Meniscus, Boston Ferry Terminal 2013

Second-Place, Phase II
Rotch Travelling Fellowship


This project proposes a new type of infrastructure project. Arrayed thinly along the water’s surface, it does not resist or control the ebb and flow of the harbor, but brings the human experience to the level of the water.

Three organizational and material strategies, each with a unique character and sensibility, grant the visitor with distinctive experiences.

A solid plinth houses supporting spaces at water level, its roof, flooded at high tide, becomes a landscape for exploring sediment and residue when the tide is out.

A stepped wooden embarkation platform floats on the water, rising and lowering with the water level.

The main public programs are enclosed in double-skinned iceberg-like glass prisms that appear to float when the tide is in, not tied to any urban patterns. Lodged within the base below, they allow light to enter and moderate the internal atmosphere.

Lying gently at the surface, the ferry terminal provides a new understanding of the tidal phenomenon: the diurnal interchange between land and sea.