Sasaki
Huntington Avenue, known as the “Avenue of the Arts,” is home to several of the City of Boston’s major cultural and educational institutions. As these institutions continue to grow, and as limited building footprint drives the desire for vertical expansion, the Boston Planning and Development Agency (formerly the Boston Redevelopment Authority) engaged six of the Avenue’s major institutions (Northeastern, Wentworth Institute of Technology, the MFA, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, MassArt, and the New England Conservatory) to fund a collective urban design study that culminated in comprehensive design guidelines for the length of Huntington Avenue from Longwood Avenue to Massachusetts Avenue.
Sasaki’s guidelines are designed to aid growth and future development along Huntington Ave in Boston
Six higher ed institutions and four arts institutions are stationed along the Avenue, each with their own goals and mission
Sasaki’s work defines a comprehensive, holistic vision for the Avenue and establishes design guidelines and standards that ensure individual development projects work together to make the Avenue a more vibrant, pedestrian-friendly, active, and well-designed place.
Under Sasaki’s guidelines the future of the Avenue of the Arts is an open space for community that is beautiful and accessible
Much of the Ave’s complexity comes from the interplay between public and institutional spaces. Sasaki’s guidelines take this into account while planning for a unified, cohesive set of design parameters.
The project is a first-of-its kind supplemental planning initiative that follows and builds on existing Institutional Master Plans and Planned Development Areas as reached through past Article 80 processes. The study precedes, informs, and expedites future Article 80 large project reviews within the study area.
Huntington Ave sits in the context of one of Boston’s most vibrant neighborhoods
Sasaki and the BPDA met regularly with representatives of the six funding institutions, which built trust and common goals, fostered greater transparency among the individual objectives of each institution, as well as ensured collective development needs were addressed. Sasaki worked with the BPDA and the institutional partners to fully synthesize the thinking behind each institution’s past planning efforts. By building on and enhancing these past initiatives, the institutional vision and public process that informed each previous planning effort along the Avenue of the Arts corridor remains intact, valid, and integral to the future.
For more information contact Martin Zogran.
