MBTA Green Line Extension
Station Designs

As subconsultant to the Design Team joint venture, Fennick McCredie Architecture is responsible for four of the seven new Green Line stations at Union Square, Washington Street, Gilman Square and Lowell Street – all in Somerville.

The highly anticipated Green Line extension project will connect the developing neighborhoods of Somerville and Medford with downtown Boston and the greater MBTA system. Planning for the light rail extension dates back to the early 1900s, but increased highway construction in the 1970s made the project more of a necessity than a possibility. Rising pollution rates coupled with strong community pressure enabled the environmental planning and design process to begin in 2005.

The seven stations include: a relocated Lechmere Station, six new stations, three traction power substations and a number of infrastructural improvements. While the siting of the stations varies from industrial to historical contexts, they are all seen as strong catalysts for redevelopment. Balancing each neighborhood’s legacy and future, each station is broken down into a headhouse and concourse element. Each headhouse connects to a vehicular bridge and responds to the unique conditions along the street, while the concourse introduces a new, continuous language that gives the project an identity from the track.