North Bank Bridge Park, IBI Placemaking, Massachusetts Trails, US Waterfront Architecture

North Bank Bridge Park, Boston

Apr 4, 2020

North Bank Bridge Park, Boston Landscape

Design: IBI Group, Architects

Location: waterfront – NCR Basin, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

North Bank Bridge Park : Creating the first river-edge connection between Charles River and the Boston Harbor

North Bank Bridge Park Boston landscape design

The North Bank Bridge Park project in Boston, MA reclaims a derelict underbridge space overwhelmed by vestigial industry, highway ramps, and the looming Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (built 2003), and transforms it into a safe, vibrant, welcoming, aesthetically pleasing and fun Underbridge Plaza, that gently tames its gritty urban character while still honoring it.

North Bank Bridge Park Boston landscape design

The IBI Group-designed bridge and its associated park component are the final park project in the NCR Basin, one that encompassed a complex public process, balancing the needs of several public agencies and numerous public constituents.

North Bank Bridge Park Boston landscape design

The 11-acre park contains waterfront esplanades, passive open space, and special treatment to animate the underbridge pedestrian environment on both the Boston and Cambridge sides of the river.

North Bank Bridge Park Boston landscape by IBI placemaking

The planning process included siting a maintenance facility and accommodating such active recreation facilities as multi-use trails, soccer fields, tennis courts and a skateboard park, much of which will be added in future phases.

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge Boston, MA

The centerpiece of this project is a multi-use bridge which features dramatic curvilinear or ‘sinusoidal’ structure that provides a counterpoint to the adjacent angular geometry of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge.

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge Boston

The North Bank Bridge, which provides pedestrian access across the commuter rail tracks leading into nearby North Station, finally executes famed landscape architect and Boston regional planner Charles Eliot’s century-old vision of connecting the parks along the Charles River with those of the Boston Harbor.

North Bank Bridge Park Boston landscape design

North Bank Bridge Park Boston Placemaking – Design Information

Client: Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation/Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation & Recreation

Plot area:11 Acres

Programme – typology: Parks & Open Spaces, Waterfronts

Design Team:
John Amodeo, Principal
Cathy Offenberg, Principal
Horace Aikman, Senior Associate, Director of Construction Technologies
Steven M. Woods, Jr., Senior Associate

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge

Architectural Awards:
2017 WAN Awards, Landscape in Architecture Award
Boston Society of Landscape Architects, 2017 Excellence Award in Design

Photos: Chuck Choi Photography
Aerial photo: Mark Flannery Photography

North Bank Bridge Park Boston landscape by IBI Group

North Bank Bridge Park, Boston Landscape Design images / information from IBI Group, Architects

Location: MA, USA

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Website: North Bank Bridge Park Boston by IBI Placemaking