Place of Assembly

2022

Leather District Park, Boston, MA

Public Art Commission

Place of Assembly is a temporary public landscape that echoes the cycles of building and unbuilding that have shaped Boston’s Chinatown. Using reclaimed brick pavers sourced from demolition sites around the city, the installation recalls the historic row houses that defined Chinatown’s residential fabric during the first half of the twentieth century, and the vibrant sidewalk culture that these buildings once supported. The installation re-imagines the familiar symbol of the stoop as a series of modular elements that are reconfigured to allow for different seating arrangements and scales of occupancy. Between furniture and architecture, Place of Assembly provides visitors with two parallel spatial experiences: as an adaptable gathering space that reflects the shifting programmatic needs of the Chinatown community, and a physical reminder to the material turnover of the neighborhood.

Collaborators/Consultants: Cynthia Yee, Mohamed Ismail

Project Team: Jennifer Wilson, Isabella Greco, Alessandro Ricciardi.

Fabrication: American Handcraft, Marmelo Bros. Construction, Mason Contractors Association of Massachusetts, Stone Farm, BRM Production Management.

Community Partners: The Asian Community Development Corporation

Photography: Jane Messinger, Amanda Huang, Faith Ninivaggi.

Place of Assembly was supported by grants from the Now+There Public Art Accelerator Program and the Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.