Located in Boston’s celebrated “Emerald Necklace” Olmsted park system, the White Stadium renovation ushers a dilapidated facility into the world of 21st century athletics for both Boston Public School students and the city’s new, professional women’s soccer team. With four architectural firms engaged in this public-private partnership, the project demonstrates the power of collaboration in the name of achieving a cohesive design that honors both the stadium’s special setting and the diverse range of athletes who will compete within it.

Nestled within Frederick Law Olmsted’s historic Franklin Park, White Stadium has long stood as the heart of Boston Public Schools athletics. And for decades it has also stood as a symbol of neglect, even in its location in what is considered the “crown jewel” of Olmsted’s Boston park legacy.

Franklin Park is the biggest and final piece of Olmstead’s visionary park plan known as the Emerald Necklace, an 1,100-acre chain of green space that links neighborhoods through and around Boston in a meandering series of intimate and expansive green spaces offering a range of vistas and experiences. In addition to the stadium, the park is also home to the Franklin Park Zoo, an 18-hole golf course, baseball fields and tennis and basketball courts. The 10,500-seat (i.e., concrete benches) stadium was completed in 1949 for Boston Public Schools (BPS) and in the years since has become a dilapidated icon of deferred maintenance. Various plans to upgrade the facility as long ago as the 1980s have been shelved repeatedly over the decades.

Until now. Today, Jones Architecture is partnering with JLG Architects on a transformative reimagining of this civic landmark — a public-private partnership that balances the needs of Boston’s student athletes with a new chapter of professional sports.

Jones’ design focuses on the east half of the revitalized stadium, crafting a 36,000 square-foot hub dedicated to BPS Athletics. New offices, locker rooms, a collegiate-level strength and conditioning suite, and a sports medicine program will directly serve thousands of Boston’s students. Flexible, multipurpose space provides a venue for community gatherings, award ceremonies, and celebrations after the final whistle.

Every Boston Public School will have access to these facilities — which range from a MIAA-compliant eight-lane track to a field sized for professional and collegiate soccer. A new 5,000-seat east grandstand, with concessions and restrooms, will anchor game-day experiences and allow the stadium to host high school championships, city tournaments, and everyday training.

Designed for layered use

White Stadium is also preparing to welcome Boston’s new professional women’s soccer team, which will occupy the west side of the stadium and share the field and invest in the site alongside the city. Two other architecture firms are responsible for this portion of the renovation. The project is carefully structured to serve both public school and professional athletics, reinforcing Boston’s commitment to youth programs while elevating the stadium as a premier destination for the city’s residents.

Jones has approached the project with a deep respect for White Stadium’s beautiful and layered history. Maintaining the character of the park is critical. We undertook early planning to document critical code and accessibility needs while studying how new structures could sensitively integrate with Olmstead’s pastoral vision. This stewardship approach set the stage for today’s phased rebuild that both preserves the stadium’s historic character and positions it to serve Boston’s youth and broader community for the next century.

The design works within the contours of the existing site, ensuring that renewed athletic facilities complement — rather than compete with — the century-old landscape. The design of the building combines complementary forms of the original "clamshell" wall being retained on the West side of the stadium and a contextual response to the Franklin Park environment. The east façade’s vertical forms reference the well-established trees that line the surroundings of the “Playstead” area of the park, which Olmstead designed and designated for a variety of recreational activities. Inside the stadium, wood tones and a sloped canopy linking the two sides create a sense of warmth and unity.

This ambitious project reflects a remarkable partnership among the City of Boston, Boston Public Schools, private stakeholders, and determined community voices – both for and against the public-private partnership. The team continues to work through the very complex process together to balance the goals of preserving the Olmsted legacy while strengthening public school athletics and neighborhood access to the park and creating a state-of-the-art professional sports venue.

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“The stadium has been in bad need of repairs and renovation for a very long time. You can see the track is crumbling, the facilities aren’t up to state standards. Our young people deserve better. This [project] will revitalize the mission that we’ve always had for White Stadium to be a hub for our young people, for our student athletes and the community around them.”

— Michelle Wu, Mayor of Boston

• TEAM:

  Anshuka Asnani
  Gregory Burchard
  Thonah Ep
  Rovina George
  Rick Jones
  Michael Ohrman
  Dan Ollila
  Angela Plante
  Mike Proscia

• COLLABORATORS:

  Sport Architect:
  JLG Architects

  MEP/FP/FA/Data-IT Engineer:
  Salas O'Brien

  Civit Engineer:
  Samiotes Consultants

  Landscape Architect:
  Crowley Cottrell

  Cost Estimator:
  Ellana

  Geoenvironmental Consultant:
  GeoEngineers

  Geotechnical Engineer:
  Haley & Aldrich

  Lighting Designer:
  Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design

  Code Consultant:
  Howe Engineers, Inc.

  Security Consultant:
  Howell Design Group

  Athletic Field Consultant:
  Huntress Associates, Inc.

  Structural Engineer:
  LeMessurier

  Vertical Transportation Consultant:
  Lerch Bates

  Signage Consultant:
  Moody Nolan, Inc.

  Food Service Consultant:
  Ricca Design Studios

  Hardware Specifications:
  Robbie McCabe Consulting

  Signage and Wayfinding Consultant:
  Selbert Perkins Design

  Sustainable Design and Energy Modeling Consultant:
  The Green Engineer

  Traffic Management Consultant:
  Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.