Rose Kennedy Greenway

send him packing

He sounds like an obnoxious asshole coming here to save us from our backward ways. Boston already is a center for world music.
 
Boston Globe said:
Great, and the connection between Indians and Brazilians is what?

"There is none," he (Neuman) says. "I like the idea precisely because there is none."
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Of course there's a connection -- Le Corbusier. (And this guy ran the UCLA Architecture School?)
 
Code: 
Boston already is a center for world music.

Well, they're not exactly staging Punjabi Bhangra dances performed to an Indonesian Gamelan in Symphony Hall...
 
Developer Ron Druker, who is chairman of the project, puts it this way: "The Jews are not taking over the greenway."
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That's my favorite line in the article haha sounds a little ahh idk just funny
 
Sounds like Cartman has influenced that guy's thinking.
 
Ehhh, let's not get into that here. Suffice it to say they've been getting crap for a long time.


A couple of pics from today:

img6263ef7.jpg


the water fountain is coming together
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^ All those wide open, suburban spaces where there could be buildings ...

Someone said it was more urban before.

All this was done for "aesthetic" reasons.

A possible lesson to learn: it's not good to spend $15bil. for aesthetic purposes.

Especially when the prevailing aesthetic is suburban.
 
The biggest problem with the greenway isn't the greenway itself, it's the edges. It could have ended up as a "grand boulevard" lined with outdoor cafes, restaurants, and pedestrians, but it would need places for these outdoor cafes and restaurants to go. As I look up and down the greenway I don't see anyplace where a cafe could go. During the planning process the planners kept saying that the adjacent properties would naturally re-orient themselves towards the greenway. I don't see it happening or see where it could happen. Some effort should have been made to accomodate new construction to line the edges with businesses. The same error was made with Government Center.
 
The Haymarket building with the vent shaft, subway entrance, and parking garage could easily accommodate this. On the other side of the park on Cross Street are one-story buildings that could be replaced or could use the brick plaza for outdoor tables.

The replacement of the Harbor Garage opens up more possibilities.
 
Joe_Schmoe said:
The biggest problem with the greenway isn't the greenway itself, it's the edges. It could have ended up as a "grand boulevard" lined with outdoor cafes, restaurants, and pedestrians, but it would need places for these outdoor cafes and restaurants to go. As I look up and down the greenway I don't see anyplace where a cafe could go. During the planning process the planners kept saying that the adjacent properties would naturally re-orient themselves towards the greenway. I don't see it happening or see where it could happen. Some effort should have been made to accomodate new construction to line the edges with businesses. The same error was made with Government Center.
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You could have said the same thing about the edges of Lansdowne St. 10 years ago, but it's teeming with outdoor space now. You just can't expect it to happen overnight. Do you really think someone isn't going to find a way to put an outdoor cafe near the fountain pictured a few posts earlier?
 
Does anybody have that GoogleEarth comparison that somebody did (sorry I forget who) that supposedly proved that the Greenway and Comm Av were actually the same width (curb to curb) on average?
 
I was down at the Haymarket on Saturday, getting a falafel pita for lunch. (Best falafel in the city at this little basement middle-eastern food shop owned by Hadib) While sitting there in my pedicab, I realized what a important parcel is the one directly across Blackstone Street from the Blackstone block (Parcel 9). It occurred to me that a great use for this medium-sized parcel would be an actual market building - worthy of the name Haymarket. I live in Cleveland and there is a large, indoor market there called the West Side Market, which is very popular, subway-accessible, and affordable. The inside is full of various stalls that are rented out by food vendors, restaurants, and companies from all around Cleveland. The building itself is iconic, and we need more destinations along the Greenway, if it's ever going to work.

The building also has little covered outdoor wings, an element that I would keep in a Boston version. The wings could extend out onto or towards the Greenway, drawing people into the larger, indoor market. Check out these pictures:

450px-West_Side_Market.jpg


283813217_4e74c9b73d.jpg


west_side_market_clock_tower.jpg


Yeah, I know, this is just wishful thinking, but I think it's at least worth a letter to the mayor.

Here is a picture of what a building on Parcel 9 could look like. The lot is irregularly shaped, but I really think a market building with a tower on the small corner would work great, and give this intersection a sense of place.

Slide21.jpg
 
I was walking the greenway yesterday, from N Station to Seaport Hotel. I noticed that same parcel when I passed by. Right now it's just an open plot and I was wondering what they were planning on doing with it. A building of some sort, regardless of function is defenitely needed there, but preferably something that creates foot traffic. A market would be good there but may be redundant to Quincy Market. I'd settle for a cafe or some sort of eatery.

I for one do believe that businesses will start to catch on and reorganize or restructure buildings once the greenway is complete in order to take advantage of the new views and infrastructure. Right now several of the buildings, as people have mentioned, are cut off or truncated due to the artery being put up in the 50's. I saw several examples of buildings that could use new entrances or even tables/benches. One of the biggest problems though, especially with newer buildings, is that when they were built, the artery was still there. They didn't build entrances or in many cases windows on that side of the building. Many of them are just empty facades that need to be rethought now that the greenway is being completed. I'm not sure if that's wishful thinking or not, but I do believe that people will realize there is an opportunity there and then take advantage of it.

It may take time, but after walking the greenway and seeing just how much pedestrian traffic already existed, I'm actually quite optimistic. It's not even finished yet and there were people traveling from FH to the waterfront, the waterfront to the north end etc. Eventually, when there's actually something there, these people will stop with the kids, take a break, eat an ice cream, walk the dog, sit by the fountain or maybe just continue on their way. But there will be people there...at least in the warmer months.
 
Slide21.jpg


This looks like something lifted out of someone's model-train set...Utter rubbish! Ablarc -- is this better than a parking lot?

I like your idea shiz -- A modern riff on the Cleveland market building would be appropriate here, with a cafe/eatery facing the parks. I'd hope the developer would take cues from the austere vernacular of the "ancient" buildings in the Blackstone Block, and honor them by not trying to copy them.

The real pay-off in redeveloping this entire area would be the removal of the Government Center Garage and constructing a larger market building where the buses currently stop at Haymarket Station.
 
According to Patrick it was the right idea in the wrong place. It was meant as a seed to redevelop that part of Portland but it didn't work. It was too hard to get to (I can attest to that) completely away from most of the populated areas of the city. Most of the shops went out of business. It is a shame. I was there in it's first year and it was a great space. I'd love to see it revived in Boston.
The post and beam architecture may be a little too 'woodsy' for the city, but I think it is fantastic.
 
I thought the current idea for a public market was to put it in Dewey Square, on one of the (former) Mass. Hort. parcels.
 
It's not as if there can't be two markets. The Dewey Square market would serve commuters picking up breakfast or a snack on the way to work and produce for dinner on the way home...and potentially even draw residents all up and down the Red Line. The Haymarket would (as it does) serve the North and West Ends and Bulfinch Triangle, and probably get considerable traffic from tourists on the Freedom Trail path as well.

A Haymarket building would hardly be redundant with Quincy Market either; the latter has been surrendered to chain eateries and tourist trinket shops. Here's the opportunity to reclaim some part of the area for locals, and create a healthy mix. It's also a way to guarantee the Haymarket isn't going to fade away any time soon; it's one of my favorite features of the city. High quality architecture that won't sterilize the area is also a must...the Portland market is a great example, would reconnect the city to its timber roots, and god knows we have enough brick and concrete around as it is. A humanizing rebuff to Government Center a mere block away.
 
Ron Newman said:
Why did Portland stop using it?
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Statler got it mostly right, but I'll add some more possibly relevant info.

The building was constructed several years ago by a non profit organization as a way to revitalize a stagnant and sketchy area of the city. However, given the high rents required to keep the operation financially feasible and the low revenues of those paying rents (selling mostly fruits and veggies) the business had to be subsidized by the owner. The owner didn't care as it was not financial return that was being sought in the first place. When that organization decided to focus its efforts on revitalizing rural parts of Maine, however, it sold the market building along with several other properties in the city, to a firm from NYC who was not interested in further subsidizing the place, for practical business reasons. As a result, businesses could not afford the adjusted rents, and the place closed. It was considered for a new public library, but that plan did not win voter approval, and it may now be used as a lobby or mezzanine for a high rise office tower planned for the site years ago. if such a grandiose plan does not happen, however, it could also just become a call center or something.

expensive downtown buildings are not affordable if all you sell is produce. at least not in Maine. In Boston, the larger numbers of patrons may lead to income great enough to cover rents, though.

for further pictures of this building, if interested, go to this link and scroll down, there are several from just before it closed:

http://www.archboston.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=86&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
 
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