Waste No More

Abandoned and forgotten lands subsist in nearly every urban setting. Some are the result of negligent or absent owners. Others are deemed not economically viable for redevelopment due to age, chronic vacancies, undesirable locations, contamination by past activities from heavy industry, a combination of these factors and more.

But like finding and restoring a lost diamond ring that was concealed in the dirt, when one of these areas is located, and a shine put on it, the results can put a smile on the face of all who consider its transformation.

In Somerville, Massachusetts, a town northwest of Boston, one such unearthing was the grounds of a Ford Motor assembly plant, said to have had a hand in building the famously ill-fated Edsel.

Poisoned Terrain
According to John Copley, ASLA, cofounder and principal of Copley Wolff, the landscape architect firm that was part of the team in charge of the eventual polishing of what would become known as Assembly Row, remnants of chemicals from the manufacturing process lurked in the ground and had to be removed - a process that took years.

Ultimately, the city contracted with Federal Realty Investment Trust as the master developer of the site and they set up a special use district and collaborated to complete the process.

Initial Development Attempts
"In the 80s, it was a strip mall and then left for dead on the westside of the property," asserts Andrew Arbaugh, another principal at Copley Wolff.

Most of this was retail, and then in time restaurants moved in along with some commercial and residential.

"But this one particular corner was just really isolated and empty," Arbaugh remembers. "And there is a ton of demand for residential so they chose Assembly Row to provide some of that."

 
Branching Out
The work on the street grid construction for the new development proceeded in two phases.

"We were contracted for phase one and they continued on with us for phase two," says Copley. "And we have also been involved in some of the other developments in each of the phases. They like the team that they have so we have just been continuing on with the team."

The first phase included a major park, Baxter Riverfront Park, and the establishment of the first two or three commercial blocks as well as a little plaza area.

The second phase pushed the street grid out toward a Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority station. These streetscapes feature ornamental plantings, shade trees, sitting areas, a public plaza, a linear park and Somerville's first woonerf street, which offers shared space for a variety of uses.

"It has different lives depending on use so they can close it down and the lower floor retail spills out," Arbaugh shares. "And they have events or it can function as a drive space during other parts of the day."

"The streetscape embraces the Complete Streets concept, allowing pedestrians, bikes, and automobiles to share the space with equal priority," cites Danna Day, principal and director of marketing of the design firm. "Scale, color, and seasonal variation create atmosphere and enhance the spatial experience."

Building Up
On many of the blocks, the first floor is retail and the upper floors are commercial or residential. And then there are the amenity spaces designed by Copely Wolff.

The most recent addition includes an observation tower on the top floor with outdoor seating and expansive views back to Boston. A more generous semiprivate 3rd floor includes a pool, pergola, outdoor seating area, TVs, and fireplaces. The team even collaborated with Recover Green Roof, to provide "a lot of planting."

"Copley Wolff's understanding of accessibility, human scale, and user needs is reflected in the landscape, which provides numerous opportunities for social interactions that make the area inviting, interesting, and aesthetically pleasing," states Day.

Giving Assembly Row even more character was the charge of Paula Rees of Foreseer, who lent her placemaking talents to the project.

"She is really good at interpreting the site and finding artifacts or making artifacts that she embeds in the architecture," Copley relates. "It is another layer of interpretation that overlays the design and grounds it in this locale. A lot of the detailing and fun stuff that she found are related to the old assembly plant."

Vitality Renewed
"After years of planning and vision, the site has been transformed into a vibrant and active center of business and culture," sums up Day. "Copley Wolff Design Group established an overall landscape plan that links together all elements of Assembly Row with user-friendly and accessible common spaces."

Copley adds, "It is a good model of how you integrate a new mixed-use, higher density development in an existing urban fabric and really create a new place that hasn't been there in a long time."

"We have taken a space that was completely forgotten, that nobody had any reason to go to at all, and turned it into this major destination," declares Arbaugh. "It is still in its early phases but you can see the projection forward that a community is going to grow up and make this a place that they work and they live - make this place a home."


Team List
Owner - Federal Realty Investment Trust
Landscape Architect - Copley Wolff Design Group, Inc.
Civil - VHB
Master Planning - Street-Works Studio

As seen in LASN magazine, August 2019.

Filed Under: STREETSCAPE, BOSTON, NEW ENGLAND, PUBLIC SPACE, LASN

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