Tent City
Tent City Corporation and JMB/Urban Development Company
Boston, Massachusetts
This urban, mixed-use, mixed-income residential development for 1,200 residents was born of a 1968 protest, in which neighborhood activists staged the 'Tent City' sit-in to protest loss of their homes to redevelopment. Goody Clancy worked closely with neighborhood groups to design the new Tent City mixed-income development on the site, which had been vacant for twenty years.
Relevant Project Information:
- Located next to Copley Place, a large urban shopping center, the development provides a graceful transition between the commercial district and the smaller-scale historic South End neighborhood on the other side.
- Originally part-owners of the Tent City site, the Copley Place developers wanted to use the land to construct parking for shoppers. The architects' solution was to construct the housing complex over an underground garage, which also serves the adjoining shopping mall.
- The 560,000 SF complex of townhouses and a mid-rise elevator apartment building (89 units per acre) integrates low, moderate, and market-rate residences with community facilities, day care center, and street-level shops on the commercial street.
- All townhouses and stacked two-story units have individual entries and stoops on the street, rear exits onto private patios, and access to shared courtyards beyond.
- Sweeping curve of twelve-story apartment building responds to shape of the subway tunnel and the urban linear park below.
Awards:
- United Nations World Habitat Award
- Urban Land Institute -- Award for Excellence
- Architectural Record magazine -- In the Public Interest Award
- Fannie Mae Foundation -- Award of Excellence
- Boston Society of Architects -- Art & Architecture Award
- City Design Center, University of Illinois, Chicago -- Best Practices in Affordable Housing Award
Additional Recognition:
- Featured in the Boston Globe; New York Times; Architectural Record and Progressive Architecture magazines
- Featured in the books Good Neighbors: Affordable Family Housing and Multifamily Housing Development Handbook
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