Redesigning Prudential Tower

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NJBostonFan

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Recently, I have been looking at the Prudential Tower and how ugly many people say it looks. I have also been looking at Tom Dolle's 1986 proposal to redesign the facade of the Prudential Center and does anybody think it would work today? Or would something different be done, like redesigning the facade in glass like 7 World Trade Center or in limestone. For those who haven't heard of it, here's an excerpt of it from Boston Magazine:

PRUDENTIAL MAKEOVER (1986): Every city has a doozy of a tower on its skyline, and ours is the Prudential, a 52-story giant that, despite its high profile, has never truly been embraced. Accordingly, ever since it was completed in 1965, Bostonians haven't been able to resist the temptation to reimagine it. In 1986, Brookline architect Tom Dolle, then of the Boston firm Jung/Brannen, suggested a Pru makeover of grand proportions. His provocative vision for a new fa?ade would have produced a taller, tapering edifice crowned with a proud spire rather than the mortarboard that currently sits atop the building.
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Here are some pictures of the proposal:
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Discuss.
 
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Discuss?? The architect just proposed covering up my office window with a grotesque scaffold-like frame. As I consider working in a darkened office inside a hideous spaceship building - one which is currently a very sleek, well-proportioned and iconic tower - I am left with no desire to discuss any further.
 
I don't like it. It is trying to make the Pru into something from an earlier era. Gothic was not being done in the 60s, and as it currently appears, the Pru is plenty emblematic.
 
it reminds me of one of those Honda Civics you see with 6 grand's worth of shiny, shoddy aftermarket add-ons
 
I thought it looked nice in the article about unbuilt Boston. Since no one seems to like this picture, I'll find another. In the meantime, maybe we can recover the facAde in very clear glass, making the building seem very light and slender. Something that is evocative of the 1960s but is different from the current facade. PS I saw the new white marble in the towers lobby from the shops. It works pretty good
 
The old lobby was shabby and gaudy but full of art deco character. The new lobby is nice enough, in a corporate-sterile kind of way, but lhas ooked dated from the moment it opened.

Wish I could show you myself, but I can't find a single picture online of either before or after renovations...
 
Shepard said:
The old lobby was shabby and gaudy but full of art deco character. The new lobby is nice enough, in a corporate-sterile kind of way, but lhas ooked dated from the moment it opened.

Wish I could show you myself, but I can't find a single picture online of either before or after renovations...
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It does look intentionally dated in a very nice and tasteful way. Not like one of the Art reading room on the 3rd Floor of the Old Public Library, which really needs some major renovations done to clean it up a lot and make it like it was when it first opened.
 
I happen to love the pro just the way it is. Nothing else looks like it.
 
If anyone loves it the way it is, then why do I hear so many bad things about it?
 
Could you upload the other pics?

It kinda looks like a cyber punk Empire State Building.
 
NJBostonFan said:
If anyone loves it the way it is, then why do I hear so many bad things about it?
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Bad things from whom, exactly?

Elitist shits who don't live or work in Boston? Out of touch architects? Unreasonable, Kressel-esque neighbors? Such an unfounded blanket statement would have you unstarred/banned at some website I frequent.

Please back up this claim with something a bit more substantial.

The exterior of the Pru, for its evident flaws due to lack of proper maintenance, is a solid example of the era in which it was designed. Why try to make it something else? Especially a pseudo-Deco pile of steaming dog drop?

new yorkers who want Boston to look like new york really need to consider moving the hell back to new york.
 
The pic you posted looks like something out of Gotham City.

But I have to say I'm not fulling in love with the Pru as is... I like the last 50-100 feet as it is right now, but the whole thing... meh... Needs some variety or some changes or something. It seems pretty standard I guess.
 
bbfen said:
Bad things from whom, exactly?

Elitist shits who don't live or work in Boston? Out of touch architects? Unreasonable, Kressel-esque neighbors? Such an unfounded blanket statement would have you unstarred/banned at some website I frequent.

Please back up this claim with something a bit more substantial.

The exterior of the Pru, for its evident flaws due to lack of proper maintenance, is a solid example of the era in which it was designed. Why try to make it something else? Especially a pseudo-Deco pile of steaming dog drop?

new yorkers who want Boston to look like new york really need to consider moving the hell back to new york.
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Elitist shit?? I prefer Boston over New York in most cases. Its more livable and easy to get around in. No harm in adding a few more supertall skyscrapers.
 
NJBostonFan said:
Elitist shit?? I prefer Boston over New York in most cases. Its more livable and easy to get around in. No harm in adding a few more supertall skyscrapers.
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I would desperately like for Boston to add a few more really tall buildings too, but they don't have to be at the expense of an existing icon.

Supertall is a term that gets thrown around, but Boston doesn't have any 300m/984' buildings. It doesn't necessarily need them either, but I would like to see something notably surpass the 614' Fed in the financial district, and hopefully a new classy tallest eclipsing the 790' Hancock before I die. Our skyline will continue to be stale as long as it is dominated by buildings from the 60's-80's.
 
A skyscraper often defines a town's personality. The Pru defines Boston to a T.

It just doesn't make sense to redesign something when you might as well build a new one (RE: Fenway Park). The Pru has value. And another 200ft Tower with sleek conceptual design will do the job around here. We can't have Boston turn into Dubai now with the most ridiculous skyscrapers in the world. Something with a reasonable height and a cool design. That's all.
 
Mayor Menino's Crohn's said:
A skyscraper often defines a town's personality. The Pru defines Boston to a T.

It just doesn't make sense to redesign something when you might as well build a new one (RE: Fenway Park). The Pru has value. And another 200ft Tower with sleek conceptual design will do the job around here. We can't have Boston turn into Dubai now with the most ridiculous skyscrapers in the world. Something with a reasonable height and a cool design. That's all.
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Perhaps the Copley Place Tower? (RIP)
 
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