Studio Overview

This studio aims to propose a near-future scenario for the abandoned underground infrastructures of the subway system of Boston and its vicinity, with a focus on Brattle Tunnel underneath Harvard Square. During the first six weeks, students will look at all of the defunct underground infrastructures owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) MBTA to “design” a system in which those decommissioned spaces could operate again, not as a part of the subway network, but with particular themes that would suggest a new type of public space in the era of climate change. Then, in the second half, students will focus on Brattle Tunnel, within their own designed networks.

As the oldest settlements in the US, Boston and its neighboring towns have various written and unwritten—yet intriguing—stories, centered on the existence of underground structures. Some of these stories remain mysterious rumors, including the alleged secret tunnels connecting the harbor and the bars during the Prohibition era and the “haunted” Boylston Station. However, the scattered yet considerable number of abandoned subway infrastructures and their prominent locations in urban settings urge us to reappraise their value to something much more than mysteries. The Boston and Cambridge subway system is the oldest in the US, and its history is fundamentally related to urban growth and the shaping of the citizens’ everyday lives. Since the subway’s first test run between Park St. Station and Harvard Sq. in 1910, “commutability” between Cambridge and its neighboring towns increased, affecting the settlement patterns and housing regulations of the towns. However, the evolution of the city also made some of infrastructures decommissioned, and now there are a number of such spaces underneath very prime urban locations, which invite us to imagine our future leveraged by them. Can we reveal them to operate once again, but this time as a new urban form and experience to help us live better lives in the era of climate change?

In Part 1, each pair of students will work to propose a network with its own theme, such as hydrology, subsoil, new consumption culture, cultural venue, emergency handling, wild life, and climate control. Although the focus will be on these underground spaces, you must clearly aim to find the relation between “the below” and “the above,” and what lies “beyond.” The purpose of the Part 1 is to understand the individual abandoned spaces in a holistic view, and to configure a potential system that can provide a new role and value to those spaces. Lectures and workshops with guests will help students create speculative proposals that are also realistic.

After the mid-review, students will work individually (or choose to continue to work in pairs) and focus on Brattle Tunnel to revitalize the 430 ft long tunnel in the networks proposed in Part 1. It is crucial to look at the tunnel as part of a holistic physical context that consists of the web of open spaces, rivers, drainage systems, roads, groundwater, soil, subsoil, and air. The genuine charm of the empty tunnel and its spatial implications in relation to the Charles River and other surrounding landscapes will provide students with an opportunity to reimagine the way in which the public occupies and experiences the tight-knit fabric of Harvard Square.

The same three tasks recur [at underland] across cultures and epochs: to shelter what is precious, to yield what is valuable, and to dispose of what is harmful. <Underland: A Deep Time Journey, Robert Macfarlane>

Paris is built over a system of caverns from which the din of Metro and railroad mounts to the surface, and in which every passing omnibus or truck sets up a prolonged echo. And this great technological system of tunnels and throughfares interconnects with the ancient vaults, the limestone quarries, the grottoes reentered and traversed. <The Arcades Project, Walter Benjamin>

<Map of the Catacombes, Paris. 19th century>

Paris’ Catacombes were originally the quarries that were abandoned after the full extraction of limestone, and have been repurposed and explored since the 19th century, for instance, from charnel houses to breweries. Now, they are looked at to be more actively associated with what is above, to serve as an urban infrastructure in the era of climate change, such as a geothermal energy source. This map, an excerpt from a 19th century map of the Paris Catacombes, shows the labyrinthine layout underground (in color) beneath the straight-lined structures on the surface (in grey). (Inspection Générale des Carrières, 1857).

Students will be paired to ponder the potential of the abandoned, isolated underground infrastructures when connected with purpose. Please always have in mind that a proposed network must: 1) address how it would enhance citizens’ lives in the near and far future, and 2) suggest a new type of public space in the subterrain that is well connected to the ground above through new portals so that the spaces can be a crucial part of urban forms for the city that generate experiences.

During the first weeks of the course, you will familiarize yourself with the site and the ground above, helped by GIS information as well as the date provided by MBTA. In the first week of February, there will be site visits to three defunct segments of MBTA’s underground infrastructures, either still abandoned or having been repurposed after being decommissioned. The visits will be coordinated and guided by MBTA staff. 1) Brattle Tunnel: the tunnel is located underneath Harvard Square, having been abandoned since the 1960’s. 2) A segment near Boylston Station: this is a passage that was a part of the old Tremont

Street Subway, the first subway in the US. 3) Broadway Station Tunnel: was repurposed to an emergency training center, funded by the Department of Homeland Security, and has been in operation since 2014.

THEMES

Each team must have a very clear and generative theme for the network, and a precedent case is to be studied and shared with the class. Some examples of the themes are, but not limited to:

Hydrology

One of MBTA’s standing concerns is the leaking of groundwater into the tunnels due to the aging of the US’s oldest underground infrastructure. The ever-increasing unpredictability of precipitation caused by climate change only deepens this concern and invites us to think about the possible role of the empty underground spaces. Understanding the overall urban hydrology around the key tunnels will be crucial. Precedents of an urban scale, like Toronto’s underground river system and Tokyo’s flood defense underground infrastructure, would be helpful.

Subsoil

The underground has been, for the whole of human history, where we humans “shelter what is precious, yield what is valuable, and dispose of what is harmful.” Therefore, closely examining the subsoil strata of a city is one critical way to understand the past and project the future of the city. This can lead you to propose, for example, a new burial system, a new type of agronomy, or even a new type of energy generation.

Venue of Production and Consumption Thanks to the locations of the abandoned tunnels, that they are already sitting in some of the prime locations in the city, you may be able to suggest a new type of commerce that is based on a unique logistical system, especially by leveraging their past being part of mobility and the rare ambience they could offer. The idea of a brewery in Paris’ Catacombes was realized, for example, thanks to a constant cool temperature of the subterrain around at 15 °C (60 °F). It is imaginable to design a system of production and consumption that provides an unusual experience and even provides a new type of semi-public space.

Cultural Venue

In some cities, like Brescia, Italy, underground rivers and tunnels are celebrated and even turned into tourist attractions. The fact that the French town Les Baux de Provence turned its abandoned bauxite quarries into “Carrières des Lumières” clearly shows the fascinating potential of the unique spatial quality of underground spaces.

Emergency Handling

Broadway Training Center was built in the previously abandoned Broadway Tunnel in 1918 and decommissioned in 1940. In 2012, the MBTA started construction on a $10 million emergency training center located in the old streetcar tunnel, funded by the Department of Homeland Security. With this as an important precedent, can you think about a network that accommodates any social/cultural/climatic emergency in a way in which any preexisting ground level facilities were not able to handle? This theme can also cover the provision of shelter for the unhoused people as well.

Wild Life

Can the tunnels be home to the wildlife that are disappearing in urban areas? Before the Broadway Tunnel was turned into the emergency training facility, the MBTA once grew mushrooms there. From mushrooms to bats, the tunnels can become venues to bring back lost nature to the urban area. Designing portals would become just as critical in order to expand the impact of newly created subterranean habitats to the ground level, and eventually provide the experience of nature to the public.

Climate Control

Most of the cities around the world are facing similar challenges in the era of climate change, one of which is the aspiration for renewable energy sources. Underground spaces have been examined for geothermal energy, and the recent proposal by a French architect “Fieldwork” to use the abandoned quarries under Paris, as deep as 20 m below, as the potential geothermal energy powerplant that would cool in the summer and warm in the winter is quite inspiring. Those are some of the exemplary themes. Please feel free to come up with different topics that are believed to be pertinent to Boston’s vicinities and its abandoned underground infrastructure and discuss with the instructor. Studio Overview

PRECEDENT STUDY

Select one city and an underground space that clearly represents the city’s culture, nature, and history, and that is relevant to your chosen theme. It could be “a city and its natural subterranean condition,” or “a city and its manmade underground.” If the underground space has been repurposed from its original function, ensure you look at how the repurposing affected the ground above, physically and culturally. Be mindful to look for the interrelationship between the underground you are studying and the history and development pattern of the city and the citizens’ lifestyles. Your precedent study must be accompanied by sectional studies along with the geological profile of the case area. Design Workshop In Week 4, after you will have already been to some of the abandoned tunnels, there will be 4 hour—hands-on—design workshop with experts of urban design, traffic engineering, and ecologists, as well as MBTA personnel, which will allow you to test out your thoughts and filter them through diverse expertise. You are expected to bring a scaled preliminary plan and sections that show both the existing ground level structure (in grey) and your proposed underground network (in color).

PART 2 BRATTLE TUNNEL, IN YOUR NETWORK (SEVEN WEEKS)

In the later seven weeks of the semester, you will focus on Brattle Tunnel to elaborate your proposed network in a bigger scale. Brattle Tunnel, about 140 m long and 15 m wide, was completed in 1910 as a part of Harvard Station of Red Line, and was used as a train turn-around space and for throughfare toward Eliot Yard, which was once located at the current location of Harvard Kennedy School. Due to its prime location, a few stakeholders, including the Harvard Square Business Association, have looked at potentially repurposing the tunnel. Even though there are still many challenging issues remaining around the rebirth of the underground space abandoned since 60’s, it is a fascinating site for you to think about how your network can actually be realized into a real space. You must be considerate of the following: 1) how the transformation of the tunnel would lead the near future changes of Harvard

Square on an urban scale; 2) where new portals can be created and how they would be added to the historical landscape and architecture of Harvard

Square; and 3) what will the publics’ experience be after transforming the tunnel and by making passages between the underground and above ground?

You will start Part 2 by researching how the operation and construction of Harvard Station influenced Harvard Square and its surroundings. Literature on the history of the subway and Cambridge will be useful background knowledge (See the list of readings below).

At the first pin-up after spring break, you are expected to present your first idea with a plan/section/model, and to start forming your answers to the following questions for the final review: 1) Legibility of infrastructure: Should an infrastructure be visible or invisible? 2) Aesthetics of infrastructure: What is the unique spatial quality and ambience that an abandoned underground infrastructure could offer when transformed for a new purpose? 3) Experience of public: Can the repurposed infrastructure suggest a new type of public space?