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Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

Guys, I know we're all excited about the sheer height of these towers but take a step back for a second.. this site is THE site that will produce THE landmark tower for downtown Boston. Nothing else will ever be as prominent as this downtown. At least not in our lifetimes.

Now, are any of these designs truly worthy of that distinction?

Accordia's tower is the only one that, so far, realizes it needs to be the center of attention. A tall, tapered cylinder would be unlike anything on the skyline, iconic and recognizable from all angles. Low-quality rendering but it has potential.

Millennium's is a good looking skyline filler. Yet another glass slab, not a landmark. Same goes for Fallon and Trinity, although if we're going down that road neither are as nice as Millennium.

HYM--I'm holding out hope until we see a real rendering. Tom O'Brien proved he knows how to be bold with his proposed Pelli tower at the GC Garage.

Belkin? Embarrassing.

Let's roll out some more renderings! Lincoln and Lend Lease, surprise me.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

2 questions not sure if anyone knows:

Does belkins proposal involve knocking down his current adjacent building or connecting it? Not sure how he would combine the two.

How will the city decide who gets to build? Have they outlined criteria?
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

I do feel that the centerpiece of a skyline needs at least a crown, doesnt necessarily need a spire but at least a crown to say im king of downtown.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

lexicon506 said:
...are any of these designs truly worthy of that distinction?
Click to expand...

Nope.

lexicon506 said:
Accordia's tower is the only one that, so far, realizes it needs to be the center of attention. A tall, tapered cylinder would be unlike anything on the skyline, iconic and recognizable from all angles.
Click to expand...

Calls to mind the discarded Gensler proposal for the Congress Street Garage.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

Mongo said:
I like Accordia and I like Millennium. Accordia a little more because with millennium tower so close it shares a lot of the same design aesthetic.

I like the concavity on the Millennium one though, at least the curve would face north east, so no beams of death.
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I'm actually not sure the render shows a concave tower. If you look at the edges of the picture and the buildings in Downtown, it just looks like whatever paper or poster was photographed was curled a little. I also wouldn't put it past the architect to mess with perspective to give the impression that the proposal isn't the glass rectangle that it is.

As for Accordia... I can't even find a website for these guys. Not serious.

I realize that these are, to some extent, massing renders (a couple of them seemed to actually be massing renders, and two had no renders at all), so it's very early days, but the Mayor and BRA actually asked for statement architecture here. Millennium is great for quality, but they know nothing but glass boxes. The only developer that appears willing to take any risks is the one that might not even exist.

At the moment, I'm hoping for Fallon. Reliable developer, seems to have put 5 minutes of thought into the design (though it needs some work) and he includes a public access component with retail. HYM shouldn't get another site in Boston until the Congress Garage comes down, and Belkin should never get to develop anything larger than a backyard pool for the rest of his career.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

I like the idea of relocating st. Antony's to the Winthrop square garage site and building the tower between Arch & Otis streets. It would separate the tower from 100 Summer & 101 Fed. As it stands, a new tower would be kind of shoe-horned in there.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

From an aesthetic standpoint, there are only two options: Accordia/CV and Millennium. It's disheartening to hear that the Accordia proposal comes from a company that doesn't even have a website, because IMO that's easily the best looking of the renders.

However from an overall proposal standpoint, I think the HYM is the most interesting. Developing both the garage site and St. Anthony's Shrine would be a HUGE step in the revitalization of downtown. That would open things up so, so much. I'd really like to see the renderings of their project.

It's amazing to think about how long we've been waiting for Millennium Tower to be built, and to finally break the downtown plateau...now before it's even completed, we could see an even taller building start to rise a few blocks away.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

I work at 101 Arch, and what with the Millenium Tower and perhaps one of these going up, I'm proposing to our building managers they should name 101 Arch "The Muggsy Bogues Building".
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

West said:
I work at 101 Arch, and what with the Millenium Tower and perhaps one of these going up, I'm proposing to our building managers they should name 101 Arch "The Muggsy Bogues Building".
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Do subway lines go under 101 Arch? I wonder if, should this building be built, the owners of 101 Arch would consider developing on-site the garage and pushing the parking underground. The 101 Arch garage and the garage at Water/Washington Streets are the last great unplanned downtown plots that I can think of.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

As others have stated, Millennium, Fallon, and HYM would go great here. I actually quite like the design of the Fallon proposal (that illuminated line would look great on the skyline at night) and I also quite like HYM's for the possibilities it offers towards opening up downtown a bit.

Millennium remains a purveyor of glass boxes, for better or worse. Usually well-done glass boxes, but glass boxes nonetheless. I'd trust them to do things well and quickly if they were selected, though.

Accordia would be my first choice if there seemed to be any legitimacy behind the developer. The tower almost looks like a SHoP design; I love love love it and I feel it's the only design that is of high enough quality for the site.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

tmac9wr said:
Do subway lines go under 101 Arch? I wonder if, should this building be built, the owners of 101 Arch would consider developing on-site the garage and pushing the parking underground. The 101 Arch garage and the garage at Water/Washington Streets are the last great unplanned downtown plots that I can think of.
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They can, but it would have to be a skinny tower due to the proximity of 101 arch. The orange line runs under Washington st, but not under the garage as far as I know.

It would also take a major reconfiguration of 101 arch, because currently the ramp for the garage is on the east side of Hawley st and goes up into 101 arch before going over Hawley st. (inside of 101 arch) into the garage.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

Steve Adams replied to me about Lend Lease presenting Aura. They also submitted this programmatic section specifically for Winthrop Sq, so it appears they want to clone Aura's massing:

https://twitter.com/SteveAdamsTweet/status/587933579285569536
CCjCea1WIAA7sTT.jpg:large
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

Mongo said:
They can, but it would have to be a skinny tower due to the proximity of 101 arch. The orange line runs under Washington st, but not under the garage as far as I know.

It would also take a major reconfiguration of 101 arch, because currently the ramp for the garage is on the east side of Hawley st and goes up into 101 arch before going over Hawley st. (inside of 101 arch) into the garage.
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That would certainly complicate things, ya

datadyne007 said:
Steve Adams replied to me about Lend Lease presenting Aura. They also submitted this programmatic section specifically for Winthrop Sq, so it appears they want to clone Aura's massing:

https://twitter.com/SteveAdamsTweet/status/587933579285569536
CCjCea1WIAA7sTT.jpg:large
Click to expand...

Does that number go up to 68 stories? Nice
 
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Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

datadyne007 said:
Steve Adams replied to me about Lend Lease presenting Aura. They also submitted this programmatic section specifically for Winthrop Sq, so it appears they want to clone Aura's massing:
Click to expand...

Looks like 68 or 69 floors on that thing, not including mechanicals. This one's going to be huge- I'm looking forward to further renderings and figures.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

tmac9wr said:
That would certainly complicate things, ya
Click to expand...

BUT, you could have a larger tower on the 101 arch garage if it merged with the existing 101 arch building. That would be the best approach, but I'm not sure how feasible that is or if it's been done. You could really get a giant tower going with a good retail podium.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

Mongo said:
BUT, you could have a larger tower on the 101 arch garage if it merged with the existing 101 arch building. That would be the best approach, but I'm not sure how feasible that is or if it's been done. You could really get a giant tower going with a good retail podium.
Click to expand...

Yea that would be fantastic...and it's not like we don't have the engineering capabilities to make a very tall, super-thin tower. Just look at what's going up in NYC right now.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

Mongo said:
BUT, you could have a larger tower on the 101 arch garage if it merged with the existing 101 arch building. That would be the best approach, but I'm not sure how feasible that is or if it's been done. You could really get a giant tower going with a good retail podium.
Click to expand...

I think you guys mean 33 Arch

101 Arch is the one with the clock & the balcony.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

B&T has posted a slideshow of the proposals with some slightly different renders/images. The architects are also all listed.

http://www.bankerandtradesman.com/gallery/winthrop/

Accordia is SHoP + Hacin, so well done DB!!!

HYM is Elkus

Lend Lease is Graziani + Corazza

Millennium is of course Handel

Fallon is HOK

Belkin is of course CBT

Trinity is TAT

I have edited my post with the renders to include the architects.
 
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