent research into contemporary challenges.

Given that the Studio speculates to the year 2050, we project that the population in North Adams will double by 2050, making it a city of 25,000 people, many of whom will likely be migrants from southern regions who seek more habitable environments in the wake of climate change.

North Adams must prepare for the impacts of climate change, provide for a growing population that will require more housing and innovative job opportunities, address existing connectivity and transportation gaps, and strive for greater equity for its existing and future residents.

The five pillars of the Master Plan recommendations include: Connectivity, Climate Change and Natural Systems, Housing and Densification, and Economic Development.

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A) View of Route 2 flyover, Photo Credit: Steve Dunwell Photography

CONNECTIVITY

Existing Infrastructural Barriers Connectivity throughout Downtown North Adams was impacted by 1960’s Urban Renewal in an extremely negative way. In the 1960s and 1970s, interventions such as the construction of highway Route 2 through the middle of the city and the redevelopment of the downtown core to increase vehicular circulation resulted in the demolition of many of the existing streets, buildings, and neighborhoods, destroying the Downtown structure and connectivity.

B) View of Route 8 flyover

The Route 2 flyover creates a major infrastructural barrier that disconnects one side of the city from the other (Image A). Route 2 separates Downtown from nearby neighborhoods, businesses that lie on the Northern edge of Downtown, and MASS MoCA.

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The Route 2 flyover creates a major infrastructural barrier that disconnects the north side of the city from the south, separating the Downtown and businesses from travelers that are going through the city to visit MASS MoCA. Additionally, the N-S Route 8 flyover, the railroad corridor, and the N-S branch of the Hoosic River separate the Downtown from the Heritage State Park and restaurants to the west.

Consequently, the small city is difficult to navigate. (Image B and C).

C) View of the railroad tracks

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1 03 Left: View from under the Route 2 flyover.

Top Right: View of MASS MoCA from under the Route 2 flyover.

Bottom Right: View of Downtown North Adams when leaving MASS MoCA.

From MASS MoCA to Downtown The infrastructural barriers hinder the physical and visual experience when traveling from MASS MoCA to Downtown, especially from the lens of a pedestrian. MASS MoCA itself is largely internally focused with impressive and inviting grounds that bolster the public realm, but the experience upon leaving MASS MoCA leaves much to be desired. There are no cues to other amenities of North Adams, or even that a city with a Main Street exists. This lack of any visual connectivity or pathways that suggest a route is caused largely by the mass of the highway flyover that blocks views into Downtown. Pedestrians must walk underneath the flyover to access Main Street. Several parcels between MASS MoCA and Main Street are undeveloped, underused, derelict, or used only for parking. The linking of MASS MoCA to Main Street and the city center is a major challenge that needs to be met to revitalize North Adams.

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1 03 Right: View of Main Street, looking West.

[RETHINKING] MAIN ST.

EXISTING CONDITION

EXISTING CONDITION North Adams’ Main Street SIDEWALK

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A limited pedestrian experience on Main Street The neighborhoods in North Adams are disconnected from the Downtown and its commercial amenities. The pedestrian experience is mostly fragmented, inaccessible, or too narrow. From a pedestrian AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE perspective, most of the neighborhoods in North Adams are STREET CONDITION disconnected from the Downtown and its commercial amenities.

The roadway on Main Street is four lanes, two going in each direction, with a lane of parking on either side of the street, despite the abundance of surrounding parking lots. Main Street is largely oversized, especially given that it is only one block south of Route 2. The existing traffic demand is relatively low and does not require two four-lane thoroughfares running in parallel with only a block of separation.

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passenger drop off

According to the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), main street design should limit traffic speeds and create a narrowerAUTONOMOUS cross section with frequent, well-designedroundabout pedestrian stop an VEHICLE crossings. Many main streets have been significantly improved by “road two lane traffic STREET CONDITION diets,” or the reduction in vehicle lanes, with bike lanes and a center turning lane or median.

shorter crossing dis

North Adams’ Main Street cannot reach its potential as a retail district. Four lanes of traffic make North Adams’ Main Street feel like a highway with the existing street acting as a deterrent to pedestrians.

Consequently, the oversized street prioritizes cars rather than people.

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EXISTING CONDITION

NEW STREETSCAPE POTENTIAL

North Adams’ Main Street - Reconfigured SIDEWALK

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Reconnecting the City of North Adams

Prior to Urban Renewal and the construction of Route 2, the primary entrance into Downtown was via Main Street. This configuration was significantly better from a connectivity standpoint, and the Studio proposes that North Adams should reroute Route 2 onto Main Street once again. This scheme is reminiscent of the past, and when visitors arrive in North Adams, they will pass through the main corridor of Downtown rather than through the parking lots behind it.

The rerouted Route 2 should be reduced to two lanes, one in each direction. By prioritizing smaller streets and increasing pedestrian connections, North Adams can begin to rework itself into a city that is more accessible to multiple modes of travel, such as bicycles lanes and small scaled public transport, all of which prioritizes pedestrians.

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Additionally, the Route 2 flyover will have fallen into disrepair by 2050, and the Studio recommends that it should be removed to alleviate the physical and visual barrier that it has on the city. By doing this, the existing Route 2 can either be narrowed into a two-lane street or removed altogether – perhaps becoming available for rerouting the Hoosic River, which will be discussed in the12’next section. Sidewalk 1’ 3’ 6’

The Studio proposes a new street be constructed between Marshall Street and Eagle Street to alleviate congestion for those who wish to visit the grocery store or the renaturalized Hoosic River. Additionally, AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE the Studio recommends that a pedestrian corridor be developed on STREET CONDITION Holden Street to encourage movement between the river and Main Street. Finally, a new connection should be made between American Legion Drive and Furnace Bypass to increase vehicular accessibility to the natural amenity of Mount Greylock.

Looking ahead to 2050, it is also important to consider that autonomous vehicles will likely transform the way cities build and retrofit their streets. Autonomous vehicle streets will no longer require large streets with multiple lanes. By shrinking the number of vehicular lanes in North Adams, more space can be given to the public realm, which means larger sidewalks, more space for vegetation, and pedestrian and bicycling zones. The shift to autonomous vehicles will consequently have tremendous benefits in terms of carbon reduction due to leaving more space for the creation of linear afforestation along streets that will enable significant enhancements in stormwater management and Church St Sidewalk environmental services.

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Bike and Trail Connectivity North Adams is situated around a robust and diverse amount of outdoor recreational conveniences, including Mount Greylock State Reservation and Clarksburg State Forest. Many individuals who live in and/or visit North Adams celebrate the numerous ecological and recreational amenities nearby. Moreover, there are several neighboring cities, including Williamstown and Adams, that offer different services than North Adams. While many of these assets are within close proximity to North Adams’ downtown core, they are currently not accessible by foot or bike.

The Studio proposes better connectivity and access from North Adams to nearby cultural, economic, and ecological resources that lie inside and outside its downtown core. Although many of these assets are accessible by vehicle, prioritizing pedestrian and bike users offers an equitable

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plan with more transportation opportunities for all individuals. North Adams should integrate designated bike lines, prioritize wider sidewalks in Downtown, and connect to some of Northern Massachusetts’ most beloved trails, including the nearby Appalachian trail, the Mohawk bike path, and the Mount Greylock State Reservation trails.

The proposed bike path and trail system would strategically connect to the Mohawk Bike Path along River Street and the Mount Greylock trail system along Reservoir Road. Furthermore, bike lanes would be present on Eagle, Ashland, Church and Main Street, creating a circuit around and through the proposed central park site and connecting to adjacent neighborhoods and communities. A better-connected downtown trail system would allow for North Adams to better connect its assets in a more equitable and comprehensive way.

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1 03 CLIMATE CHANGE & NATURAL SYSTEMS Climate change will impact North Adams

A major focus of the studio has been on North Adams’ long-term future, particularly regarding the impact of climate change on the natural, physical, social, and economic ecosystems of the city and the surrounding Berkshire region.

slopes. In North Adams, the extended periods between rain and drought will stress crops and likely disrupt contemporary agricultural practices. Intensified rain will also place more stress on flood control infrastructure and properties.

Given North Adams’ inland location amongst the Berkshire mountains, climate change preparedness is often overlooked.

However, climate change does not only concern rising sea levels, but also concerns the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, more drastic fluctuations between periods of flooding and drought, and increasing average temperatures.

Climatologists predict that if the level of carbon dioxide is not drastically curbed by the year 2100, the local weather in North Adams will take on the annual climate characteristics typical to South Carolina, altering the climate categorization from Zone 6 to Zone 7.

Periods of rain will be heavier in intensity and will consequently create excess stormwater runoff and flood danger, strip the top layer of soil, increase erosion, and destabilize steep mountain

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Increasing temperatures will reduce winter-dependent recreation and tourism such as skiing, create challenges in terms of occupational safety and health for laborers, and cause northward population migration as more southern regions become less habitable.

Bottom Left: View of street flooding and infrastructural damage from torrential rain in September, 2018.

Such damage will happen more regularly as climate change impacts increase in frequency and intensity.

Bottom Right: People watch the Hoosic River in September 2018 as it flows under the bridge on Beaver Street near the entrance to the Natural Bridge State Park in North Adams. Rain from the remnants of Hurricane Florence caused rivers to swell and streets to flood in throughout the Berkshire region.

Top Right: North Adams’ 3.5-megawatt “Solar Landfill” generates enough electricity to power all of the municipal buildings in the city.

North Adams has begun to prepare, but there is more that can and must be done North Adams has taken an impressive and progressive stance on climate change preparedness. In fact, the City passed a resolution declaring its continued support for the Paris Climate Accord even after the United States’ disturbing decision to exit the international agreement.

In recent years, the City has facilitated the private construction of a 3.5-megawatt solar array atop a former landfill and signed onto two other solar projects throughout the state. The “solar landfill” generates enough power to offset the energy costs for the city’s municipal properties. Beyond the solar landfill, the City has improved its renewable energy portfolio through solar projects at the Harriman-and-West Airport and at the North Adams Public High School.

The City is working towards its Green Communities designation, which will enable the City to apply annually to a restricted grant pool to fund additional energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

According to the North Adams 2030 Comprehensive Plan that was released in 2014, the City endorsed the Sustainable Berkshires Climate and Energy Challenge and is working to implement its contents at the municipal level, which includes additional renewable energy projects, solar incentives, and incentives for green infrastructure through zoning and development regulations.

The Studio believes that North Adams is well-positioned to become a leader in climate change preparedness and renewable energy in the form of solar and wind. This also welcomes new opportunities for jobs in emerging “green” sectors, such as renewable energy and for redefined construction practices in terms of climate resistant buildings, green infrastructure, and landscape design.

We recommend that climate change preparedness be a driving principle in all aspects of planning, design, and development, and our recommendations in subsequent chapters of the Master Plan will explore such opportunities.

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Stormwater Management North Adams existing stormwater management is based on stormwater drains. Stormwater drains are infrastructure designed to drain excess rain and ground water from impervious surfaces such as paved streets, parking lots, footpaths, sidewalks, and roofs. Many stormwater drainage systems are gravity sewers that drain untreated stormwater into rivers or streams. This is the case in North Adams and water is diverted into the Hoosic River.

Stormwater drains often struggle to manage the quantity and rate of rain during extreme weather events such as hurricanes.

When stormwater drains are inundated, they become overwhelmed and can cause basement and street flooding.

Maintenance and repair of older stormwater drainage systems like that of North Adams is incredibly costly.

The City of North Adams is well aware of the shortcomings of the existing stormwater drainage system. In the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, the City reported plans to apply stormwater management tools by increasing the retention and recycling of rain in residential buildings to relieve pressure on daily water use.

However, as extreme weather events become more frequent and more intense, more must be done to reduce pressure on the existing stormwater drainage system.

One of the impacts of Urban Renewal in North Adams was the creation of an overabundance of impermeable surfaces, namely

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through the development of parking lots. Much of the surface in Downtown North Adams is impermeable, which consequently diverts water into the stormwater drainage system and prevents water from draining through the soil.

The Studio proposes to improve stormwater management by increasing the amount of permeable surface in Downtown North Adams instead of forcing excess water to drain into the underground stormwater drainage system.

Based on an analysis of the directional flow of water through the streets of Downtown, the Studio proposes that parks and green spaces should be built at the low points in the city so that excess water can be gathered and distributed without adding pressure to the existing stormwater drainage system.

The Studio also recommends that the new green spaces utilize additional green infrastructure interventions such as bioswales, rain gardens, permeable paving on sidewalks, and more tree canopy to better collect and manage stormwater.

A multi-level stormwater management approach could enable the City to improve its existing stormwater drainage system, enhance the overall landscape design of the Downtown core, and create a more attractive environment for both citizens and visitors.

MASS M

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1 03

A) North-Hardwood Forest

Ecological Enhancement North Adams is located on the border of three ecoregions – the Southern Green Mountains, Taconic Mountains, and Berkshire Valley – and is surrounded by several mountain ranges, including Hoosic Range, William Mountain, and Bald Mountain.

The abundance of different environments creates habitats for wildlife and endangered species, which are defined as any species of animal or plant that is seriously at risk of extinction. In total, there are 23 rare and endangered species within the city limits of North Adams. Most of these species reside in wetland habitat areas that follow surface waterways along the Hoosic River, but the chutes prevent most species from living within the river.

Endangered species are not only threatened by the destruction of habitats resulting from human urbanization and activity; they are also threatened by the pressure that climate change places on their environments. The primary plant communities in North Adams are North-Hardwood forests (A), wet meadows (B), shrub swamps (C), and high-terrace flood-plain forests (D), which are all estimated to be especially vulnerable to changes in environmental conditions.

B) Wet Meadow

C) Shrub Swamp

The Studio proposes that North Adams reconnect the habitats that have been broken by the Hoosic River chutes by re-naturalizing a portion of the North branch, increasing the amount of green space, and using only native species when planting. There are multiple design options that could be utilized for renaturalization, including naturalized slopes or tiered steps that lead to the water, either on one side of the river or on both.

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D) High-Terrace Flood-Plain Forest

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1 03 Right: Canals run through downtown Lowell, MA.

Rerouting the Hoosic River In addition to re-naturalizing parts of the Hoosic River chutes, we propose to reroute a portion of the Hoosic River. Under the assumption that the city would reroute Route 2 onto Main Street, the rerouted river or canal is an extension of part of the North Hoosic River, whose water flows faster and more intensely than the South Hoosic branch. The canal would extend along the former Route 2. The Studio refers to this proposal as Option B whereas Option A proposes leaving the road as a vehicular street while reducing the size of the street.

Rerouting the river according to Option B would act as an alternative flood mitigation strategy by allowing for the separation of the water load and the consequent slowing of the water flow, which will be a necessity by 2050 when rain is predicted to come with greater intensity and volume.

Bringing the river through Downtown North Adams would contribute to the reconnection of ecological systems, and the reconnection of people to the river. Many residents of North Adams are unaware that a river runs through their city.

The idea to reroute the river through Downtown was inspired by the system of canals in Lowell, Massachusetts. Like North Adams and the Hoosic River, Lowell is also located at the confluence of two river branches: the Merrimack and the Concord. The infamous Lowell canals run through downtown and have historically been used to manage flooding. Locals in Lowell take great pride in the canals, calling their city the “Venice of America.� We suggest that mixed-use development could be built along the canal, like in the city center of Amsterdam.

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1 03

HOUSING AND DENSIFICATION We evaluated existing conditions of the built environment in North Adams. Most of the housing stock in North Adams consists of large single-family homes that have been falling into disrepair, negatively impacting the appearance of the city and limiting the amount of suitable housing supply. A contributing factor to the decline of neighborhoods is the lack of investment in residential properties, as many homeowners and landlords cannot afford to make necessary renovations. Almost 19% of the population is considered living in poverty, and many of these individuals live in low-income housing that is isolated from the downtown core by a lack of public transit. A major issue in North Adams is the high vacancy rate of housing, which is a staggering 14%.

We broke down the primary building typologies in North Adams that are not being utilized to their greatest capacity and identified precedent typologies that could be utilized in place of existing structures to create greater commercial and residential density, primarily in the form of mixed-use developments. These existing building typologies include low-density residential housing, low-density commercial properties, historic downtown commercial properties, and historic mills.

Many of the residential properties in North Adams, whether singlefamily or multi-family, are very low density at 2-3 floors. Many of these homes are in disrepair and provide little to be desired for perspective tenants, especially for younger working professionals wishing to rent.

When building new housing, North Adams should prioritize mixed-use projects that offer units for a range of household sizes and incomes in order to create options for a diverse population.

Like much of the housing, much of the commercial retail in North Adams is also low density, primarily only a single floor. This retail consists of big-box retail, such as Peebles and Dollar Tree, fast food chains such as Burger King, and more. In place of these struggling businesses that offer

38 |

little economic opportunity to residents or to North Adams in general, we suggest new building typologies in their place that accommodate a mix of commercial tenants, including offices, indoor markets to showcase locally-made products, and spaces with flexible retail space and shorter lease terms for small business and local start ups to grow.

The downtown core in North Adams consists of variably-sized historic buildings, many of which, especially along Eagle Street, struggle with vacancies. Given the beautiful architecture along Main Street, our recommendation for this is to preserve the historic buildings and to follow in Lowell’s footstep’s by offering tax incentives to entice new businesses and industries to relocate. Lowell’s Economic Development Office offers a host of financial incentives such as non-traditional loan programs as well as tax incentives.

These incentive programs are provided directly by the City in partnership with other local, state and federal economic development agencies.

Companies creating a significant number of jobs within Lowell and making significant capital investment may be eligible for investment tax credits and a real estate tax exemption under the Economic Development Incentive Program (EDIP). Once new downtown businesses have been secured, we recommend that the City establish a Main Street Business Improvement District to maintain the corridor.

Finally, there are still a few historic mills that are underdeveloped in North Adams. This mill, the former Hoosic Mill, is currently vacant because the site is contaminated and the building itself is in such disrepair that it is too much of an undertaking and has consequently remained vacant for quite some time. By 2050, we hope that it could be redeveloped, and in its place, we envision opportunities for new forms of light manufacturing and innovation, especially given its proximity to downtown and to MCLA.

KEY:

Downtown Boundary Low-Density Residen�al Low-Density Commercial Historic Downtown Commercial Historic Mills (Industrial) Exis�ng Open Space Hoosic River Railroad

SCALE: 1” = 200’-0”

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1 03

Top Left: View of Eclipse Mill, a live/work space for artists that includes space for art galleries.

Bottom Left: View of interior space of a loft inside Eclipse Mill.

Top Middle: View of interior space of the new Tourist eco-hotel.

Top Right: View of the Porches Hotel.

Bottom Right: View of the new Tourist eco-hotel.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Existing economic conditions are unfavorable, but there is great potential for growth North Adams is still recovering from the economic devastation of the past. The city currently has an unemployment rate of 6.2%, almost twice as high as the State average, and the median household income is approximately $32k, which is almost half of the State average.

Over half of the population has, at most, a high school degree, and educated youth, specifically MCLA graduates, are difficult to retain given the lack of suitable job opportunities for them. The City’s Main Street struggles to retain retail tenants and consequently many of the storefronts are vacant and opportunities for urban regeneration are lost. Despite these bleak statistics, North Adams has an abundance of resources, existing economic assets, and community vigor that has been transforming the city for the last decade.

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North Adams has become a center for the Arts due to the presence of MASS MoCA and a variety of former-mills have been converted to serve as space for artists, such as the Eclipse Mill. MASS MoCA has brought national recognition to North Adams and brings visitors from all over the country to visit the museum’s exhibition space for artworks that do not fit in more conventional venues.

While the museum only employs approximately 80 workers, Census employment data shows substantial increases in the average North Adams employee salary since MASS MoCA appeared in 1999. MASS MoCA also brought more professional/white-collar workers to the city.

Between 1994 and 2003, North Adams’ tax revenue increased by 300%, which was significantly more than the rest of the Berkshire region.

The tourism industry has responded to the influx of art lovers by building and running new hotels, such as “Tourists” and “The Porches,” which are heavily occupied during the summer season. Additionally, MASS MoCA’s has attracted enormous crowds as large as 6,000 people to participate during its annual Fresh Grass and Solid Sound music festivals.

Top: MASS MoCA’s Fresh Grass Music Festival draws massive crowds to North Adams, 2016.

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1 03

Top: View of MCLA’s new 60,000 SF innovation center.

Beyond MASS MoCA, North Adams is geographically a nexus for multiple educational institutions. The city is home to MCLA, which has approximately 2,000 students enrolled and recently completed a 65,000 square foot innovation center. North Adams is also a 10-minute drive away from Williams College, which is the top Liberal Arts college in the country.

The city is nestled amongst an incredible wealth of outdoor recreation, including Mount Greylock, which is the highest point in Massachusetts, and the Natural Bridge State Park, a 48-acre park with the only naturally formed white marble arch and man-made white marble dam in North America.

However, many of these assets have not been taken advantage of to the fullest and there are opportunities to capitalize on them for North Adams’ overall economic development.

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In 2014, North Adams released a 2030 Vision that outlined many goals for opportunities to facilitate private-public partnerships between

the City and local institutions, tap into regional resources throughout Berkshire county, and promote workforce development. Additionally, as of September 28 of this year, the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission has tasked local officials to develop a blueprint for regional workforce development, focusing on the region’s more immediate strengths in healthcare, hospitality, and traditional manufacturing industries, as well as in the strong innovation economies in neighboring New York and Vermont.

While it is certainly to North Adams’ benefit to partake in its surrounding regional growth in these sectors, the city must also plan for its own future identity and economic self-sufficiency. The Studio envisions North Adams as having a diversified economy that is based across industries to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past of having a single economic driver. North Adams has experienced a tremendous revitalization since MASS MoCA’s arrival, and the Studio has explored opportunities for North Adams’ to become a leader in sustainable food production, forestry, recreational tourism, and innovation.

Left: View of the marble bridge at the National Bridge State Park, the only naturally-formed marble bridge in the country. Top Right: View from the top of Mount Greylock. Bottom Right: View of the National Bridge State Park.

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1 03

Vertical Urban Farming and Direct Air Capture By 2050, climate change will have impacted much of the world’s existing agricultural sources and North Adams already struggles with food deserts and food insecurity. We estimate that the city needs several thousand acres of land to farm enough agriculture to be self-sustaining for the future population.

However, much of the unbuilt land surrounding North Adams consists of protected forests, wetlands, and critical natural landscapes that limit the amount of land that can be used for agriculture. Therefore, we propose that North Adams position itself as a food producer within the state of Massachusetts through indoor urban agriculture and vertical farming.

We propose that the city develop new buildings that utilize underground and rooftop space to host such vertical farming, focusing primarily on smaller leafy greens, vegetables, and mushrooms. Greenhouse cultivation is an excellent opportunity to develop the food industry in the context of climate change, as it provides a protected environment for the produce to grow food regardless of variable weather patterns and preserves large amounts of land that would otherwise be deforested for agricultural practices.

It also increases the yields nearly four-fold, making food production and distribution cheaper for the locals. Additionally, there is the potential of creating surpluses that can be sold for profit.

The caveat of this productive system is that it relies on permanent access to energy. Consequently, any buildings housing agricultural uses should be connected to a grid of wind and solar energy production and should utilize water recycling to make the operation sustainable.

We also suggest the implementation of more community gardens to diversify the food distribution sites, eliminate the

44 |

food deserts within North Adams, and increase access to healthy food for all residents. The new food industry can work as a cultural element by increasing the amount of open spaces, providing research opportunities, offering job trainings to residents, and facilitating new forms of community involvement in North Adams.

Additionally, there is a new technology being developed called Direct Air Capture (DAC) that is capable of extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This technology can be combined with vertical greenhouse growing so that plants can utilize carbon dioxide (CO 2) collected by the DAC during the process of photosynthesis. This binds the two industries together in a synergistic, productive, and profitable way while also mitigating carbon emissions.

Additionally, there is another evolving technology for carbon sequestration called Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). BECCS is a potential greenhouse gas mitigation technology which produces negative carbon dioxide emissions by combining bioenergy (energy from biomass) use with geologic carbon capture and storage. The concept of BECCS is drawn from the integration of trees and crops, which extract CO 2 from the atmosphere as they grow, the use of this biomass in processing industries or power plants, and the application of carbon capture and storage via CO 2 injection into geological formations. In the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), BECCS was indicated as a key technology for reaching low carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration targets.

North Adams can utilize these emerging technologies as it advances to create a new identity for itself as both a climate change technology leader with an agricultural business that services not only northwestern Massachusetts but sells produce to the larger neighboring metropolises.

Mass Timber

Innovation

By reason of its proximity within New England’s forest reserves, transportation infrastructure, and educational institutions, North Adams is well positioned to become a hub for the manufacturing of engineered wood products, or Mass Timber.

Finally, North Adams could explore the opportunity to develop its own innovation center at the former Hoosic Mill. As mentioned earlier, the Hoosic Mill could be an ideal location for an innovation center that could host light manufacturing, urban agriculture, timber processing, brewing, and more.

A burgeoning movement for tall wood buildings is addressing the need for renewable, low-carbon, low-cost construction materials. Technologies in cross-laminated timber (CLT) and gluelaminated timber (glulam) allow for lightweight prefabricated panels, trusses, and components that have the value of reducing build time, sequestering carbon, and aesthetic beauty. Parts will be exported to cities like Albany and Boston, where tall wood buildings can aid the densification of the urban fabric while preserving woodlands. Meanwhile, training facilities at McCann Technical School and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), the industry, can provide jobs at multiple educational levels in engineering, manufacturing, and forestry.

Although lacking a substantial land area suitable for forestry within its boundary, North Adams is a prime candidate for a regional center of outdoor recreation and Mass Timber industries. Given the greater need for regional collaboration in light of the environmental and economic challenges of the twenty-first century, the city can utilize federal funding acquired through regional partnerships, such as the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership, to promote its recreational assets and finance new wood manufacturing.

An innovation center also serves as a space where people can gather and provide spaces and environments where design thinking for innovation can directly happen, meaning it is designed to host brainstorming sessions, design sprints, or innovation workshops. As spaces for innovation, innovation centers typically include the latest technologies and tools for employees to use to experiment with their ideas or see how else they might apply the technologies in their businesses.

A big issue that North Adams struggles with is that its MCLA graduates frequently are not retained upon graduation because there are very few desirable jobs for them.

However, by locating a professional innovation center near the school’s new innovation center, this could generate the possibility for internships, collaboration, and talent recruitment that could help North Adams’ economy grow.

The “Changes to the Land” 2019 report by the Harvard Forest outlines management practices to be applied statewide in order to yield high-value wood harvest while maintaining the forests’ ecological services. North Adams is recognized for its outdoor recreational assets, including the Appalachian Trail, Mount Greylock, and Natural Bridge State Park, and as a premier performing and visual arts destination. Mass Timber can bridge these two identities while diversifying the region’s economy.

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1 03

Technology Corridor and the Workforce For the development of these industries, we propose creating a technology corridor along Route 8 on land that is zoned for commercial and limited business but is incredibly under developed. This would entail altering the zoning to for these areas to be light industrial use instead. By hosting the vertical farming, direct air capture, BECCS, and Mass Timber industries along this route and an innovation center in the former Hoosic Mill, North Adams will be well-positioned as a leader in multiple industries Additionally, the connections between the new technologies and MCLA offers exciting opportunities for talent recruitment from the pool of youth, as well as workforce development opportunities for those who live nearby.

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PROPOSED STRE

HOLDEN STRE

ET

MARSHALL STREET

ET

REDIR

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- MAI

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N STRE

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Vertical Farming Direct Air Capture Mass Timber BECCS

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8 - STAT

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MCLA Campus KEY: Zoning: Commercial Zoning: Limited Business Hoosic Mill MCLA Campus Hoosic River Railroad

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SCALE: 1” = 500’-0” 47

1

48 |

04 | CENTRAL PARK DESIGNS

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1

04 EXISTING SITE CONDITIONS The 20-acre site that the Studio has selected for a Central Park for North Adams is currently an open, asphalted lot in the heart of North Adams.

The site now serves as a huge, 500-space parking lot defined by low, 1960’s commercial buildings. The site is bound by sparse, mixed-use buildings, the north side of the original Main Street, and a residential neighborhood to the east. The west edge of the site is bound by the Route 8 flyover, the railroad tracks, and the south Hoosic River branch chutes. After crossing these barriers, there is the Heritage State Park Museums, all of which are separated from the Central Park site and from MASS MoCA. It is a core objective to connect MASS MoCA, Heritage Park, and the proposed Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum to the Central Park and to Main Street. The “Cultural Loop” will create a route that pedestrians and visitors can follow and seamlessly experience the key attractions of North Adams.

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The Landscape Architecture students in the Studio have created individual Central Park designs that incorporate the findings of the research from the Master Plan and are intended to be responsive to future climate change. One of the most important goals it that the formal aspect of this park must be conceived as an iconic piece of landart, commensurate with the quality of art that can be found inside MASS MoCA. Since the Studio proposes to reroute traffic back through Main Street, people who are passing by the site, either as they drive or walk on Main Street, will see the iconic park. Formerly unwelcoming to visitors, the park will aim to serve as the town’s major civic open space, act as a symbol of the city that expresses the cultural ambitions of North Adams, and serve its existing residents.

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1 04

HOOSIC PARK Meredith Chavez | MLA I AP & MAUD ‘19 “Humans have always been drawn to this place.There’s a soaring natural beauty that’s at once grand and intimate, a sheltered green valley nestled among four mountain ranges, as if in the palm of a giant’s hand.” -Author Unknown Nestled in a valley among four mountain ranges, North Adams, MA is a city established on the Hoosic River and bounded by nature. The vision of this Central Park in downtown North Adams is to reestablish an urban core that has been erased and fractured by urban renewal and largescale infrastructure.

This Central Park explores the sculpting of the terrain as an art and a medium to incite movement within the landscape, appropriating the presence of the Hoosic River that has been rendered invisible by channelization. The sculpting of the terrain sets up a framework that allows for multiple programs to coexist, such as ecological habitats, cultural art displays, and urban living. In addition, the park itself acts as a major cultural link between MASS MoCA, the New Rail Museum, and Heritage State Park.

The sculpted bridge offers panoramic views of North Adams to the Mountain ranges and beyond. The edges of the landform act as art through the form of texturization of diverse vegetal systems. The geometric framework allows for a series of ecological stage sets, where meadows are juxtaposed with curvilinear habitats. There is no spatial hierarchy or one singular view within the park; instead, short, varied, oblique views are perceived in motion.

Housing is integrated on the park edges, completing the street scape. The housing is bounded by hedges to mask the appearance of built form, creating a visual effect blending nature into the horizon. Thus, an urban forest and oasis is perceived for people to wander and enjoy.

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1 04

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1 04

THE COMMON Anna Curtis-Heald | MLA I ‘19 The park’s form is a celebration of North Adam’s position in a river valley and its precarious yet beautiful setting. Mirroring the city nestled between three mountain ranges, the common is both a valley and a clearing in a forest. It provides a space to gather, to feel reverence for the community and humility for its place within the natural world.

The park is a sloped bowl shape set amidst a grove of trees.

A series of berms and cuts provide entrances to the bowl, while obscuring the dramatic form from external view. Upon entrance into the bowl, two grassy slopes unroll, surrounded by rings of paths. Gentle ramps provide accessible access into the lower level, where a flat basin hosts multiple programs, such as a wading pool, concerts, and graduations. People are free to appropriate the grassy slopes as they wish, for lounging, sledding, exercise, and free play.

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The plaza in the north can be used for events such as farmers markets and exhibitions. Long seat walls echo out the form of the bowl, allowing the commercial activities to spill out into shaded courtyards.The Southern edge is a recreational center, offer both outdoor and indoor activities for the surrounding neighborhoods and encouraging people to come downtown. A naturalized slope with loose vegetation brings people down to the river’s edge.

The bowl welcomes festival crowds and Mass Moca tourists, but when all is said and done and the crowds go home, an individual can feel the power of this open, yet enclosed space. It is above all a gathering space for the community, a signifier of the city nestled between mountains, and a place where an individual can feel at once alone and a part of something much larger than herself.

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1 04

58 |

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1 04

THE CENTRAL PARK Nam Jung Kim | MLA I AP ‘19 The current population of North Adams is around half the number we are expecting for 2050. To accommodate space for the growing population, I imagined the park to become a mixed use programmed space to meet the diverse needs of city and its users – mainly residents, visitors, and students.

The park consists of residential, public, commercial, and cultural programs in the form of open space, hills, a sunken plaza, forest, wetlands, and green roofed buildings. The main focus in this design is to densify for the growing population, invite nature back into the primarily concrete urban area, and strengthen the identity associated with MASS MoCA. The residence, shops, hospitality, and offices densely surround the main sunken park, compactly located under the ground or in multi-story structures, to maximize the open space for public programs. The City Hall will be moved from its current location to the center of the park to give easier access to engage with the public and the activities.

To bring back nature to downtown, the adjacent channel will be restored, and with the cleared horizontal axis, it will invite the wetland into the downtown. To enter the park from Main Street, visitors can cross the bridge, walk along the grass, or pass through forest, closely engaged with nature. People can continue this natural exploration by walking along the boardwalk on the wetlands, climbing up the hills, or passing through the rain garden of the sunken plaza.

By providing multiple pedestrian connection from the MASS MoCA and inviting the artworks into the sculpture park, the Central Park’s identity is associated with Mass MoCA. The expectation and hope is to create a platform of density and events in the middle of the city for residents to gain renewed community spirit, for visitors to lengthen their stay in the city, and for the ecology to be revived.

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City Plaza at the Water Garden

City Plaza at the Water Garden

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701

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699

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721 722 723

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702

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to Birkshire Art Museum 714

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743

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751

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712

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739

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76 4 76

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North Adams Central Park: MASS ART for MASSMoCA Nam Jung Kim STU 1401/Fall 2018/ Martha Schwartz, Edith Katz

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1 04 GHOST RIVER PARK Harry Wan Fung Lee | MLA I AP ‘19 The Hoosic River was used, betrayed, and abandoned. The river was the origin of North Adams. It was used to provide water for lives and hydropower for the mill industry. For flood mitigation, the river was channelized, straightened and casted in concrete 50 years ago. “To get the water away as quick as possible” quoted from the local hydrologist, Cindy Delpapa.It was then forgotten, with the downfall of the industrial prosperity.

The Ghost River is the skeleton of river with no water, mirroring the Hoosick, a water stripped of its form or identity. The park is a land art criticizing the lost identity of the Hoosic River and North Adams in hope of bringing it back in 2050. Reinventing the picturesque, the Ghost River Park is a painting of North Adams’ identities, acknowledging the past of Mill histories and embracing the new identity of art for the city.

Being visible from MASS MoCA and major nodes of the city, the 5-story-high waterfall ascends from the Ghost River, providing an infinite view of the city while also revealing the true form of the Hoosic River that runs next to it.

The morphology of the Ghost River is derived from the Natural Stone Bridge, which is upstream of the Hoosic River near the city, where the erosion of water carved its rocks and formed its memories. The curved surface is open to a range of imaginative programs. The water is replaced by only mist, encouraging people to explore the atmospheric absence of the river and the tectonic beauty of its memories.

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FLOW TO MOUNTAINS Hanying Li | MLA I AP ‘19 There are two main ideas of my design. The first is to emphasize the natural elements of North Adams. This is inspired by the view that we had when we walked on the overpass of Route 8, North Adams is surrounded by beautiful mountains and small rivers. But these are what we cannot feel in the city streets. I want to make people feel the beauty of the city itself through the design of the park.

Another idea is to improve the connection between MASS MoCA and downtown. Mass MoCA is very important to North Adams, but it is separated from the city. I hope that people will be attracted to Main Street by this design.

The artistic atmosphere of MASS MoCA can be rooted in the city through the form of landscape. Therefore, my design takes the form of a streamline, representing the rivers and mountains, and symbolizes the artistic atmosphere of MASS MoCA flowing into the city.

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In general, the northern portion of the park is open, mainly plazas, so that people can have an open view to see the entire park. When people stand at the entrance to the park, they will see the landform in the shape of a mountain. If they go inside, they will eventually reach the highest point of the site. There is a platform for people to enjoy the mountains in the distance. Underneath the landform is a building that will include business, entertainment, and office space; each floor has space for outdoor activities.

At the same time, the Hoosic River chute is opened in the site so that the river becomes more accessible for people. From the fountain at the entrance plaza to the theater, people have different choices to play with water. The stepped design allows people to reach the water at different water levels.

The pavement form acts as visual guidance from MASS MoCA to the park to create connectivity through the continuity of materials, and a pedestrian bridge was designed to connect the park and the railroad museum.

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NEW PIECES Mengfei Li | MLA I AP ‘19 My concept began with consideration to the increasing of population of North Adams in 2050. The backgrounds of people may become very diverse and complex. Through this park, I am trying to create an atmosphere of this site that could intensify the impression of this small city and unify peoples’ identity as citizens of North Adams.

are built along the road. The new citizen gallery in this park is aimed to collect the artwork of people who live in North Adams to bring the relationship of contemporary art and citizens closer. Heavy activities will be held in the space along the edges, like food markets, art exhibitions, and more. The more people go inside, the more natural the park will be.

My design starts with a geometric pattern as north and south grids and adds another smooth flexible landform. The grids near the boundary are rotated to connect with the city road pattern. This gives people the direction from downtown into the park and keeps its own independent, strong orientation at the same time, preforming the park’s own status. I try to use the conflicts between different grids and between geometric and natural as an “art form,” to break the original image of the city and embed a new experience.

Since the corner of these squares varies, some façades could be seen like walls; these will be made of reflective materials.

People will have a mystery experience while walking, like walking in a maze but with direction in the form of a grid.

After this kind of “lost”and “blurred” experience, there is a very thin “door” on the peak that only allow one person to walk through. From there, people could suddenly have a very wide view of North Adams. They could see the park, the sculpture in the park and the Martin Puryear sculpture, and further to MASS MoCA and mountains. This interesting and changing experience will give people a new perspective and recognition of their city.

The boundary is mostly open with main entrances that face to the three crossings. Retail, restaurants, a gym, and a café

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CENTRAL PARK Yanni Ma | MLA I AP ‘19 In my project, I use the parking lot located in the downtown of North Adams to create a central park for local people and visitors. The park will be the recreational core of North Adams, gathering locals and visitors together, with a wide variety and sizes of open spaces. In order to resonate the artistic characteristics of MASS MoCA, the physical form of the park will be like an earth art, with a lot of topographic treatment, making the entire park a sculpture.

By manipulating the topography, the park will help to recreate the double sides of both Main Street and Ashland Street, providing a more friendly historic street scale, instead of the existing large-scale empty parking lot. The overall undulating terrain appearance of the park is echoing the mountains that surrounding North Adams. In order to bring back the historical city memories, the old road system from before urban renewal is re-placed in the park, and functions as a waterscape.

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1 04 HE[ART] PARK Matthew Macchietto | MLA II ‘19 This park aims to be a community celebrated amenity, while harboring environmentally sensitive remediation strategies and fostering ecological techniques/systems for the residents of North Adams. The park’s layout and patchworklike design, inspired by artist Sol Lewitt, creates an artistic statement, accommodates a broad diversity and flexibly of resident needs, and promotes community identity, economy, and performance.

The design encourages art as an incubator, fostering a sense of place and representation of North Adams. By doing so, this park creates an artistically driven and environmentally conscious destination, while providing interesting dynamics of connecting residents and hybrid programmatic opportunities of identity, flexibility, and activity.

The park planning, analysis, and design was defined by five major categories—each building upon the work done during the master planning portion of the studio.

Celebrate the Historical Context North Adams, like many US cities who sought resurgence and redevelopment in their downtown cores, is the victim to urban renewal. Interventions like highway Route 2 and redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s cleared many of the existing and prized downtown streets, buildings, and neighborhoods complicating the downtown structure and connectivity, and gutting the downtown of much of its density and vibrance.

This design is forward thinking—situated in 2050, a time where I speculate that transportation will be redefined, a time where autonomous vehicles are common and rail infrastructure may not be needed as an economic driver.

Because of this, this proposal rethinks many components of the public realm. Less space will accommodate parking and street widths and more space will be available for public open space.

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Redefine Mixed-Use and Creative Development This design framework prioritizes Holden Street as the location for the main open space. It seeks to create mixeduse urban infill around this defining principle. By integrating multi-functioning development back into the urban core and extending the historic street grid, it allows for opportunities to create a more diverse housing structure, commerce as an economic driver, and dynamic ground-level typologies to encourage active ground-level building uses. The extension of street side activities will also promote safer spaces.

Enhance Ecology This design framework proposes dense urban planting, more than one would assume in more traditional design proposals, and priorities permeable surfaces, carbon capturing techniques through planting and the art installation, and remediation strategies through phytoremediation and capping.

Create a Neighborhood Amenity This design looks to be an asset for the North Adams community—allowing for multi-functional programming that services the community as a central gathering and performance space. The programming in the park center is to be iterative and flexible.

Generate Flexible Art Interventions Sol LeWitt, a large contributor to MassMoCA, is known for his leading role in the Conceptual Art Movement. He believed that the artist was a generator of ideas and not necessarily the executor of work. To Sol LeWitt, art was an intellectual project. The idea itself is art, much like an architect gives drawings to a contractor to build their ideas. Taking on the mentality of LeWitt’s line drawings—both intellectually and emotionally, this design seeks to create a framework to define the inner rooms of the park. The park is a blank canvas where the community is the main executor of programming and design. This not only creates an iconic destination, but local stewardship.

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1 04 Furthermore, this design attempts to create and then execute a rule list like LeWitt did. Essentially, the layout of the park is broken into a grid of 6, 12, 24, 48 foot intervals, allowing for different opportunities for recreation and leisure depending spacing and agencies. The park is also defined transitionally into four zones, from the Hoosic River’s edge to the center of North Adams. Each zone takes on a different character and serves the community through different means. In addition, each area is sough to complement the adjacent zone programmatically and ecologically. The zones, listed below, are: The Ecological Edge, a soft and Hoosic River accessible, native lowland/highland landscape providing productive remediation and recreation-based program.

The Mounded Grove, a shaded bermed retreat (acting as an additional floodwall barrier) for passive programming and food production (orchards).

The Installation Civic Center, a blank slate for communitybased program intended for individuals to utilize or occupy the space between poles (a defined art intervention).

The Wild Urban Edge, densely planted with permeable surfaces that offer neighborhood amenities and equitable access.

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FOREST FACTORY Timothy Webster | MLA I ‘19 Mass Timber: Beyond the Creative Economy By reason of its proximity within New England’s forest reserves, transportation infrastructure, and educational institutions, North Adams is well positioned to become a hub for the manufacturing of engineered wood products, known as Mass Timber. A burgeoning movement for tall wood buildings is addressing the need for renewable, lowcarbon, low-cost construction materials. Technologies in cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (glulam) allow for lightweight prefabricated panels, trusses, and components that have the value of reducing build time, sequestering carbon, and aesthetic beauty. Parts will be exported to cities like Albany and Boston, where tall wood buildings can aid the densification of the urban fabric while preserving woodlands. Meanwhile, training facilities at McCann Technical School and MCLA, the industry, provide jobs at multiple educational levels in engineering, manufacturing, and forestry.

Although lacking a substantial land area suitable for forestry within its boundary, North Adams is a prime candidate for a regional center of outdoor recreation and Mass Timber industries. Given the greater need for regional collaboration in light of the environmental and economic challenges of the twenty-first century, the city can utilize federal funding acquired through regional partnerships, such as the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership, to promote its recreational assets and finance new wood manufacturing. The Changes to the Land report by the the Harvard Forest outlines management practices to be applied statewide in order to yield high-value wood harvest while maintaining the forests’ ecological services.

North Adams is recognized for its outdoor recreational assets, including the Appalachian Trail, Mount Greylock, and Natural Bridge State Park, and as a premier performing and visual arts destination. Mass Timber can bridge these two identities while diversifying the region’s economy. The tree can become an icon for the city.

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THE SOURCE

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FTheOForest R E Factory S T F ACTO RY

Integrating the new with the North Adams’ established Mass Timber as industry Mass Art

creative culture, the making of engineered wood products will be illustrated by a public artwork, The Forest Factory, in the city’s Central Business District. The work distills the processes happening at the regional scale to a 13 acre park in which citizens and visitors can engage with the raw materials, mechanical operations, and refined wood products. Like an assembly line, one moves from a dense woodland (The Source) through three factory rooms: The Yard, The Machine, The Showroom.

Each factory room is on an earthen plinth projected into a perched wetland that collects runoff and is floodable if the Hoosic River overtops the chutes. Three Mass Timber-constructed mountains modeled from Mount Greylock delineate each space while echoing the form of Hoosic Valley and providing a visual draw from Mass MoCA. New mixed-use development along the Route 8 corridor abutting the park will densify the downtown, provide a retail extension of Main Street, and maximizing real estate benefits of the park.

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F O R E S T F ACTO RY Mass Timber as Mass Art

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