Boston Seaport Public Realm Initiative

Location: Boston, MA
Status: 2018-2020
Client: Massachusetts Port Authority
Collaborators: Agency Landscape + Planning, Artists for Humanity, BRM Production Management, Cannistraro Fabrication, LOT-EK architecture, Wangro/Zaragunda, Inc.
Impact Areas: Spaces and Places of Belonging, Nontraditional Collaborations

Massport has historically played an important role in welcoming diverse communities into Boston. “Port of Entry” was a public realm initiative based on the goals of inviting diversity back into a homogeneous and economically exclusive Seaport community, celebrating differences, and building a more inclusive future together.

In 2018, Grayscale began work with the Massachusetts Port Authority to develop an inclusive public realm agenda to anchor young creatives from underrepresented neighborhoods to be the artists, designers, small businesses, builders, and activators of the public realm. This agenda moved forward in three key phases: (1) Piloting temporary and experimental programs on vacant sites ; (2) Designing permanently inclusive spaces and uses into new construction; (3) Institutionalizing and financing the process through the process of private land disposition.