Desiging In The Non Space: Integrating Airports Into The Urban Realm

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Site Analysis When choosing a site to focus my thesis intervention on I had several stipulations. The airport I chose had to have a terminal complex “open” to the urban environment rather than a complex surrounded by runways, realtivley close to an adjacent urban environment rather than out in the middle of nowhere, but still have a “junk space” gap that help bridge this airport to the urban environment it serves as a transportation node, and be an American airport. I chose Logan Airport in Boston due to it meeting all these requirements, my familiarity with it and the East Boston neighborhood, and that I would be easily able to analyze it due to its proximity. Other airports that could fall into this paradigm that I considered are TF Green Airport in Warwick, RI, Regan National Airport in Washington D.C., La Guardia Airport in New York City, Los Angeles International, or Seattle/Tacoma Airport. To begin my analysis I crafted an aerial montage of Logan Airport and part of East Boston to analyze the “junk space” created by the airport whether it be the unlandscaped safety zones between the runways and taxiways (in green) or parking lots and service areas (in red). In addition, I traveled to the airport again, looking at the terminal complex and surroundings from a different, more critical eye, rather than the usual get-in, get-out most commonly used at the airport. To begin, I timed the travel experience from the MFA stop to Terminal A via the Green Line, Blue Line, and Shuttle Bus. From there I walked through the entire terminal complex, noting passenger interactions, and then proceeded to attempt to walk to the T Stop via the airport landscape, documenting the experience and alien landscapes, the winding,high speed path that isolated me from what many people would believe is America’s “walking city”.

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