Local Planner’s Design Prize Victory Will Give Malden’s Bike Kitchen Space to Grow

A local transportation planner has won an international grant competition with her designs to upgrade the Bike to the Sea Bike Kitchen along the Northern Strand Trail in Malden.

Jade Ma, Transportation Planner at Kittelson & Associates, has won the 2026 Association EBN Architecture and Arts Grant.

The Association EBN was established in the memory of Emma Burke Newman, an architecture student who was killed by a truck driver in Glasgow in early 2023.

With this funding, Ma plans to design raised planters and public seating for the Bike to the Sea (B2C) Bike Kitchen in Malden.

Bike Kitchen Origins

The Bike Kitchen, located at 158 Canal Street in Malden, is B2C’s first physical space along the 10-mile Northern Strand Trail. The Bike Kitchen is a volunteer-run bike repair shop, made possible with the donation of two shipping containers from Lynn’s Brickyard Collaborative along with funding from MassDEP, foundations, sponsors, and private donors. The Bike Kitchen is free, but also happily accepts donations or paid B2C memberships to continue supporting the work.

“We let the B2C Bike Kitchen evolve organically, and through the influence of our volunteers and staff,” Executive Director Jonah Chiarenza said. 

He cited the Somerville Bike Kitchen, Broadway Bicycle School, and Bikes Not Bombs as other community bike organizations that have influenced their work.

With its popularity has come challenges, like storage limitations. 

“We can’t accept as many used bicycles as we get offered, which restricts how many bikes we can refurbish and donate to community members,” says Chiarenza.

And with the hot summer sun reflecting off of the trail pavement and metal containers causing extreme heat stress, changes were long overdue.

The Bike Kitchen will be improving upon its initial public “outdoor room” concept, adding a third shipping container to double storage capacity, a raised deck for the work space, and an elevated, retractable shade canopy over it. Funding has been secured for all projects except the raised deck.

“Jade’s Association EBN grant helps close the gap, though additional funding is needed,” says Chiarenza.

Jade Ma

Jade Ma has had a lifelong relationship with cycling. Growing up in the suburbs with an immigrant grandmother who couldn’t drive, walking and biking were their main forms of transportation. 

This has stayed with Ma, who has been car-free since moving to Boston three years ago and is engaged in bike advocacy groups like the Boston Cyclists Union, Cambridge Bike Safety, and Bike to the Sea. 

“I have always been a strong proponent of access to biking as a crucial mode of transportation,” Ma told StreetsblogMASS. “I love the freedom that biking allows me. I think biking should be a safe and accessible option for all.”

The story of Emma Burke Newman, the architecture student memorialized by the Association EBN, played a large role in Jade’s decision to apply. 

“As a young woman cyclist, artist, and community advocate, I see a lot of Emma’s values and passion reflected in myself and in the biking community around greater Boston,” she said. 

Ma recognizes not only the barriers to safe, accessible cycling when infrastructure is lacking, but also the opportunities that emerge when it is present. 

“Supportive infrastructure on trails such as rest areas and seating are small but impactful investments that can promote walking and biking, and generally improve trail experiences, especially on a trail as significant as the Northern Strand.”

She chose the Bike Kitchen as the space for her designs because of her appreciation of supportive infrastructure on trails, namely bike kitchens, as places that teach lifelong skills, convene community, and make cycling more accessible for all.

The Grant

The Association EBN received 19 applications for this year’s grant, but it was Ma’s bike-centered and community-oriented design that won over the association’s Advisory Board. 

The Board found that her design not only supports cyclists through the bike kitchen’s offerings of parts and guidance to help riders fix their bikes, but also connects the broader community to cycling through its placemaking.

“Her proposal will help draw more people into the space, and into our community,” Chiarenza said.

Complementing B2C’s planned deck and shade canopy improvements, Ma plans for a modular design that can be easily replicated, scaled, and repaired. Some essential aspects of the design include accessibility for seating and sufficient space and depth for plant growth in planters, but Ma says that the look, feel, and integration into the Bike Kitchen are “open for community input to drive decision-making.”

Ma is tossing around different design ideas, and plans to get input via visioning surveys and presentations at Bike Kitchen events this summer to get feedback before settling on a community-informed final concept. 

“I think a big part of this process for me is to collaborate with B2C and the community members using the space to come up with a cohesive design that tries to meet everyone’s needs and desires for the space,” she said. She also wants to ensure her design is cohesively aligned with B2C’s preexisting plans for the deck and shade canopy.

From design through building and installation, the work will be a collaborative effort between Ma, B2C, volunteers, and municipalities and organizations connecting communities along the Northern Strand. 

“Stewards of the Northern Strand Trail”

While the primary objective of this work is to provide a more welcoming environment for cyclists and Open Shop Hours visitors and volunteers, B2C is ensuring the Bike Kitchen’s community presence in serving all trail users – over two-thirds of whom happen to be pedestrians. 

“It’s helping us draw more people into our mission to connect communities to the Northern Strand. It’s also an opportunity for us to engage more directly with trail users, which are opportunities to learn about their perspectives on trail use and roadway use – including safety, connectivity, and the evolving topic of electrification and micromobility.”

Chiarenza said that these projects will provide an opportunity to further establish B2C as “stewards of the Northern Strand Trail.” 

“I am most excited to engage with people and build something that will directly benefit my fellow cyclists, trail users, and community members,” Ma reflected. “I can’t wait to work hands-on to build these additions and use them on future rides and bike kitchen visits!”

While the space is already being used as a kick-off for bike rides and trail clean-up events, Chiarenza is excited that the space could be used for broader community events like Malden Porchfest. B2C may even host their own musical performances, outdoor film-screenings, and other events. 

Ma intends for the seating and landscaping to remain available at any time, regardless of the Bike Kitchen hours. She hopes people will engage with the space to “learn, to rest, to join in conversation, and to exist in community.” 

She imagines people having a place to rest when fixing their bikes, friends and families gathering, and users of the Northern Strand Trail stopping to appreciate local plants and explore the broader Malden community.

Ma sees this as not only a supportive addition to the bike kitchen expansion, but also a year-round “place-making opportunity and supportive trail amenity.”

“I would feel successful to see my community come together around this design, see it built and installed on the site, and see it being used and adding benefit to the area… I hope this space grows to become more than I can even imagine and that the community takes to using it creatively.”

B2C welcomes new ideas from other organizations wanting to partner on trail-related activities at news@biketothesea.org.