Hypodensity/Hyperdensity ; or, Apple skies

Abstract

Hypodensity/Hyperdensity is a reaction to the paradoxical modern urban condition of emptiness: the 'ring of drek,' left like a smear around Boston by post-industrial deflation. This area is close to both the crowded city center and the crowded suburbs but possesses a hefty inertia in a reputation of crime and ugliness. The land itself is virtually useless; most of the earth is reclaimed (unwanted fill from elsewhere), and any hopes of plant life are quashed by road/rail sprawl, ceaseless paving, and a blanketing of low-rise warehouses. In short, this area claims all the ailments of the inner city and none of its triumphs. Connecting modes of transportation allows an assembly of physical form as a paradigmatic juxtaposition. The site, currently empty and infertile, will contain an ideal urban condition of high-density living and the ideal rural construct of an orchard. These two polar opposite conditions are symbiotic in the site, creating a completely unique mode of living that is not isolated from the existing fabric of the surrounding area.