Suprablock @PopLab. Boston, MA, 2014

Urban Prototype, case study for Boston - Research, in progress

Suprablock is thought as a multi-performative system that develops the urban grid in the three dimensions, detaching from the tyranny of the car. Optimizing the use of the air, the system defines aerial streets and public spaces, communicated by means of shared vertical cores. The spaces in between infrastructural lines become the empty “volumetric plots” to be filled over time and according to needs. The open system designed can be developed in many ways and incorporate manifold agents in the process, using urban planning strategies.

In this prototype that can grow with the same freedom and logic in the horizontal and vertical dimensions, the concept of the “building” completely dilutes, creating a hybrid where architecture and infrastructure find a new balance, where isolated buildings are transformed into a hyper-connected network. The construction logic of this system follows that of the prefabrication and lifting operations required for its construction, so that an on-site factory can efficiently fabricate and position the material saving transportation and manipulation costs.

As a case study, Suprablock Boston, inserts itself over the easternmost segment of Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90), connecting the neighborhoods divided by the highway, resolving a physical and acoustical barrier and feeding the city with new open spaces, facilities and programs. The functionality of the highway remains intact but the space it occupy is bridged and recovered for the city.