The Renewal Plan for the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse and Harborpark summarizes a significant team effort in 2019-20 to achieve the goals (1) extending the site’s original design legacy (building by Pei, Cobb & Freed, and landscape by Olin and Johnson), (2) proposing significant adjustments to the Courthouse public realm in the face of massive neighborhood change in the past decade; (3) improving performance of landscape materials and functionality; and (4) above all, to reduce security risks and insure climate resiliency for the Courthouse and its public spaces in the face of predicted sea level rise.

The goal was to produce a framework for holistic decisions and eventual action, given the demonstrated risks facing this property, which is a treasured federal asset, a work of great architectural distinction, and site of great local and neighborhood importance for the City of Boston. Discrete design options for Courthouse Way, Northern Avenue, the East Lawn and Gardens, and the Harbor Walk, balance the site’s history and design legacy, its public access and transit context, and detailed appraisals of the current technical conditions of plants, soils and groundwater. All aspects were considered from an integrative perspective of climate risk. Next steps are to review the design alternatives and narrow the preferred schemes for advancing to a schematic design level.

Work completed while employed at Reed Hilderbrand; Adrian Fehrmann was the Project Manager.