BY ELIZABETH S. PADJEN, PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAHAR COSTON-HARDY
Surprising things happen when a big public agency decides to do something scrappy.
From the December 2016 issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine
With the advent of adult coloring books, you had to know that adult playgrounds wouldn?t be far behind.
The project that pretty much defines the type is Boston?s Lawn on D, the winner of a 2015 ASLA Professional Honor Award. Its presence in the city seems fitting, as Boston already serves as a comprehensive field guide to public open space, including elusive species such as garden cemeteries, arboretums, urban beaches, and skateboard parks.
But the Lawn on D is something different. Conceived as a temporary experimental space, this 2.7-acre site could have a profound effect on the next generation of urban parks. It?s a schoolyard. Anyone who has ever seen a New York City neighborhood playground will recognize it immediately. Flat. Asphalt paving. A fence. A swing set. People playing games. Others hanging back, watching. A couple of authority figures discreetly monitoring the action, ready to jump in if things get out of hand. A big building looming behind it all.
The Lawn on D takes that basic model and amps it up into the realm of urban cool. The fence is not galvanized chain link but black metal mesh?the first hint that a designer has been here. There is, of course, the eponymous patch of green, which is actually both synthetic turf and the real stuff. Asphalt paving has ...