Inside/Out: Boston City Hall Plaza

Now in its fourth year, our 2023 "Inside/Out" series of landscape architecture site tours continues across our region. Prioritizing issues of climate and health, equity and resilience, each tour will discuss ideas and implementation as we explore these landscapes together.

The 2023 series continues at Boston City Hall Plaza. We’ll explore the design and technical details of the newly renovated plaza, with a special focus on green infrastructure.

Led by

Mauricio Gomez, ASLA, Senior Associate, Sasaki

Kate England, Director of Green Infrastructure, City of Boston

Evan Brinkman, AIA, Assistant Director for Design, City of Boston | Public Facilities Division

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Join us on a walking tour as we enjoy this civic landscape as rejuvenated and reinvented for the 21st century.

The Boston City Hall Plaza walking tour will begin at 5:00pm on the Plaza at "Speaker's Corner". Speakers Corner is just OUTSIDE the main building entrance (on the 3rd floor), facing the MBTA.

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Tour size will be kept small for health and quality of experience. Please come dressed for the weather, prepared to walk outside. We look forward to exploring with you!

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Banner image: photo by Matthew Arielly, courtesy Sasaki

Above: Kate England describing the Plaza's new green infrastructure, spring 2023.

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

After an extensive, complicated, and long-awaited renovation, Boston City Hall Plaza reopened to the public on November 18, 2022. From the City of Boston's press release,

"City Hall Plaza is a space to bring people together and build community," said Mayor Michelle Wu.

The recently completed renovation transformed the Plaza into a civic space for all residents, with universal accessibility, new communal spaces, increased environmental sustainability, and critical infrastructure improvements that will ensure the plaza is safe and accessible for generations to come.

From Sasaki.com:

Sasaki, in partnership with Mayor Michelle Wu and the City of Boston, is embarking on a renovation of the historic Boston City Hall Plaza. The seven-acre plaza is one of the City’s largest civic spaces and for the last 50 years it has hosted events ranging from sports celebrations and political rallies to seasonal cultural festivals. Much has changed about the plaza’s urban context, standards of public safety and security, and municipal operations since its design in the 1960s. Currently, the Plaza lacks 21st century infrastructure to support engaged, civic life: its massive open space and stepped elevation change makes for an unwelcoming and inaccessible environment for everyday activity.

In October 2017, the city released the Boston City Hall and Plaza Master Planning Study: Rethink City Hall, which was led by Utile and Reed Hilderbrand. The study resulted in a 30-year master plan to address required repairs and to transform the 50-year-old City Hall and Plaza into an innovative, healthy, and efficient civic facility to better serve current and future generations of Bostonians and visitors, alike.

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Above: rendering of design concept at City Hall Plaza, Sasaki.

Below: Sasaki's Mauricio Gomez leading a tour of the Plaza when it was under construction. Mauricio led a similar tour for BSLA Inside/Out fall 2021.

Host or Publisher Boston Society of Landscape Architects