Site: The site that has been chosen for the library is disconnected from the people of Boston. I have linked the sites geographic location as similar to how a pearl is formed. A pearl is formed from an irritation or impurity inside the oyster. The oyster immediately begins producing "nacre", layer upon layer until the irritation is completely surrounded by the protective shell. I believe that the site has a similar history. Its location is between two urban centers, Boston Proper and South Boston. It is located at the fringe of both of these urban areas, protected and separated from the city. This protection allowed layers of development around it but not at the site. The surrounding buildings allow it to be protected from some of the weather elements that would normally be felt on a waterfront property. This is the ying and yang of our site. Its surroundings act as both a protection and a separation, similar to how an oyster shell protects the pearl, but also hides it from our view.
Massing: The building has two distinct masses forming an "x-shape" in elevation. The larger primary mass extends the roof line as a path to intersect with the summer street bridge and bring the pedestrian connection to our site out of the current dungeon-like underground path and into the light. This solves a few problems that I indicated during my site analysis. One, it visually announces the harborwalk entry on our side of Summer street, improving on the wayfinding for the harborwalk. Two, it connects our site to the pedestrian path allowing integration of users into our program that might not normally come inside. The secondary mass connects with the waterfront, physically penetrating the surface of the water and allowing an aquarium type view beneath the harbor. This primary mass also acts as the entrance, allowing for people to either enter the building or continue down the top of the secondary mass to connect back to the Harbor Walk.
Program: Along with the typical library functions of a community public library (tech/presentation help, reading rooms, group study, meeting rooms, conference rooms etc) I have chosen the cabinet of curiosity as a precedent for a typology of this Library. I want the interior of the library to constantly evolve and grow as the collections grow. The programmatic "hook" that I am incorporating which will allow for this collection to grow is a diving/scuba program that allows visitors and guests the opportunity to contribute to the collection of artifacts from the channel specifically and also could include other excursions in the water both fresh and salt. This would be a difficult program to continue in the colder months so I believe it needs to be supplemented with a similar "dry" excavation program. There is quite a bit of fill all thoughout Boston, and quite a bit of ongoing construction. I believe this would be another source of artifacts that could be incorporated curating cycle.
Included would be a curation program that would take the artifacts collected by the community (and other sources) and either show the participating public how to do it as a hands on learning experience or it could be done by the library curator.
