City Hall Plaza (Boston)

City Hall Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts, is a large, open, unadorned public space in the Government Center area of the city. The architectural firm Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles designed the plaza in 1962 to accompany Boston's new City Hall. The multi-level, irregularly-shaped plaza consists of red brick and concrete. As of March 2011, plans are underway to redesign the plaza and adjacent building.[1][2]

Contents

History

Design and construction, 1962-1968

The siting of the plaza, the City Hall and other structures in Government Center was the responsibility of I. M. Pei,[3][4] commissioned by Edward J. Logue, then of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The plaza and City Hall were constructed between 1963 and 1968, on the former site of Scollay Square, which despite its vibrancy and historical interest, was considered a seedy and undesirable area.[5]

The 1962 design was modeled after Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy.

Life in the plaza, 1968-present

Reaction to the plaza has been mixed. Some praise City Hall Plaza for being cleaner and more desirable than Scollay Square, and for the simple fact that it was built at all-- with the cooperation and compromises necessary of any complex, multi-agency government construction project. Others dislike City Hall Plaza,[6] citing unappealing aesthetics; and saying it does not function well as a space for people, due to cold, wet and wind in winter, and wind, dust, and unrelenting sun and heat in summer.[7][8] The Project for Public Spaces ranked it at the top of the organization's list of Squares Most Dramatically in Need of Improvement in the United States in 2005.[9]

Redesign

Since City Hall Plaza opened in 1968, ideas for improvements to the public space have been put forth by citizens, students, architects, politicians and others.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has voiced several ideas for changing the plaza. In 2007, Emerson College students used the virtual world Second Life to re-imagine a better City Hall Plaza; the project was sponsored by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, among others.[10]

References

  1. ^ Casey Ross. A 10-year plan for City Hall Plaza: New incremental approach starts with remodeled T station, trees. Boston Globe, March 16, 2011
  2. ^ What do you think should be done to City Hall Plaza? Boston Globe, March 16, 2011
  3. ^ O'Connor, Thomas H. (1993), Building a new Boston, Boston: Northeastern University Press, ISBN 155553161X, 155553161X, http://openlibrary.org/books/OL1737146M/Building_a_new_Boston 
  4. ^ Laurel Ulrich (1970), A beginner's Boston, [Cambridge, Mass, http://openlibrary.org/books/OL5428097M/A_beginner's_Boston 
  5. ^ Robert J. Allison (2004), A short history of Boston, Beverly, Mass: Commonwealth Editions, ISBN 1889833479, OCLC 53324893, 1889833479, http://openlibrary.org/books/OL3679991M/A_short_history_of_Boston 
  6. ^ The good city: writers explore 21st century Boston. 2004; p.4.
  7. ^ Lawrence W. Kennedy (1992), Planning the City upon a Hill (Planning the city upon a hill ed.), Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, ISBN 0870237802, 0870237802, http://openlibrary.org/books/OL1562221M/Planning_the_city_upon_a_hill 
  8. ^ Anne Whiston Spirn (August 1, 1985), The Granite Garden, Urban Nature and Human Design, Basic Books, ISBN 9780465027064, 0465027067, http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7593451M/The_Granite_Garden_Urban_Nature_and_Human_Design 
  9. ^ http://www.pps.org/info/newsletter/december2005/underperforming_us
  10. ^ Colin Rhinesmith. Collaborative Design in One Virtual World: Using Second Life to Re-imagine City Hall Plaza. 2007.

Further reading

Images

See also

External links