LYRIK – Bridging Community Out of Thin Air by LeBlanc Jones Landscape Architects

The new Lyrik is a multi-tiered urban plaza that creates distinctive outdoor spaces and repairs a void in the urban fabric by bridging eight lanes of traffic and a commuter rail corridor. At the crucial nexus of Boston’s historic Back Bay and Fenway, Lyrik reconnects neighborhoods and restores patterns disrupted when the Interstate Highway was built in the 1960’s. Nearby residents, commuters and office workers, students and tourists: they all share this place as they pass through, pause, or linger longer.

Two towers frame the park to form a new urban block, meeting city streets to the north and south, flanking the Massachusetts Avenue bridge on the east, where the park is entered. Here pedestrian paths, bus and bicycle routes and a new subway entrance converge into a multimodal, multilevel plaza. Base-level retail and restaurants enliven the paired office and hotel structures.

Now, places for gathering supplement movement, complementing the crucial infrastructure of this actual crossroads. A central civic gathering space at street level is balanced by moments of intimacy and calm. These moments temper the animated ebb and flow of traffic with serenity. Embracing the Massachusetts Avenue sidewalk, curvilinear shapes nod to the architectural forms and invite entry. Seat walls embrace plantings that filter bustling street life into a more social and immersive experience. A variety of comfortable lounge chairs and tables suggest flexible configurations for individuals, groups, and larger gatherings.

Plantings were selected for their adaptability to the site and to ensure a constantly rotating display of seasonal interest throughout the year. Soil mounded between the precast concrete benches allow Gingko trees, Witch Hazels, and varied shrubs and ground covers to thrive. Two trenches were coordinated with the deck’s structural design to maximize soil volume within the tight height constraints of the highway below.

A broad, curving stairway leads to the more intimate upper level. En route, a small overlook terrace acknowledges the instinct to turn back and gaze over the busy lower plaza and to the city skyline beyond.

Visitors reach the top tier of the park to discover a grove of sculptural Parrotia trees. The centripetal forms of the street level give way to a mix of convex and concave benches, shaping a variety of interconnected and unexpected seating zones. Here too the soil is mounded, permitting verdant understory plantings within the dense stand of trees.

The tree canopy opens at the park’s edge to feature multi-tiered precast benches facing prized views of the western skyline. At dusk, a steady procession of visitors comes together at these bleachers to enjoy the sunset over the highway that once divided this community.

The sense of nature balancing urbanity heeds the public’s wish for a bespoke and tranquil place, expressed via a consultative process of engagement and collaboration. Throughout, we were able to make especially thoughtful choices of materials and details. The palette, scale, and color of precast paving units and custom concrete benches complement the warmth of the wood bench caps.

Lyrik creates brand-new, multifunctional spaces where there was once nothing but air. It is a restorative link that welcomes community and commuter, peaceful moments and dynamic urban life.

• Other landscape architecture offices involved in the design of the landscape:
LeBlanc Jones Landscape Architects

• Architecture offices involved in the design:
Elkus Manfredi

• Other credits:
VBH – Civil Engineer
McNamara Salvia – Structural Engineer
Anthony Crisafulli – Photographer
Peter Vanderwarker – Photographer
Aram Photo – Photographer