Movable Algebra
Urban Planning meets Urban Renewal
Richard, the chief planner for the City of Boston during the urban renewal era of the 1960's, has a problem. The new Government Services Center, constructed from the ruins of tenements formerly part of Boston's West ENd, is on the verge of becoming a vanity project for a famous architect, Paul who insists on using concrete for the foundation and design of the building. In addition to the mental health center Paul has designed, Paul also wants a 23 story tower to be constructed at the center of the project. The labor costs to build this are likely to be very expensive and the design of the walls using bush hammered concrete is likely to be time consuming. Paul regards Richard as not much more than chatter from City Hall and completes the design of the mental health center while the tower is left incomplete for a future time. Almost immediately, as persons are brought to the center for treatment, there are problems with treating them there, open space intersected with large concrete staircases and multiple dark and hidden passageways following the original design. Then when trouble starts and tragedy strikes and Richard decides to reinvent himself as an advocate for the patient and the community he cares for, which includes the "movable algebra" of persons needing treatment.
Planning for a future
In the 1950s, Boston began an extensive urban renewal process which was to last for the next 15-20 years. The city was sliding into economic decline and losing population rapidly, as people moved away from the city or out of Massachusetts entirely.
Movable Algebra began as as a play I wrote in 2006 and entered into the Clauder Competition that year. Almost 20 years later, I am bringing it back as a movie screenplay with the guidance or Rodrigo Moscoso from Zero Gravity Productions.
Movable Algebra focuses on the construction of the Erich Lindemann Center in Downtown Boston, the planning process for a new mental health center in downtown Boston and the realization of that plan as a functional entity.
In this picture, the proposed Erich Lindemann Center is on the right hand side, halfway down. The tower pictured for the center was never built.