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120<br />
past progressives<br />
ARCHITECT the AiA mAgAzine February <strong>2014</strong> WWW.arCHITeCTMaGaZINe.COM<br />
Jury<br />
1983 P/A Awards Jury<br />
George Baird, Intl. Assoc. AIA<br />
Alan Chimacoff, AIA<br />
Stanton Eckstut, FAIA<br />
Sandra Howell<br />
Mark Mack<br />
Marietta Millet<br />
James Stirling<br />
John Woodbridge, FAIA<br />
More images at architectmagazine.com<br />
1983 P/A award Citation<br />
Housing Diversity<br />
West BroadWay Housing is one of Boston’s most diverse areas,<br />
in part due to tHe renovation of tHis 1948 puBlic-Housing project.<br />
Text by Thomas Fisher, Assoc. AIA<br />
What to do with distressed postwar publichousing<br />
projects is a challenge for cities around<br />
the country, and few efforts have had as much<br />
success as the upgrading of the West Broadway<br />
Housing complex in Boston. Designed by Lane,<br />
Frenchman & Associates and Goody, Clancy &<br />
Associates, the renewal plan called for inserting<br />
more streets through the development’s<br />
existing super blocks, reducing the number (and<br />
expanding the size) of dwelling units, and replacing<br />
a barren, largely concrete landscape<br />
with fenced-in—and easily defensible—green<br />
spaces and playgrounds.<br />
Not every aspect of the project got implemented.<br />
Wood-framed townhouses along West<br />
Broadway and a social-services and daycare<br />
center replaced three clusters of the proposed<br />
brick-clad housing, yielding a greater diversity<br />
of unit types and outdoor spaces. But much of<br />
the project cited by the P/A Awards jury in 1983<br />
was realized as planned, resulting in a substantial<br />
increase in plantings and playgrounds, new<br />
direct entryways into units from the outside,<br />
and off-street parking.<br />
The growing prosperity of this area of South<br />
Boston has reinforced the success of this development<br />
and, at the same time, the project’s success<br />
has no doubt contributed to making West<br />
Broadway a desirable destination for residents,<br />
both locals and those new to the area. And while<br />
we know that architecture cannot cure society’s<br />
ills, this revitalized neighborhood shows the<br />
value of attending to the details of public space<br />
and to what families of diverse backgrounds<br />
need in order to thrive. Above all, this project<br />
demonstrates how good design can create a<br />
place that attracts people and makes them want<br />
to take care of it.<br />
Courtesy Cymie Payne and Goody ClanCy
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