Sandwiched between the industrial past of South Boston, and the quiet residential neighborhood, First Street remains lifeless, a static condition of space and infrastructure with little sign of activities and life. It divides, disconnects, and demoralizes the spirit of the place. 

First street is dead.

Our solution is simple:  we take acupunctural interventions along First Street that negotiate the existing friction of the site and give it a new life. Our proposal asks to reimagine this linear condition of inactivity with a renewed sense of awareness and optimism, as we bring First Street back on its feet. It’s context conscious and almost a grassroot means of transforming the site. Lastly, we began the process by deconstructing First Street, block by block, with respect to scale, existing typologies, different adjacencies and program. Hence, we are calling our proposal, “Block-Chain.”

To wrap it up, our proposal rejects the current status quo of First Street, bordered by chain link fences and inaccessible, inhuman scales of industrial facades and barriers. We are creating a framework in which First Street can be allowed to breathe again and become a central artery of SWouth Boston.