Donovan Wylie, The deconstruction of the Maze Prison. 2009. © Donovan Wylie/Magnum Photos

Can the Wall play an important role in positively shifting the city ?
Can the Wall function as a multi-infrastructure?
Can the Wall accelerate communication between those on either side while fulfilling its function as security?
How can the infrastructure of the jail revitalize the Boston neighborhood?
What if the infrastructure of the jail engages the city community?
Can the jail neighborhood be an active urban environment (circuit)?

The site in South Boston is isolated not only geographically from the city by the highway but also socially from the people by the jail . This proposal seeks to turn a negative urban environment near the  jail in Boston into an ecological, economic , and social opportunity. The 296-foot -l ong wall of Suffolk County House of Correction is targeted as a specific site for this proposal. As an urban farm , farmers market, playground, and empty lot, this vertical landscape has the potential to reactivate the community.

Bringing food into the city by means of a vertical farming wall would be a new way to revitalize the city. Through vertical wall farming both sides can have locally grown organic food , exchange their knowledge of cultivation , and communicate more openly . It would reinvigorate neighboring streets with community activity. In addition, this wall w ould give prisoners’ motivation. They w ould not only learn skills they need to survive when released from jail, but also earn money through farming . F orgotten and deserted space in the city could become a part of people’s daily lives.