In the mid-20th century, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, carried out urban renewal projects that demolished the mixed-use core of the Westside neighborhood. The fragmented urban condition continues to reinforce spatial and economic division between downtown Pittsfield and the Westside, staging the studio’s intervention: each student proposed a mixed-use building to reclaim land taken over by highways, offices, and parking garages.

At 312,508sq ft the McKay Street Parking Garage is Pittsfield’s largest public infrastructure. My decision to work within the existing framework of the parking garage was a conscious refusal to subject Pittsfield to further cycles of demolition and renewal. The proposed mixed-use additions reclaim the structure, transforming a prominent reminder of structural racism and automobility into a site of community and commons.