Project overview: Dancing Dragon was the winner of an open-call design competition to create an outdoor installation for community connection. Located in one of the only green spaces in Chinatown, it reinvigorates an underutilized outdoor space into an inclusive destination for all ages. Inspired by the spirit of a traditional dragon dance, Dancing Dragon’s undulating canopy resembles the energetic movements of a dragon and provides shade to connect with one another on two bench swings.
The project engages the history of the site, whose social fabric was torn apart by highway construction that displaced hundreds of families. Dancing Dragon is one of several placekeeping projects that anchor the edges of Chinatown and seeks to repair the social fabric. Co-creating the project with neighborhood stakeholders was key to the process to foster a sense of self efficacy among Chinatown residents. Neighbors were involved in the design and fabrication of the installation, from selecting the artists, to visioning the design, and painting the canopy. The team partnered with Tufts Department of Public Health and Community Medicine to evaluate how art and community collaboration positively impacts health and wellbeing.
Dancing Dragon creates a place where people can play and enjoy our shared public spaces together.
Project location: Boston, Massachusetts
Firm name: Katherine Chin and Parke MacDowell
Architect of Record: Parke MacDowell and Katherine Chin
Completion: 2023
Client: Asia Community Development Corporation
Jury comments: The form is beautiful and the jury appreciated the kinetic nature of the swings, especially with the echoes of the Dragon Dance. There is lovely storytelling and community-led design process and nice neighborhood park scale. The information about community engagement was very much appreciated, as was the attention to cultural sensitivity, which is excellent.
Images/Photographer(s): Lee Daniel Tran Structural: Lim Consultants Collaborators: Payette, Beyond Walls, Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, Perkins&Will, Utile, Healthy Places by Design, John Hancock, Beyer Blinder Belle Foundation, Boston Global Investors, AARP Massachusetts, UMass Boston, City of Boston Age Strong Commission, John’s Landscape Service, Matt Construction, Concentric Fabrication, BPDA/EDIC, Lawrence Chan, Stantec, Lim Consultants, McPhail Associates, Tufts University, Bozzuto, Maloney Properties, and One Greenway. Many individual volunteers invested their time in community design meetings and work sessions. We’re thankful to them and past and present Hudson Street residents for their contributions to the neighborhood.
