c o m m o n b o s t o n June 17 - 21, 2009 common boston weekend 09 / Designing a Livable City for Families A Neighborhood and Design Celebration c o m m o n Common Boston Weekend 09 / bcommonboston.org o s t o n / © Lucie Wicker welcome, boston / to a celebration of our built environment—the streets, landscapes, buildings, and neighborhoods that make us distinctive. Common Boston Weekend 09 provides an opportunity for all of us to engage with new places and to interact with people who shape the city. We invite you to take a fresh look at Boston, to understand its history and to imagine its future. The mission of Common Boston is to highlight the • The Design Build Challenge: a three-day charrette importance of design to the everyday life of people to create real, physical responses to our city’s need living in the city, and programming during Com- to be more livable for families mon Boston Weekend 09 will focus on the theme of www.designbuildchallenge.org Designing a Livable City for Families. Of America’s • A forum featuring designers, planners and commu- 100 largest cities, Boston currently ranks near dead nity leaders addressing Designing a Civic Infrastruc- © Wendy Shapiro last (94th) in percentage of households with children. ture for Families Common Boston is a volunteer Yet cities offer great benefits for families, including • Learning by Design’s Box City program for kids organization dedicated to expanding proximity to cultural institutions and parks, a choice • A tour and discussion with families in Dorchester’s public awareness of the Boston area’s of transportation modes, and diversity of housing and Ashmont Hill neighborhood built environment through interactive programs, to fostering collaboration neighborhood services. As we explore architecture • Building tours of Project Place, the Children’s Mu- between design professionals and and design in Boston during Weekend 09, we ask you seum and the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter those for whom they design, and to to join us in discussing how we can design a better • Tours led by youth from A-VOYCE Chinatown collectively shaping a sustainable, city, both in hopes of retaining families who currently and the Hyde Square Task Force equitable, beautiful built environment. live here and in attracting new families through • Neighborhood Photography Project www.commonboston.org sustainable and progressive design. All events are www.cbphotoproject.org The Boston Society of Architects free and open to the public. Some featured events administers programs and provides during Common Boston Weekend that will focus on resources that enhance the practice of this year’s theme include: architecture and the public and profes- sional understanding of design. Since © Wendy Shapiro © Christine Barton its establishment in 1867, this nonprofit professional service organization has been a committed advocate of excel- lence in the built environment and increased service of the profession to society. www.architects.org Common Boston c/o Boston Society of Architects 52 Broad Street Boston, MA 02109 [email protected] 617.314.9510 Design by MUDEO Studio mudeostudio.com c o m m o n Common Boston Weekend 09 / bcommonboston.org o s t o n / special events / Ongoing/ vorite piece of sidewalk art. Enjoy light refreshments local architects, and lubricates good conversation generously provided by Barbara Lynch’s Sportello in between them. Come enjoy refreshments, and make Neighborhood Photography the FP3 Gallery. Tours of FP3 will also be available. connections with other designers, non-profit groups, Project Exhibits / Participating firms and companies are Supporting and community organizations that aim to improve our Located throughout the Common Points Sponsors of Common Boston Weekend and Sidewalk built environment. Learn where people feel connected to their respec- Sam’s nonprofit organization, Art Street. During the party, we’ll be debuting the work of the tive neighborhoods by visiting the T stations of Neighborhood Photography Project, including im- our Common Points to explore the Neighborhood Thu 18/ 6:30-8:00 PM ages by photographers and community members Photography Project galleries. Fort Point Channel in Ashmont, Jamaica Plain, Fort Point Channel, and photos will be displayed in South Station, Chinatown Forum / Cities for Families: Chinatown. Also on display during the event, Studio photos will be displayed in the Chinatown station, Designing Boston for Every Generation Soto will present an exhibition of photographs by Mo- Ashmont/Peabody photos will be in Ashmont station, Josiah Quincy School, 885 Washington Street bius Artists Group member Bob Raymond, who has and photos from Jamaica Plain will be displayed in As American families continue to flee urban neigh- been documenting Mobius’ activities for nearly thirty Stony Brook, Green Street, Forest Hills, and two local borhoods, our lifestyles consume increasingly large years, and an installation by Wenxiong Lin. cafes: Ula Cafe in the Brewery, and the Dogwood. amounts of land, resources, and time away from Appetizers generously provided by Barlow’s Restaurant Photos used in this brochure are part of the neigh- home. Boston offers great potential benefits for fami- and Café, coming soon to A Street in Fort Point Channel. borhood photography project. lies - including proximity to cultural institutions and Find more information on the project and view photos in parks, a choice of transportation modes, and diversity an online gallery at www.cbphotoproject.org of housing and neighborhood services. However, we Sun 21/ 5:00 PM Awards Reception must change the way we imagine and build our cities to encourage families to stay in and move to urban Design Build Challenge / © Myung & Ko Photography Wed 17/ 6:30 PM communities. Join creative thinkers and community See commonboston.org for location leaders from around the city in a discussion on re- The Design Build Challenge is a national design Pecha Kucha / thinking the way we design our civic realm, with the and construction competition that focuses on built Mantra, 52 Temple Place goal of making Boston an attractive place to live for responses to community needs. Participants in the Common Boston and the BSA team up on a roster every generation. design challenge will have 72 hours to design and of ultra-short-form, ultra-provocative presentations In attendance will be / create projects that encourage community participa- about design in the city at Pecha Kucha #11. Each • Tom Keane, Moderator, Columnist for Boston Globe tion within a dense urban environment and benefit presentation has to meet the stringent Pecha Kucha Magazine, and former Boston city councilor families living in the city. format: 20 slides in 20 seconds. Watch neighborhood • Lou Casagrande, President of the Boston Children’s Teams and individuals from around the country and activists and architects from each of the Common Museum from all disciplines and experience levels are encour- Points go head-to-head on the design of Fort Point • Jill Desimini, Senior Associate at StoSS Landscape aged to participate. Competitors will be asked to Channel, Chinatown, Jamaica Plain, and Ashmont. Urbanism work with to-be-announced clients and sites to find • Shauna Gillies-Smith, Founding Principal of Ground design solutions addressing the social, economic, • Susan Silberberg-Robinson, Lecturer in Urban and environmental benefits of city life. The challenge Thu 18/ 12:00-1:30 PM Design and Planning, MIT Department of Urban Stud- aims to prove that, even when created in just three ies and Senior Vice-President, Community Partners days, an influential and sustainable response to a Chalk One Up w/ Sidewalk Sam Consultants, Inc. real problem can alter our urban fabric and benefit Open House of FP3 Gallery / • Madeleine Steczynski, Executive Director of Zumix the community. Private Way behind FP3, off of Farnsworth Street To help kick-off Common Boston Weekend 09, Com- mon Boston has partnered with Boston’s own folk Fri 19/ 6:00-9:00 PM artist, Sidewalk Sam, to create an opportunity for all firms and companies involved in shaping Boston’s D-Party / built environment to show off their talent through Thompson Design Group, 35 Channel Center Street public art, drawn on the sidewalk, led by Sidewalk The second annual Common Boston cocktail party Sam. All are welcome to stop by and vote for their fa- celebrates good work by community advocates and c o m m o n Common Boston Weekend 09 / bcommonboston.org o s t o n / cb09 / ashmont ashmont / © Alinda Bostick © Alinda Bostick Ashmont Station and Pea- body Square are the transport and commercial centers of Dorchester’s St. Mark’s Area. The neighborhood’s residents Shawmut are actively involved in preserving and enhancing both private and Talbot Avenue Sat 20/ 10:00 AM Sat 20/ 2:00 PM community spaces. The Square’s most notable architecture Conversations with Dorchester’s Dorchester Avenue includes the All Saints’ Episcopal Families in Ashmont Hill / 01 New Red Line Stations / 03 Church, constructed in 1892, and Flat Black Coffee, 1906 Dorchester Avenue Tavolo Ristorante, 1918 Dorchester Avenue 02 the Peabody Square Clock, an of- Join Common Boston and the Ashmont Hill Associa- Tour the new Peabody Square, Shawmut, and Fields ficial Boston Landmark recently tion for a walking tour of this late Victorian neigh- Corner stations with architect John Stebbins, AIA of restored and landscaped through borhood, stopping for conversations with several Cambridge Seven Associates; Barbara Boylan, AIA of collaborative