Future Fenway Design Symposium
Key Findings and Conclusions from the Design Symposium
Design Symposium A Rousing Success!
Summary Report by Jeffrey Harris of Save Fenway Park.
For ten days, an air of controlled chaos characterized Room L308 in the Library Building at Simmons College in Boston. Chalkboards were crammed full of random, late-night-inspired ideas written in a vaguely decipherable scrawl. Reference books, rolls of trace paper, markers, and miscellaneous drafting tools piled high on a ragtag collection of worktables. Clumps of wires and cords stretched across the room to power laptop computers, CAD stations, printers and copiers. Empty Coke bottles unceremoniously scattered the floor. Amongst it all, clusters of casually dressed professionals and curious visitors feverishly debated the intricacies of traffic counts, aisle widths, and historic preservation standards above the combined din of ringing cell phones and a borrowed boom box pumping out strains of Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
Such was the atmosphere at "The Future Fenway: A Design Symposium." Save Fenway Park! (SFP!) partnered with the Fenway Community Development Corporation (FCDC) to sponsor this initiative, a ten-day intensive workshop intended to produce a detailed plan for a modernized Fenway Park on its current site, while at the same time further developing the neighborhood's Urban Village vision. SFP and the FCDC invited a team of architects, urban planners, and ballpark experts from around the country to undertake this formidable challenge. They proved to be more than equal to the task. From the seeming disorder of the creative process arose some wonderfully simple yet creative ideas for meeting the revenue and amenity needs of the Red Sox and their fans while addressing the concerns of the Fenway neighborhood.
SFP and FCDC instructed the team to develop two approaches to a modernized Fenway Park: a minimally invasive upgrade of the park that preserves most of its historic features, and a more comprehensive renovation and reconstruction of the grandstand. In addition, we asked them to identify a number of urban planning strategies that would address issues related to transportation to the park and neighborhood development.
The entire team was led by City Baseball Magic and urban ballpark expert Philip Bess, a professor of architecture and the principal of Thursday Architects in Chicago. Leading the exploration of a reconstructed Fenway Park was architect Rolando Llanes of The Corradino Group in Miami, Florida, who is also a ballpark design consultant for the Florida Marlins. Howard Decker, also from Chicago and one of the premier historic preservation architects in the country, coordinated the Fenway Park preservation option. Arturo Vasquez , the founder and principal of the firm SAS Design in Boston, oversaw the urban design elements.
The initiative kicked off on Saturday, August 5 with a public meeting in the East Fenway, where the design team outlined the issues, methodology, and parameters for the upcoming week. Local residents, concerned citizens, and community leaders all had an opportunity to ask questions, raise issues, and offer recommendations to the team. State Representative Byron Rushing and City Councilors Mickey Roache and Charlie Turner were also on hand to express their support for the initiative.
Over the course of the next week, the design team set up shop at Simmons College and immersed itself into all things Fenway. They toured the neighborhood and ballpark, pored over previous renovation proposals and urban planning studies, and analyzed the needs of the Red Sox, fans, and community residents. Team members consulted with a number of local experts, including architects, structural engineers, historic preservationists, code experts, and traffic engineers, all of whom generously donated their time to the cause. Several local students logged in valuable hours helping with computer-assisted drafting and model building.
Each evening, the symposium was opened to members of the public and local media for brief presentations on the ideas generated by the group. Team leaders summarized their progress and led an open dialogue with the audience on the merits of their evolving conclusions. These sessions were well-attended and generated helpful feedback for the team.
By the end of the week, after several nights of working into the wee hours, the team had produced a number of creative yet feasible solutions to the challenges we had laid out before them. All of the ideas were extremely well-documented by a variety of computer-assisted drafting (CAD) -based plans, sectional drawings, renderings, models, and neighborhood maps.
The entire team's highly anticipated proposals were presented to the public on Saturday, August 12. A special "preview" was held for the local media, attracting most of the local network news stations and newspapers. The public meeting was attended by a packed house of well over a hundred people, and included brief remarks by the team leaders, a very professional PowerPoint slide presentation, and an exhibit of the CAD-generated drawings, renderings, and models. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and the meeting extended much longer than scheduled in order to accommodate numerous comments and questions from the audience.
The solutions met our hopes and more. In either proposal, the Red Sox get more seats, luxury boxes, and club seats than what Fenway Park currently offers. The fans get more comfortable seating, improved circulation inside the park, additional concessions and rest rooms, and other amenities. The neighborhood achieves a vibrant Boylston Street corridor featuring mixed-use development instead of a massive stadium and parking garages. Above all, Fenway Park remains the historic, intimate ballpark that makes it the best place in the world to watch a baseball game.
The proposed options also offer some significant benefits over the current Red Sox stadium proposal. Both renovation alternatives are considerably cheaper than the Red Sox proposal. They require no land takings. They need no public subsidies from the city. They avoid the countless delays and costs from the lawsuits that are likely to arise in response to the Red Sox proposal. The most compelling benefit to either of these proposals, however, was summed up by Philip Bess. "The Red Sox and their architects could pursue either of our approaches immediately, and probably be playing baseball in a renovated Fenway Park, well before the first shovel of dirt is turned for their current proposal." (For more details, see related article)
After a brief period of recovery from this exhausting but energizing event, SFP is now strategizing for the future. Using the wealth of information generated at the symposium, we intend to market these alternatives to the Boston City Council, the Red Sox, fans, neighborhood residents, professional affiliation organizations, and other interest groups and decision-makers through publications and presentations. We now have more concrete proof that feasible alternatives to the current Red Sox stadium proposal do exist, alternatives that are cheaper, enhance (not destroy) the surrounding neighborhood, and preserve the real Fenway Park experience.
We extend our thanks to everyone who donated funds, time, expertise, materials and services to make this important initiative happen. Special thanks go out to Simmons College and Fisher College, who hosted the symposium and housed our out-of-town guests (respectively) all week.
In spite of all this wonderful support, staging the event has depleted our humble resources. After the exciting results of the symposium, we must now engage phasing and revenue specialists and create materials to get the word out. Your donation to SFP! is needed now more than ever.
-- Written by Jeffrey Harris, 8/30/2000 Copyright © 2000, Save Fenway, Inc.
Opening Remarks, by Philip Bess
Meet the Symposium Participants
Scenes from the Symposium
[under construction]
Final Session Remarks, Philip Bess
Grandstand Reconstruction Proposal
Urban Design and Traffic Proposals
Future Fenway Design Symposium
Opening Remarks, by Philip Bess
Meet the Symposium Participants
Scenes from the Symposium
[under construction]
Final Session Remarks, Philip Bess
Grandstand Reconstruction Proposal
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