In 2008, the Boston Harbor Island Alliance and National Park Service held a competition for a visitor information pavilion for the Boston Harbor Islands, a national park composed of 38 islands that are accessible by ferryboat from the Boston waterfront. Intended to increase awareness and visitation of the islands by giving them a strong physical presence in the city, the pavilion would provide a much-needed space to learn about the islands and to purchase a ferry ticket. It would be the first structure built on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, a new city park created when an elevated highway through the city was dismantled and re-routed underground. This location would allow it to link two park systems — the Greenway and the Islands — making it an important gateway and threshold from a dense urban setting to a natural environment, perceptually far-removed from the city.
“When the winning competition entry, a glass building at the corner of the parcel, proved too costly to build and maintain, the client sought ideas for a new direction for the project,” said Chris Genter, architect at Utile, Inc. in Boston. “Our design team at Utile, Inc.reconceived the structure as a three-season open-air exhibit and relocated it to the center of the parcel where it could take full advantage of the park.”