Master Plan Completed 2021 60 acres With Halvorson Tighe & Bond as Prime Consultant
The Herter Center, a mid-century modern building that originally served as the home of the Institute of Contemporary Art. The building is currently vacant, but is being eyed as a new high school rowing center.
In collaboration with landscape architect and prime consultant Halvorson | Tighe & Bond Studio, Oudens Ello Architecture served as the architectural team member for the master plan of Christian A. Herter Park, a roughly 60-acre parkland corridor along the Charles River Basin in Boston’s Allston–Brighton neighborhoods. Managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Herter Park is among the most heavily used and diversely programmed segments of the Charles River waterfront. Despite its popularity, the park faces significant challenges, including deferred maintenance, accessibility limitations, inadequate drainage, and a number of existing structures that are underutilized or no longer well suited to their current functions. The DCR’s master planning goals focused on improving public access, circulation, and wayfinding; implementing resilient stormwater management strategies; and identifying future programs and uses for the park’s signature facilities.
OEA’s primary role centered on the evaluation and adaptive reuse of several existing park structures, most notably the Herter Center—an architecturally significant mid-century modern building originally constructed in 1960 as a home for the Institute of Contemporary Art and currently vacant. Through an inclusive planning process that incorporated multiple public meetings, the design team, DCR, and community stakeholders explored a range of potential reuse scenarios for the building. This process ultimately coalesced around a shared vision to reposition the Herter Center as a dedicated high school rowing center serving the Charles River, with the capacity to become a permanent home for several local school teams, including the Boston Latin School and Brookline High School.
The proposed adaptive reuse envisions the two-story Herter Center as a flexible, multi-functional facility combining team support spaces, boat and equipment storage, and multipurpose areas capable of hosting events and community programming. The facility would also provide operational support for the adjacent Herter Park Amphitheater during its seasonal use. As part of the master planning effort, OEA developed concepts for a new, sensitively sited boat storage structure near the Herter Center to accommodate the larger racing shells required for competitive high school rowing. Additional recommendations included upgrades to other park structures, such as improved lifeguard facilities at the Artesani Playground, further advancing the park’s role as a resilient, inclusive, and highly active public resource.
Aerial View of Herter Park
Proposed Herter Center Site Plan
