Fields Corner Library Design Wins Affordable Housing Prize.

The Boston Globe (6/16, Bayles) reports a design produced by Harvard and MIT students “to revamp and add affordable housing units to the Fields Corner Library building won the Greater Boston Affordable Development Competition recently.” The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, as a sponsor of the annual competition, “allows community development groups to propose a location, and pairs them with teams of design students. Viet-AID in Fields Corner suggested the Boston Public Library at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and Park Street as a site. The student design for a development dubbed ‘Dot Corner’ won the $10,000 first place prize last month.” MIT graduate Aspasia Xypolia said “Adding the affordable units on top of the one-story library would not dwarf the existing streetscape, which includes several three-story buildings,” noting the students wanted to preserve the neighborhood’s atmosphere.