Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

6/16 From Woburn. Not a great pic but stay tuned for my next set of Assembly within the next couple of days.

IMG_2016 by David Z, on Flickr
 
6/12

IMG_1886 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_1887 by David Z, on Flickr

Just came back from a trip to Toronto a few weeks ago and one thing that struck me (aside from Toronto's terrible lack of missing middle housing) was just how big they go in on TOD near stations. Part of that probably is because the upzoned areas are so small still compared to the SFH-only areas, but around many subway stations you see tons of 500 ft+ condo and apartment towers. Here in Greater Boston, at most we get clusters like Assembly which, while bigger than the more usual 5+1s, aren't really all that tall.

Obviously towers and height isn't everything, and Orange Line capacity isn't close to that of the Toronto Subway, but the difference was really striking.
 
Just came back from a trip to Toronto a few weeks ago and one thing that struck me (aside from Toronto's terrible lack of missing middle housing) was just how big they go in on TOD near stations. Part of that probably is because the upzoned areas are so small still compared to the SFH-only areas, but around many subway stations you see tons of 500 ft+ condo and apartment towers. Here in Greater Boston, at most we get clusters like Assembly which, while bigger than the more usual 5+1s, aren't really all that tall.

Obviously towers and height isn't everything, and Orange Line capacity isn't close to that of the Toronto Subway, but the difference was really striking.
The high/low of Toronto is actually a bit misleading. For instance, even before Assembly blah blah, Somerville was the most densely populated city in Massachusetts without any tall buildings at all. Similarly, Brighton is far denser than the Back Bay.

Just to get a laugh (I hope), Toronto is architecturally the Canadian equivalent to Houston. I can just imagine a 500 footer being built directly over a triple decker in Savin Hill, because "preservation".
 
The high/low of Toronto is actually a bit misleading. For instance, even before Assembly blah blah, Somerville was the most densely populated city in Massachusetts without any tall buildings at all. Similarly, Brighton is far denser than the Back Bay.

Just to get a laugh (I hope), Toronto is architecturally the Canadian equivalent to Houston. I can just imagine a 500 footer being built directly over a triple decker in Savin Hill, because "preservation".
Boston is one of the rare north American cities that has a good bit of "missing middle" housing. (Aka triple deckers, brownstones, etc).

You don't need tall towers to allow for density and public transit use.
 
8/29 From Arlington

IMG_3484 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_3485 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_3486 by David Z, on Flickr

I really appreciate the photos, but are we really getting anything out of these now since there don't seem to be any significant changes to the skyline? I keep coming to this thread thinking there is some sort of new activity or update and just keep seeing photos taken from afar. Again, the effort is appreciated, just not sure if we need them this frequently.

If I am way off base and everyone wants to see them, then ignore me.
 
I really appreciate the photos, but are we really getting anything out of these now since there don't seem to be any significant changes to the skyline? I keep coming to this thread thinking there is some sort of new activity or update and just keep seeing photos taken from afar. Again, the effort is appreciated, just not sure if we need them this frequently.

If I am way off base and everyone wants to see them, then ignore me.

1. Some of the views suck pretty bad, like the Woburn ones. At least save the comment for the lousier views. This one in particular is among the clearest/best of the cluster.
2. Between the smokestacks to the right of the tallest one I see a new crane. It might be for another project, but where exactly? Looks like it might be visual movement in Assembly, which marks a significant enough change to continue posting this area for the next couple of years.
 

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