About Boston Harbor Island Alliance

Boston Harbor Island Alliance and the National Park Service award design contract for Visitor Pavilion

BOSTON, November 2008 –Boston Harbor Island Alliance and the National Park Service recently announced that Utile, a Boston-based architecture and urban design firm, has been awarded the contract to design a visitor pavilion on Parcel 14 of the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Utile was selected after an open call for proposals from design firms; twenty-nine firms submitted proposals. The pavilion is an information center for the Boston Harbor Islands and has been conceived as the first step in the journey to islands via nearby ferries.

The project was conceived as an open-air pavilion and a series of kiosks and exhibits. fThe pavilion will be perceived as an important element in a larger landscape strategy that will make Parcel 14 an open space destination, as well as a key gateway to the harbor islands," said Tom Powers, President of the Boston Harbor Island Alliance, the non-profit partner of the National Park Service.

Utile will be collaborating with Reed Hilderbrand, an award-winning landscape architecture firm, on the design of the ground plane. In addition IDEO, which is a nationally recognized exhibit design firm, will also work together to conceive the exhibits and information graphics that complement the direct interaction of the pavilion staff.

Utile sees an enormous opportunity to complement and build on the early successes of the Greenway parks. Tim Love, Utile principal, remarked, "Our team had the advantage of starting the design process the same month that the Greenway had its official opening. Rather than imagine the context of the site through renderings and models, we can observe for ourselves where the parks have engaged the public and where the intentions of the parks have not yet reached their full potential to generate a public life."

Boston Harbor Island Alliance promotes public awareness and use of the Boston Harbor Islands national park area by creating vibrant spaces, facilities, and programming on the islands, raising and managing the public and private resources necessary to do so. www.islandalliance.org 617-223-8672.

The Boston Harbor Islands national park area features 34 islands, encompassing 1,600 acres and 35 miles of undeveloped ocean shoreline- all within 10 miles of downtown Boston. The islands feature hiking trails, beaches, ranger-led tours, camping nature walks and historic sites. www.bostonharborislands.org 617-223-8666