Artist Work/Live

Public Land for Public Good

Roxbury, Boston, MA

Roxbury is a section of Boston that has been historically “redlined” and lacks many resources and infrastructure present in many wealthier areas of the city. The class was assigned a neighborhood in Boston that has twelve plots that are classified as “un-developable” by the city of Boston due to their small and/or awkward size. The class then ignored typical zoning requirements to see what we could design to give back to the community and not only provide missing resources, but enhance the existing culture and progressive work by the community such as street art the the existing community gardens. The site also had an elementary school in between all of the plots.

My plot was away from the main street containing shops and small businesses on the left side of the site map and was all the way on the right side surrounded by houses. Roxbury does not contain any artist living and due to the site context of cultural art and the surrounding houses, I decided to create open studios and private apartments for artists from Roxbury.

The project emphasizes the codependency of the community and the project and the interlock of public and private space. The project cannot be successful without the involvement of the community.