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Block Chain


Reviving First Street of South Boston

Time: 2021 Fall

Team: Youngsoo Yang

Role: Urban Researcher, Designer

Tool: Rhino, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign

What is Block Chain?

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.

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Urban Context of First Street

What is Block Chain?
Urban Context of First Street

First Street is an unwelcoming condition bordered by chain-link fences and inaccessible facades that essentially create a long wall on both sides. We investigated the condition with thorough analysis of the context, which served as our basis to our proposal. The strategies were quite simple – after understanding the existing conditions, we sought to find ways to mediate and establish relationships and adjacencies. 

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Deconstructing First Street

Deconstructing First Street

Space Typologies of First Street

Space Typologies of First Street
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Final Design

So, how will the First Street Impact the Whole Site?

Below is the proposed siteplan. The storyline of this design can be summarized with these 4 steps.

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Copyright ©2023, Qingyu Cai, All rights reserved

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