Heart Transplant

East Boston Piers Park by Jason Hill

One of Frederick Law Olmsted's base philosophies was "every community should have a park at its heart." For years, Olmsted-designed Wood Island Park was a popular park in East Boston. So when the park was joined with Logan Airport as part of a necessary expansion project to help Massport meet the commerce demands of the 20th century safely and efficiently, residents and political leaders came together to look for a suitable location for a heart transplant. Through the efforts of local representatives and the PiersPAC group, appointed by the governor of Massachusetts, a rundown part of the industrial waterfront was reclaimed to create the East Boston Piers Park and Community Boating Facility, a 6.5 acre park, once again delivering life to this vital suburb. "This is a terrific example of how a blighted area like the East Boston waterfront can be converted into something incredible through urban planning and rehabilitation," noted David Loker of M.E. O'Brien & Sons, Inc., a Medfield-based play structures distributor. "They took the rundown remnants of heavy industry and built a beautiful park." One key to the success of the park was Pressley Associates, Inc.'s role as liaison between Massport and the East Boston Piers Project Advisory Committee (PiersPAC), who had final design approval. Through collaboration and negotiation, the parties were able to find a common vision on a waterfront park which acted as a playground for both adults and children, commemorated East Boston's maritime-rich culture and set a standard for future waterfront enhancement projects. "It was important to create a community park for East Boston...a park for its citizens," said project manager Marion Pressley, FASLA, principal of Pressley Associates, Inc. "A lot of activity areas and pavilions were included in order to gear the site towards a true-community facility." There are three primary activity hubs at the park. The first is the children's playground. The playground, which features the "Playboosters" line of play structures from Landscape Structures, Inc., is comprised of a collection of slides, jungle gyms, and bridges in a vibrant shade of blue, to help correlate the structures to the East Boston waterfront. A tan, resilient safety surface, Landscape Structures' Playbound Poured-in-Place, was chosen because it cushions jumps and reduces scrapes from minor falls. The thick rubber was poured to a depth of three inches to protect from head injuries on falls from up to six feet. Small tots lots with swing sets for younger children, the Playshaper line, were also included in the design. The playground was divided into two sections by a spray pool, used as a good place to cool off on hot, summer days because of its proximity to the playground. The blue spray pool, which features a single spray nozzle at the center, was also located near the playground because that region of the park is mostly protected from shoreline winds. A nearby pavilion overlooks the play areas, giving adults a shaded vantage point to keep an eye on their children. The second activity hub is the adult "playground." The play area features Parcourse Outdoor Fitness System, provided by Gametime, Inc. The course has everything from handbags to balance beams and its central location makes it a good start/stop point for those who wish to jog through the park. The sailing center, located at the end of the pier, is the final activity hub. The center, which is open to the public and features a variety of classes and other maritime activities, is one of the few points where East Boston residents are able to access and interact with the water. As for the pier itself, project designers made use of the existing granite seawalls, which have guarded the perimeter of the structure since about 1870. The walls were rehabilitated using a lightweight back-fill and filter fabric system to reduce the overall loading on the wall. To add support to the new walls, more granite walls and pier supports were added. The design also took advantage of old timber piles which previously supported the timber wharf structure around the pier to stabilize the riprap and armor stone courses. Two pavilions were built on the pier, providing visitors a front-row view of the Boston skyline across the water. The 600-foot pedestrian promenade features four smaller shade pavilions on each side of the pier. Each shade pavilion has a Victorian Series Bench, provided by Concord-based American Site Furnishings (Other benches, tables and chairs throughout the park are also Victorian Series models). Both the promenade and trails throughout the park were paved using a combination of brick and granite. The Richtex Brick was supplied by Somerville-based Spaulding Brick, Co. Inc. and the "Stoney Creek Granite" was supplied by North Kingstown, Rhode Island-based Castelucci Stone Industries, Inc. The fencing, which surrounds the edge of the pier, was supplied by South Easton-based D'Angelis Ironworks, Inc. The fencing was placed out along the waterfront and was raised to a height of eight feet where the borders of the park touch the outlying community. Not only does this provide security during the early evening hours, but the front gates are locked at night and the park has the benefit of 24-hour police surveillance. To add to patron safety and ambiance during evening hours, Marquis-model luminaires, created by Jefferson, Ohio-based King Luminaure, were installed on Cast Iron Bishop's Crook poles, supplied by Spring City Electrical Manufacturing Co., based in Pennsylvania. The Boston Piers design concept called for a landscape which evoked a feeling of natural accord with the seaside environment. To help do this, specific types of plant material had to be specified. Native, salt-tolerant seaside plants, such as Bayberry, Potentilla, Bear Berry groundcover, and seaside hardy roses were just a few of the plants selected to enhance the atmosphere. In all, over 32 varieties of trees, seasonal flowers, and ornamental shrubs were planted as part of the project. The new park has become an important gathering point for "Eastie Pride" and the yearly East Boston "Eastie Pride" day was moved to the park in 1998. One of the reasons East Boston residents have such pride in their new park is the fact that the design concept was created largely based upon their input, from the overall concept of creating open green space to the selection of park furniture. Picnic tables from Abington-based Blake Industries were selected for the project. Blake Industries also made the bike racks. The drinking fountains are the "Capitol Water Fountain," supplied by Antique Street Lamps, Inc., based in Burlington. The trash receptacle of choice was the Bethesda Series Model S-42, created by Dunkim, Maryland-based Victor Stanley, Inc. "The community was very involved in the project, right down to selecting the type of park furniture," Pressley added. "It is always exciting and interesting to work with the people who are going to be the end users." In Pressley's opinion, the collaboration has also done a lot to inform East Boston residents about exactly what a Landscape Architect contributes to a project. A few years ago, the community of East Boston had to give up a major open space resouce and a historical recreation area. Wood Island Park, the legacy given to the community by Frederick Law Olmsted, was donated so that the arteries of East Boston's commerce industry could better serve the organs which make up the greater-Boston business community. However, with the help of Massport, PiersPAC, local residents and Pressley Associates, Inc., the once rundown waterfront was given a heart transplant. lasn