Cambridge, Mass. — In a blossoming transformation of a once-gritty industrial thoroughfare, Forest City | Boston and The Halvorson Company have created a striking new urban park in Cambridge. Newly planted on what was once Auburn Street, now closed to cars, the $1.8 million Landsdowne Quadrangle is a half-acre outdoor green room with several design surprises: asymmetrical slate paths, seasoned boulders quarried in Maine, interpretive bronze castings, and places for both residents and the neighborhood's colony of biotech workers to resort to the natural world.

The new greensward is part of Forest City's University Park at MIT, a 27-acre campus that houses some of Cambridge's leading biotechnology firms. The mixed-use Park also includes a 210-room hotel and conference center, restaurants, a 50,000-square-foot grocery store, and 420 apartments in three residential complexes — nearly 40 percent of which are set aside for low- and moderate-income families.

The Landsdowne Quadrangle provides a natural connection to the gleaming new research facilities on the eastern edge of the campus. Curvilinear pathways echo the entrance façade of 35 Landsdowne Street, opening in September for Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Another Millennium building at 40 Landsdowne Street is currently under construction and features a curtain wall of both curved and canted glass. Architectural ornaments on 65 Landsdowne Street, opened last year for Partners HealthCare System, also replicate the circular theme of both buildings and hardscape.

A central feature of the new park is "Passage," a series of sculptural elements created by Cambridge artist David Phillips. One of the recurring themes of Phillips' work is the shifting role of nature in people's lives, and his sculptures often suggest a bridge between the modern and natural worlds. In "Passage," inspired by ephemeral pathways the sculptor witnessed during a trip to Cambodia's Angkor Wat Temple, Phillips integrates man-made castings into rustic hewn stone, creating a block-long window that both remembers and refines the old street axis. In turn, the Landsdowne Quadrangle serves as a natural connection to Auburn Court and the University Park Common, a 1999 recipient of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Urban Landscape Award. The 1.3-acre Common includes its own permanent art installation, "Traces" — a collaborative effort by Forest City and local residents to chronicle the history of the University Park site from its earliest settlement. A fog fountain and fish fossils reflect the area's natural history as a riverine salt marsh; other artistic components include etchings of antique photographs, newspaper clippings, and oral history excerpts. Additional sculptural elements represent the Park's industrial past, including antique shoe lasts, a model telescope, copper candy kettles, and a casting of the site in its manufacturing heyday, circa 1957. "Traces" was designed by Cambridgeport artists Monica Raymond and Ross Miller, with archival assistance from the Cambridge Historical Commission.

Other urban landscape work by The Halvorson Company includes The Park at Post Office Square, Charlestown's City Square Park, and the Central Artery/Tunnel's upcoming Nashua Street Park — all significant urban efforts to bring new green space to Boston. Phillips' current work in the area includes the Frog Pond Playground on the Boston Common and the Mystic Riverbend Park Medallion in Medford.

Forest City | Boston is part of a national real estate company with a firm commitment to urban placemaking — creating vibrant mixed-use developments and promoting the sustainability of surrounding communities. Use the navigation at the top of the page to find further information on the company, its capabilities, and its innovative urban portfolio.