DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE
WHERE/WHEN APPLICABLE

DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Public buildings are part of the fabric of our everyday lives. They belong to everybody. In libraries, schools, post offices, community centers, and transit stations, people of all ages, ethnicities, and incomes can interact. Physical design, and in particular the front face of these buildings, influences whether or not people enjoy spending time there, as well as how they use it. The entrance of a public building will often determine whether or not people feel welcome as they approach it.

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WHERE/ WHEN APPLICABLE:
Examples of effective design:
Parents appreciate the main entrance of the George White Youth Development Center and Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club on Talbot Avenue. They can drop their child off right in front of the entrance and watch him walk up the steps and go through the door. They know responsible adult workers sit behind a counter just inside the entrance to greet him and make sure he gets to the right place.

People also prefer buildings like Curtis Hall on South Street in Jamaica Plain -- unmistakable public facilities with clear, inviting entryways. Children can walk safely from the community center at Curtis Hall to the Sedgwick Street library next door. Trees, grass, and bushes create an attractive buffer between the street and the building. On their walk home, adults can pick up groceries on South Street less than a block away from the center.

The Roslindale Branch Library is highly visible from Washington Street, with a domed ceiling, colorful windows, and a clear entrance at street level. A lit crosswalk facilitates access to the library from Roslindale Square. The library is a landmark and neighborhood focal point not because of any single design element but because of the way all of them work together.

An art gallery featuring local artists complements the entrance of the Green Street MBTA Station in Jamaica Plain. The artwork inside the gallery is visible to everyone who enters or exits the station. At the Forest Hills MBTA Station, extensive landscaping, poetry carved into stone, and a major landmark clock enhance the entrances.

The clubhouse at the Franklin Park golf course is so inviting that on warm afternoons golfers and other park visitors congregate in front of it. The clubhouse is one of the few places where people from all sides of Franklin Park feel comfortable meeting and mixing. Its inviting main entrance next to an ample parking lot, with views of the course, make the building and parking lot attractive to neighborhood residents.

Examples of ineffective design:
The back entrance to Jeremiah Burke High School is often trashy and surrounded by decrepit vacant lots, while the front entrance is stark and intimidating.

The Grove Hall library in Roxbury has an obscure side entrance that is invisible from Warren Street. According to librarians, even some long-term residents are unaware that the library exists. Likewise, the Egleston Square library presents the public with a somewhat forlorn entryway.

English High School in Jamaica Plain also has an obscure main entrance that visitors find confusing.

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