State Street HQ | One Congress | Bulfinch Crossing | West End

This view from Cambridge Street makes the glass look interesting.
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wasn't it reported waaaaaaay back when -- relatively soon after the first renders were released -- that the scope and shape of the "fins" was going to be scaled back somewhat b/c the initial design was ultimately deemed to be unsafe/unstable in high winds?

i do not recall the source (or even if it happened. maybe i'm conflating things i've read with conversations i've had since this project was introduced), so i guess take that for whatever it's worth (or not worth). as a concept, it makes a degree of sense to me. the more extreme fins in that render you shared do kind of scream, "go ahead -- just try and blow this glass and steel 'sail' down! oh, it's a port city and the windiest city in america? hubris, you say? the gods themselves couldn't topple this design!!!"
 
The render also doesn't include the mech, so we're visually comparing it against a different roofline. Plus the render isn't looking up at quite as much of an angle. It's close, but it also makes a difference in addition to the mech.
 
wasn't it reported waaaaaaay back when -- relatively soon after the first renders were released -- that the scope and shape of the "fins" was going to be scaled back somewhat b/c the initial design was ultimately deemed to be unsafe/unstable in high winds?

i do not recall the source (or even if it happened. maybe i'm conflating things i've read with conversations i've had since this project was introduced), so i guess take that for whatever it's worth (or not worth). as a concept, it makes a degree of sense to me. the more extreme fins in that render you shared do kind of scream, "go ahead -- just try and blow this glass and steel 'sail' down! oh, it's a port city and the windiest city in america? hubris, you say? the gods themselves couldn't topple this design!!!"

But it isn't just the part that rises above the roofline that looks diminished to me. There's also less distinction between the glass curves themselves and it all looks kind of flat and fat. I worry that this is just going to look like an oval with a sail on top; the "slit dress" look of the renders isn't coming through to me.
 
This thing looks great from some angles but sure is a fatty from others:

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We all seem to have our "good sides" when it comes to having our picture taken. This girl just doesn't have the option of moving when the paparazzi are shooting her. But having said that, even her "Rubenesque" side is strikingly beautiful! 😍
 
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The render also doesn't include the mech, so we're visually comparing it against a different roofline. Plus the render isn't looking up at quite as much of an angle. It's close, but it also makes a difference in addition to the mech.
Also the render seems to have a pretty extreme perspective correction applied.
 
I see a similarity between the top of State Street HQ and the Roman Coliseum. Interesting how architectural themes run through the millennia (image reversed for comparison purposes):

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Not so much a theme but the result of a huge earthquake. Imitation appears to be operating though.
 
Okay, not an intentional design originally for the Coliseum, but I wonder if the treatment at the top of State St HQ was inspired by the current form of the Coliseum.

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