Located in Boston’s Chinatown, Mary Soo Hoo (Chinatown Gateway) Park is a 0.082-acre park near Chinatown’s historic gate. The Park today is primarily passive open space with a small children’s play structure and mature canopy trees.
On August 5, 2009, the BRA issued a Request for Proposals for design services for Mary Soo Hoo (Chinatown Gateway) Park in response to community requests to redesign and renovate the park in honor of Mary Soo Hoo, a longtime community activist. After a competitive selection process, on October 20th, 2009, the BRA Board approved the selection of the design firm of Stephen Stimson Associates Landscape Architects, Inc. to assist the BRA.
The design area will address the area of Mary Soo Hoo Park (formerly known as Chinatown Gateway Park) and its immediate context—the MassDOT vent tower, the area of Chinatown Park that lies south of the Beach Street corridor (east of the vent tower), and will consider temporary use of a privately-owned parcel immediately to the south of Mary Soo Hoo Park, owned by the Lee Family.
The scope of work includes completing an existing conditions and site analysis report inclusive of areas immediately outside of the park that may have programmatic and functional influence on the park, addressing the environmental requirements of this highly urban site through the introduction of sustainable materials and consideration of sustainable maintenance practices, creating an identity program for the site that is compatible with the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy’s signage program for neighboring Chinatown Park, and developing park and landscape designs that highlight opportunities for park improvements and site interpretation.
As part of the design process, the BRA worked with the Chinatown community in a series of community meetings. These meetings were open to the general public and designed to engage the public directly in a dialogue about what specific site improvements were required and desired.