Shift Boston 

This ideas competition entry proposes a Technical/ Vocational School specializing in Green Collar Jobs training to prepare the work force of the future. The exploding Green Economy sector demands skilled technicians to fill 1,000’s of high-paying jobs. The 32-acre Bayside Expo Center on Dorchester’s waterfront is in the process of being redeveloped. Once the site is cleared, it will be the largest open and developable parcel along Boston’s vast waterfront. Rather than following a typical development model the team proposes that the building and site be re-purposed for a radical new civic institution. The Dorchester Bay Technical Academy for Wind and Water Resources at Columbia Point (DBT) would be the first vocational/technical school for green collar training in the nation. Coursework will include alternative energy generation design, assembly, and maintenance. There will also be degrees conferred in environmental political science and law. The Bayside Expo is situated at the waters edge and located near a massive 84” drainpipe that drains most of the Dorchester sub-watershed. The school will be the operational center of the space where fresh and saltwater meet. The campus will provide substrate for both land and water based technologies which address energy generation and water quality. It will be a space of radical experimentation in sustainable technologies as well as an international center for environmental activism and education.