8 renderings of Boston’s vision for reinventing City Hall Plaza
City officials are planning to overhaul the plaza with new buildings, infrastructure, and a "playslope."
City Hall is a divisive subject in Boston.
However, even proponents of the giant, brutalist building and its wide-open brick plaza admit it has fallen short of some of its original aspirations of creating a vibrant civic center. Mayor Marty Walsh’s administration is hoping to change that.
Hoping to make the seven-acre plaza a more “welcoming” space, Walsh announced the design Tuesday of the city’s planned overhaul of City Hall Plaza. The $60 million renovation project is intended to activate the plaza with modern amenities and attractions, while preserving its biggest asset: the ability to host large events, like sports celebrations and rallies.
“Creating a new People’s Plaza will help us achieve our goals of making one of Boston’s most-used public spaces better for all residents,” Walsh said in a statement.
Here’s a look at what that means:
1. An aerial view of the City Hall Plaza design
The broad plan — which aims to finish construction by mid-2022 — would add more than 100 trees, shade-covered gathering areas, LED lighting, and more than 3,000 new places to sit in the plaza. The redesign concept also includes seven new “plug and play” areas with utilities for community groups to utilize, including a stage event area with room for up to 12,0000 visitors.
The entire plaza would have a capacity of 25,000 people. That’s a significant decrease from its original 40,000-person capacity; however, the plaza hasn’t hosted gatherings that size since Celtics celebrations in the 1980s, according to The Boston Globe.
2. City Hall at the Congress Street plaza entrance
One particular point of renovation is turning the plaza stairs from Congress Street to Cambridge Street into a sloped promenade, with shaded seating, public art, and an “iconic water feature.” Renderings from Sasaki, the Watertown-based urban design firm leading the project, also envision a children’s “playslope” with slides and other playground amenities.
There would also be a nearby civic building with a pavilion facing Congress Street that city officials say could be rented for staged events.
3. Congress Street civic pavilion
4. Adventure playslope
Another aspect of the redesign project is opening City Hall’s northern entrance along the new slope. The original thought behind the entrance, which has been closed since 2001, was to provide easy through access to the building’s second floor. But that was back in 1968, when most transactions were done with paper, as opposed to online. Still, officials say reopening the entrance would make City Hall more accessible, particularly its second-floor record-keeping departments for things like permitting, parking, and elections.
5. City Hall Plaza North Court entrance
6. The view from the top of the sloped promenade at City Hall Plaza
Despite the added amenities, city officials want City Hall to remain flexible in order to accommodate single-day events and seasonal programming, like Boston Winter and The Patios. The city’s plan mentions providing space for food trucks and potential cafe or retail spaces. A rendering by Sasaki shows Boston Winter-like amenities including shops and an ice skating rink in the center of the plaza.
According to the city, the redesign’s plans to improve infrastructure and access to things like power, water, and data would help support those sort of event organizers and vendors. Isabel Zempel, landscape principal for Sasaki, says the updates will bring City Hall Plaza “into the modern century.”
“The Plaza’s renovation will honor its original intentions and history, while making it a more accessible place for all,” Zempel said.
7. City Hall Plaza during the winter
8. The main entrance
