option studio: no shirt, no shoes, no park

Mikyoung Kim with Bryan Chou | Fall 2017

This project creates public space in the Boston Seaport neighborhood that suggests methods of occupation but does not dictate the activities of its users. It allows for the users to negotiate amongst themselves what activities will happen here, when, and how. It will allow for groups of all shapes and sizes to gather and participate together.

Cities must create cohesive spaces for public gathering while incorporating all different kinds of activities in the same place. Parks should offer sites for social respite and friction for people at all times. The brief also called for a public space that could be used for massive protests, while being an enjoyable place for small groups of people.

The project began with an exploration of materials and models that capture kinetic activity in static form to create an engaging environment that would encourage movement throughout the site. The connection between the city and site was analyzed and diagrammed. Retail L’s were proposed to attract people to the project beyond times of protest.

An undulating skin topography was then placed above, composed of hexagons at the scale of human occupation. At various “suggested” places of program, the spaces aggregate together to allow for flat or angled gathering places at the small, medium, and large scales. The fractalized units of pentagons allow for fraying of structured space; enabling any user of the space to choose how to occupy the specific moment, and permit a wider variety of topographic elevation.

This project is not about the hexagons, it’s about the moments; the geometric forms are the vehicles for unlimited journeys. Materials are applied to enable activities, but the edges and colors hide the “intended” program in favor of a more fluid experience.