Matt's Essay

Matt Hamel JUA 1/07/07

My essential question for JUA was a cities layout is constantly changing, space is a valuable and key aspect of/in a city, how is the city/architects changing the layout to conserve/efficiently use the cities space. During my JUA experience, I do not get a single simple answer, but gained many perspectives and factors that contributed to my overall answer. Urban infrastructure involves many people of many professions. All work to make the city and its buildings efficiently used and laid out. In doing this, each profession has a different definition of efficiency, and how the space should be used. Through learning of these different definitions I was able to further my understanding of those terms myself. To this city of Boston, space usage and management revolved around people. Example in prime developmental land being made in The Greenway Park system that pedestrians can walk threw in the hart of the city. The roads withe an the amount of parking, are restricted in the city to give the people the ability to walk throughout the entirety of it. I learned from the CBT architects that the efficient use of land meant building the biggest building possible. This joined with this city officials want to make the city of Boston a lively and people friendly place in the endorsement of multiuse buildings such as the Mandarin Oriental building, which has apartments and condos for people to live in and Street level shops for them to use all revolving around a six-Star hotel for economic prosperity. Hearing each groups, different answer about layout and efficiency melding their ideas and thoughts in actual buildings, like the Mandarin Oriental and developmental ideas such as one we saw at City Hall, which was a tall office tower, but with a solar mirror at that would reflect down on the street the sunlight to make it a more pleasant place to be. The city officals wanting the layout of the city of Boston for the efficiency of people was something very surprising to me and to see the innovative designs and uses of the city’s buildings and resources allowed each side to get what it needed to keep the Boston’s economics prosperity going and still be a people friendly city led me to believe that many new and innovative engineering and architectural feats will be coming, and Boston and keeping the life and culture of the city alive.