Pope John Paul II Park

City of Boston, MA

The Collaborative prepared conceptual designs for the 75-acre Pope John Paul II Park. Opened in 2001, this park is located on a former landfill along the Neponset River. The Collaborative’s team developed the park’s program and design based on extensive research, including demographic studies to determine local and regional recreational needs and access. The program accommodated a wide variety of active and passive recreation, and included a multi-use community and recreation center, environmental education areas around a restored marsh, playing fields, recreational spray pool, playgrounds, and historic and environmental interpretive designs.

The park is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The DCR has restored a salt marsh area and planted native trees and shrubs. The area now attracts an increased variety of birds to the habitat, including snowy egrets and great blue herons.

Heritage Park and Hotel

City of Gloucester, MA

The Collaborative’s plan and design for Gloucester Place celebrates the City of Gloucester’s heritage as America’s oldest fishing port. The plan is organized around a waterfront heritage park that gives residents a place in the heart of the city to gather, recreate, and continue to understand its relationship with the sea.

A nearby hotel produces the tax revenues to pay for the park, boosting the city’s economic vitality by bringing people downtown, while adding a new destination for residents and others to enjoy and learn more about Gloucester. The heritage hotel and conference center offers hotel developers a harbor view site outside the port district. The City benefits from added taxes to construct and maintain the new park. The thousands of hotel guests annually generate income for downtown businesses.

Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway

City of Springfield, MA

The Collaborative provided landscape architectural services to VHB in the development of the popular Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. In addition to trail concept design, the Collaborative worked with VHB engineers to develop construction drawings. Collaborative’s designers also developed a trail logo used to mark and market the trail.

To date, several sections of the trail are open, including the 3.7 mile path along downtown Springfield and Basketball Hall of Fame and the 1.7 mile loop across the river in Agawam. This remains one of the city’s hidden treasures more than a decade after it opened with great fanfare.

Parts of the path offer majestic views of the river’s sweep, the graceful arches of the Memorial Bridge, signs of Springfield’s industrial past, and the wildlife that thrives there.

Boston’s Bridge Park

Massachusetts Highway Department

This new waterfront park, located next to a Central Artery/Tunnel Vent Building, serves as a dramatic memorial to Boston’s commercial past. The park preserves and incorporates mechanical components of two historic bridges located near the site , one of which was an example of a Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge, the oldest surviving bridge of its type in the country.

The Collaborative designed and prepared construction documents for this important addition to the Boston Harborwalk. The design of the park includes elements that recall the history of Boston’s commercial waterfront, while providing a comfortable gathering area for pedestrians to enjoy