— Office for Urban Innovation

MetaBoulevard is an imaginary project developed for the international design competition “NETWORK RESET” organized by MAS Studio and the Chicago Architectural Club. The competition asked for ideas and actions that can reactivate the Boulevard System of Chicago and rethink its potential role in the city. MetaBoulevard offers a participatory process by giving the local inhabitants of Chicago the possibility to reclaim the promenade. The project was awarded an Honorable Mention. It was developed with Clélie and Flore, and published on Archdaily.

When Chicago was incorporated in 1837, the motto ‘Urbs in Hort’ or ‘city in garden’ was adopted to portray the city as a beautiful gateway to the fertile lands of the west. Deploying this 19th romantic vision was the European concept of the Boulevard. However, with its American application, the Boulevard system precipitated a suburban exodus to the periphery, laying the seeds of future urban self-destruction of many post-industrial cities. Rather than a problem, this project catalyzes the rupture between the urban fragments as a potential stimulus. This project reconceives simultaneously the urban park and boulevards systems, by making a series strategic distinctions: 1. Opening Barriers, 2. Initiating Commonwealth, 3. Absorbing Influences, 4. Calorification of the Necklace, 5. Reactivating the Boulevards, 6. Reinforcing the Green Archipelago.