Imagining the South Coast Rail
Deadline: September 16, 2011
In support of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s South Coast Rail Economic Development and Land Use Corridor Plan, SHIFTboston is challenging urban planners, architects, urban designers, designers and landscape architects — professionals and students — to explore and visualize destinations along the proposed South Coast Rail extension, which will connect Boston to Taunton, New Bedford, and Fall River, Massachusetts.
The planned extension of commuter rail lines from Boston’s South Station to the Massachusetts South Coast has the capacity for broader re-conception and re-imagination of the region. We encourage competitors to investigate and to explore the potential of this new network and its RESOURCES. Competitors might animate the rail system by adding to or enhancing the latent urban NETWORK. These NEW destinations could draw from the regional and local resources, industry and culture such as, universities, agriculture, arts, marine industry, historical institutions, tourism and recreation. FUN? Consider what has not yet been considered — contemporary communal and PUBLIC meeting places, open markets for local food production, a regional cultural campus of performance space and theaters connected by rail, or new research and development campuses or dense residential districts. The submission might explore these stopping points along the rail as part of system of supporting links which make up a greater network. The competitor might also choose to focus on further developing the central core of one or more of the cities on the line, such as Fall River or New Bedford.
“We will not understand the full potential of the South Coast Rail Project until we can see it.”
Greg Guimond, Deputy Director and Comprehensive Planning Manger, SRPEDD
This international competition and event will foster the development of valuable concepts necessary for a new and vital urban network along the railway therefore becoming a true realization of the potential of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s South Coast Rail Economic Development and Land Use Corridor Plan.
Competitors are asked to address one or more of the following options:
Option 1: New Bedford Stop
Develop a concept for the end of the line in New Bedford. Think about how this stop might draw from regional and local resources, industry and culture such as, universities, agriculture, arts, marine industry, historical institutions, tourism. Envision how it might engage with the existing New Bedford community to further develop a central city core. Please refer to documents resources page for downloadable site plans and information on the city of New Bedford and South Coast region.
Option 2: Fall River Stop
Develop a concept for the end of the line in Fall River at Battleship Cove. Think about how this stop might draw from regional and local resources, industry and culture such as, universities, agriculture, arts, marine industry, historical institutions, tourism. Envision how it might engage with the existing Fall River community and Battleship Cove and perhaps how it might further develop a central city core. Please refer to the documents resources page for downloadable site plans and information on the city of Fall River and South Coast region.
Option 3: You Tell Us
How would you program the South Coast Rail? YOU DECIDE. Participants could develop a program for the entire line, perhaps define a concept with which to enhance an existing city along the line. Animate the new rail system by adding one or more new programmed destinations. Think about programming the rail while drawing upon local resources in order to develop a more sustainable infrastucture — and how one could draw form the region using the railway as a service for fresh produce and seafood — turning stations into food markets. Imagining the line as a new place for bike recreation with bike sharing facilities and paths along the coast? How about transforming Fall River as Massachusetts new art city — by utilizing the great industrial building stock for studios.
Option 4: Landscape
There are a large number of wetlands lying in the South Coast Corridor. Think about how the new rail might draw from this natural resource while offering protection to it. How could the rail benefit this sensitive habitat? Is there a symbiotic relationship that could be further developed between the rail and wetland? Think about how one might develop a more sustainable infrastructure which might engage with and perhaps even expand the wetland environment.
Please refer to the documents page for information on the new rail and the South Coast region.
Awards
The winner will receive a cash prize and present his/her concept at the SHIFTboston WHY STOP Forum at South Station in Boston, MA on January 2012 among select members of the jury, government, community and business leaders, local developers and regional economic development groups.
The winning entry will be featured in a new game for mobile devices which will be featured at the Forum and as part of the WHY STOP Exhibition. Winning and select submissions will be on public display as part of a traveling exhibition which will begin at South Station in Boston and move to select locations in New Bedford and Fall River.
All finalists and eligible entries will be promoted on the SHIFTboston blog and website and will be come part of the SHIFTboston WHY STOP book in 2012.
Sponsors and Partners
Boston Society of Architects
City of New Bedford
Southeastern Regional Planning & Economic Development District (SRPEDD)
Boston Game Jams
Boston South Station
Exhibition Sponsor
Amtrak