Hood Bike Park: Pollution Purging Plants

Honor Award

General Design

Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States
Offshoots, Inc.
Client: Hood Park, LLC

A Functional Landform

A sloped bike pavilion caps contaminated soils, provides an outdoor event space, and raises the site out of the 2100 anticipated coastal flood-zone.

Image Credit: Peter Vanderwarker Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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Program, Form & Identity

A lawn, stage, roof deck, and phytoremediation plantings are wound together creating a seamless transition between architecture and landscape.

Image Credit: Offshoots, Inc.
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Mitigating Pollution & Flooding Hazards

Site analysis of air pollution from the adjacent highway, contaminated shallow groundwater, and anticipated sea level rise drove the design strategy.

Image Credit: Offshoots, Inc.
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Assessing Community Open Space Needs

An analysis of local programming and neighborhood resource access led revealed the need for a bike facility and outdoor multi-use space.

Image Credit: Offshoots, Inc.
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Catalyst for Transformation of Underutilized Land

Fifty-plus acres of underutilized industrial land surround the site. Hood Bike Park was crafted as a catalyst for community improvements.

Image Credit: Peter Vanderwarker Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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Phytoremediation of Industrial and Urban Pollutants

A groundwater buffer captures and cleanses shallow subsurface water. An air-pollution buffer mitigates highway-generated particulate matter.

Image Credit: Offshoots, Inc. / Elkus Manfredi Architects
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Cleansing and Recharging Stormwater

The project anticipates a hotter, wetter climate and sea level rise. The stormwater system is designed to meet the needs of future development.

Image Credit: Offshoots, Inc. / Elkus Manfredi Architects
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Designed to Move: Plant Communities that Maximize Ecosystem Services

‘Ecological management not maintenance’ drove the planting design. The plant communities are designed to evolve and replenish the native seed bank.

Image Credit: Bruce T. Martin Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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Plants are for People (and Pollinators)

Seasonal interest of the plant communities was carefully considered; 30,000 spring bulbs bloom on Mother’s Day to coincide with new a community event.

Image Credit: Peter Vanderwarker Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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Identity from History

Precast concrete stairs that transform into curbs and benches were inspired by the double radius of the original Hood Milk bottle.

Image Credit: Offshoots, Inc.
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Forms that Flow

Integrated pin lights assist in nighttime wayfinding set on timers to balance the need for public safety with the needs of the urban wildlife.

Image Credit: Peter Vanderwarker Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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Layering Productive Vegetation

Inspired by natural meadows, thickets and woodlands, the site hosts novel plant communities comprised of 90% native plants.

Image Credit: Peter Vanderwarker Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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Lighting to Emphasize Form

A wall wash highlights textural changes in the site walls while pin lights race around corners, highlighting the curved forms.

Image Credit: Peter Vanderwarker Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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Seamless Transitions

The building and landscape bleed together with forms and materials that merge inside and out.

Image Credit: Peter Vanderwarker Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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Relating to Context

The Hood industrial smokestack is an important identity moment for the neighborhood; a monumental stair is set on axis to maximize its importance.

Image Credit: Peter Vanderwarker Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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Green Transportation

The bike pavilion offers storage, rentals, showers, gender-neutral public restrooms, and bike repair services that encourages green commuting.

Image Credit: Peter Vanderwarker Photography / Offshoots, Inc.
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“

This half-acre park packs in tremendous ecological function-tackling onsite pollution while challenging norms related to bike storage. It sets the stage for an inviting space for the community. The multi-modal infrastructure project brings a lot of purpose to a small site while making it alluring and social. What an innovative and fun idea!

”

- 2023 Awards Jury

Project Credits

Catamount Management Corporation, Client

Trademark Partners, Owner's Project Manager

Elkus Manfredi Architects, Architect

HDLC Architectural Lighting Design, Lighting Designer

McNamara Salvia, Structural Engineer

SMMA, Civil Engineer and Masterplan Designer

SGH, Waterproofing

WSP, Electrical Engineering

WSP, Plumbing Engineer

Haley & Aldrich, Geotechnical Engineer

Pine and Swallow, Soils Consultants

Irrigation Consulting, Irrigation Design

Lee Kennedy, General Contractor

Brightview, Landscape Contractor

Offshoots, Inc., Horticultural Installation

DeAngelis Iron Work, Steel Manufacturer

Trademark Partners OPM, Mark Rosenshein, Architect; Tessa Milard, Architect

Offshoots, Inc. Landscape Architect Team, Kate Kennen, ASLA; Terry Kinsler, ASLA; Shelby Chapman-Hale, ASLA; April Maly

Project Statement

Phytoremediation plants take center stage to mitigate groundwater and highway-generated air pollution at Hood Bike Park, a new half-acre public park and bike commuter hub. This reimagined landscape on the former Hood Milk plant both cleanses’ pollutants and creates a catalyst for the redevelopment of industrial lands. A bike pavilion is tucked under a sloping topography to hide the elevated highway to the west. The topography raises the entire park out of the 2100 coastal flood zone and provides stormwater storage under the lawn to accommodate runoff from future buildings. The integrated architectural forms of the building and landscape frame the ecological plantings, creating a model for resiliency.

Project Narrative

In an industrial part of Boston, a tilted landscape creates an amenity hub for cyclists and a new park focused on reducing pollution. Hood Bike Park provides an urban refuge for Charlestown residents who currently have the second-least amount of green space per capita of any Boston neighborhood. Less than two miles from downtown Boston and within walking distance of regional transit, the project provides 271 interior bike racks, repair services and gender-neutral showers on a planned cycling network, encouraging green commuting. Surrounded by Environmental Justice neighborhoods, Hood Bike Park creates a new pollution-buffering community green while catalyzing redevelopment of the surrounding 50+ acres of industrial land.

A universally accessible path winds together a sloped lawn, street-level stage and a second-floor roof deck; a monumental stair sits on axis with the remnant Hood smokestack. The form of the original Hood Milk bottle inspired the curves of the precast curbs and benches. Night lighting amplifies these forms, with low lighting levels set on a timer, balancing the need for public safety with the needs of urban wildlife. Special consideration was given to material selection to reduce the project’s carbon footprint. For example, all plants were sourced from nurseries located within 300 miles of the site and Cumaru was chosen over Ipe because it is more sustainably forested.

Utilizing three phytoremediation planting typologies, the project mitigates public health hazards:
1) PHYTO Groundwater Buffer: Comprised of deep-rooted Populus spp., native Salix spp. and other water-seeking shrubs, the plants intercept and cleanse shallow groundwater impacted by spills nearby. 2) PHYTO Air Pollution Buffer: Particulate matter generated from the elevated highway is captured in a planted buffer on the bike pavilion’s roof. This ‘Coastal Ledge’ plant community, includes Populus tremuloides, Morella pensylvanica and Juniperus virginiana. These native plants are also well-adapted to high winds, salt-spray, and well-draining soils. 3) PHYTO Bioswale: Inspired by native shorelines, this salt-tolerant phyto community targets nitrogen and phosphorus removal.

In addition to phytoremediation, the plant communities are designed to be low-maintenance, mimic native ecosystems, provide habitat, and mitigate urban heat-island effect. The key design driver was ‘ecological management not maintenance’; the 90% native plant communities are intended to evolve over time, to move and contribute to the native seed bank on and off site. Plants were procured from several different local nurseries to diversify the gene pool and the contract includes horticultural monitoring for 5 years by the design team.

To support the stress-tolerant native plant communities on site, the planting soils are low in fertility with a high PH and avoid nutrient-rich conditions that generate both weeds and contaminated stormwater runoff. The irrigation system is zoned to minimize watering and to be turned off after plant establishment. Doubling as green stormwater infrastructure, the streetscape plantings capture and treat all rainfall on site. The tilted lawn provides stormwater storage and infiltration below and was sized to accommodate future roof runoff that will be generated from surrounding buildings. Hood Bike Park’s pollution-purging topography is an innovative new community gathering space and model for resiliency in a wet and warming post-industrial city.

Products

Furniture
- Universal Litter and Recycling Receptacle - Forms and Surfaces
- Custom Precast Architectural Concrete Benches - Wausau Tile
Drainage/Erosion
- Area Drain Grate - Jamison by Urban Accessories
- Slot Drains by Aco
Irrigation
- Paver Pan Manhole Cover by Wundercover
Structures
Green Roofs/Living Walls
- Roof Drain Riser Pipe: ZF110-R by Zurn
- Root Barrier - Biobarrier Root Control by Typar
- Drainage Mat by Henry
Hardscape
- Custom Precast Architectural Concrete Stairs and Curbs - Wausau Tile
- Custom Precast Architectural Concrete Paving Bands - Wausau Tile
Lighting
- Pole Lights - Tumbler by Landscape Forms
- Strip Lights: Pure Flex by LumiNEXT
- Building Uplights - Tesis In-ground by Erco
- Marker Lights - Goccia 2.6 by Design Plan

Plant List

Achillea millefolium 'Terra Cotta'
Agastache foeniculum
Allium 'Ambassador'
Allium atropurpureum
Allium 'Drumstick'
Allium 'Globe Master'
Allium 'Purple Sensation'
Amelanchier laevis 'Lustre'
Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance'
Anemone canadensis
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Asclepias tuberosa
Bouteloua gracilis
Camassia leichtlinii 'Caerulea'
Cammassia 'Esculenta'
Carex 'Bunny Blue'
Carex pensylvanica
Carex vulpinoidea
Chionodoxa luciliae 'Alba'
Chionodoxa sardensis
Chrysogonum virginianum
Comptonia peregrina
Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea'
Crocus 'Dorothy'
Crocus 'Orange Monarch'
Crocus 'Sativus'
Dalea purpurea
Dennstaedtia punctilobula
Deschampsia flexuosa
Eragrostis spectabilis
Eranthis hyemalis
Eryngium yuccifolium
Fothergilla x intermedia 'Blue Shadow'
Fritillaria 'Crown Imperial'
Fritillaria imperialis 'Lutea'
Fritillaria meleagris
Fritillaria persica
Galanthus 'Woronowii'
Gaultheria procumbens
Geum fragaroides
Hamamelis virginiana
Hyacinthoides hispanica 'Blue'
Hyacinthus orientalis 'White Pearl'
Ilex glabra 'Compacta'
Ilex glabra 'Gem Box'
Ilex verticillata 'Jim Dandy'
Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite'
Iris reticulata 'Harmony'
Iris versicolor
Iris versicolor 'Purple Flame'
Juniperus virginiana
Juniperus virginiana 'Emerald Sentinel'
Leucojum aestivum
Leucothoe fontanesiana
Liatris spicata
Liquidambar styraciflua
Maianthemum canadense
Matteuccia struthiopteris
Mitchella repens
Muscari armeniacum
Muscari atlanticum
Myrica gale
Myrica pensylvanica
Narcissus 'Hawera'
Narcissus 'Ice Wings'
Nyssa sylvatica
Panicum virgatum 'Rotstrahlbusch'
Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah'
Populus grandidentata
Populus deltoides
Populus X Spp. (Hybrid Poplars)
Populus tremuloides
Pteridium aquilinum
Quercus bicolor
Salix discolor
Salvia farinacea
Schizachyrium scoparium
Scilla siberica
Sesleria autumnalis
Sporobolus heterolepis
Verbena bonariensis
Viburnum nudum 'Brandywine'
Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur'