*Work completed at Sasaki. Nina Chase was a member of the master planning, concept design and construction implementation team while employed as a project Landscape Architect and Associate at Sasaki.

Project Description

The Lawn on D is a 2.7 acre temporary urban open space that connects Boston’s traditional South Boston neighborhood with the city’s fast growing Seaport District along D Street. The idea for a temporary park emerged from community workshops, where activated open space was highlighted as a neighborhood priority. The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, in partnership with the design team and the community, conceived of the park as a flexible, temporary and relatively low cost urban open space that would be a first phase project to test ideas for a future permanent open space. The Lawn on D is composed of a large lawn, an asphalt plaza with painted super graphics, colorful lighting, and a temporary tent that houses a bar.  The park functions as a simple ground-plane that is activated with movable tables, chairs, lawn games, permanent and semi-permanent art.  Since its opening in August of 2014, the Lawn on D has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors, neighbors, and conventioneers and has tested the limits of what a temporary public space can do for a new neighborhood.