South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

Summer street access is open!

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What do we think the chances are of the top of this getting lit up at night? I thought I saw some renders with nighttime lighting?
 
This lighting - the color - is interesting. I'll have to try and get a look tonight!
 
Boston's skyline is finally getting a little brighter and more colorful. This is a great addition, One Congress' front horizontal-stripe thing is excellent, Hub on Causeway's moving lightshow thing is cool (when it's working...).

Winthrop Center is underwhelming, but better than nothing. MT and 1 Dalton are missed opportunities (and 1 Dalton's last-minute "Oh, we aren't going to have the lit-up 4 Seasons logo up top b/c the light would distract the top floor tenants" thing is even more clearly bullshit when you consider that SST's extremely bright crown is just above the as-expensive penthouse in that building...).

IP is still one of, if not the, best examples of crown lighting in the city, which says a lot. The old JHT is still classic (would be better if they brought back the uplighting of the early '90s).

It's no Shanghai or NYC or Hong Kong, but Boston's far less bleak at night than it used to be (skyline-wise. Nightlife... could still use some help).
 
A lit skyline at night is cool, but environmental issues are very important to me. When I see cities that are way lit up, I cringe a little.

Nightlife? For folks who care enough, go make it happen or whatever. I don't care. The fact that it's been a struggle for a while to change it shows you where the city's core values lie.
 
type001 said:
A lit skyline at night is cool, but environmental issues are very important to me. When I see cities that are way lit up, I cringe a little.

Nightlife? For folks who care enough, go make it happen or whatever. I don't care. The fact that it's been a struggle for a while to change it shows you where the city's core values lie.
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I get that some folks have concerns about "light pollution" and its impact on... birds, I think? I care deeply about the environment, but lit-up buildings seem, to me, to be fairly far down the line in terms of topics to be passionately concerned about.

As for nightlife, I appreciate that you don't care (I don't, either -- at least not during the work-week, usually), but plenty of folks are making it happen or trying to, as evidenced by a number of recently opened venues, the efforts of the Arts Stay Here initiative, and a number of grass-roots organized night-time activities. The city's ridiculous and systemically biased limit on liquor licenses coupled with an anachronistic state law-mandated "alcohol service must end at 2am" restriction are serious roadblocks, though. Not to mention the T shutting down way too early, even on weekends. I don't think anyone's expecting, or wanting, Boston to become the next NOLA or Miami or NYC when it comes to nightlife, but the era of Puritan values is long gone and it's time the city get with the calendar-date.
 
Cool to see downtowns skyline getting some new lighting. There was a long time where it looked like the death star, which was honestly kind of cool and eerie in its own way, but I def prefer crown lighting. Now if we could only get a couple spires on the skyline to liven it up a bit and have them lit as well.
 
In reality though, I wonder how much their three floors worth of office tenants and condo association that will probably consist of a similar percentage of units sold will want to foot the bill for a needless and unattractive vanity project.
 
He's a one trick pony. Casually slides in at the last moment to deliver a snarky statement that only he thinks is clever.
 
They put out a new update on the site and here's what's new:
  • The access to Summer Street is now open. I saw this myself last Saturday!
  • Everything along Atlantic Avenue is complete.
  • Compared to last week, they used the phrase "As this project nears completion...". I can't wait until it does!
I went through on the afternoon of Sunday, July 20th when it was raining, and there were some puddles by the doors at the gap. They have to figure something out about that!

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type001 said:
He's a one trick pony. Casually slides in at the last moment to deliver a snarky statement that only he thinks is clever.
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You’re reading too much into things. It’s kind of amusing though how low your standards are for this kind of stuff. There’s no artistry or design to this. It’s just a giant blob o’light but whatever, enjoy it for whatever purpose you think it serves.
 
kmp1284 said:
It’s kind of amusing though how low your standards are for this kind of stuff.
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I am not sure what you are referring to. I never gave any opinion on the lighting on this at all. I actually was being critical of lit skylines in my previous post.
 
Ryanontherails said:
They put out a new update on the site and here's what's new:
  • The access to Summer Street is now open. I saw this myself last Saturday!
  • Everything along Atlantic Avenue is complete.
  • Compared to last week, they used the phrase "As this project nears completion...". I can't wait until it does!
I went through on the afternoon of Sunday, July 20th when it was raining, and there were some puddles by the doors at the gap. They have to figure something out about that!

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For anybody who has heard me biznatch and moan about that big gaping hole directly above where all that rain is coming in, this is exactly why. What a terrible oversight by the architect(s). Unforgivable.
 
SMCYB said:
For anybody who has heard me biznatch and moan about that big gaping hole directly above where all that rain is coming in, this is exactly why. What a terrible oversight by the architect(s). Unforgivable.
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Yea its honestly a pretty weird oversight that should be extremely easy to fix imo.
 
SMCYB said:
For anybody who has heard me biznatch and moan about that big gaping hole directly above where all that rain is coming in, this is exactly why. What a terrible oversight by the architect(s). Unforgivable.
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stick n move said:
Yea its honestly a pretty weird oversight that should be extremely easy to fix imo.
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I'm pretty sure this had nothing to do with architects' oversight. It's likely a jurisdictional issue (or concern about about such) with respect to the tower development project versus who controls/is responsible for the headhouse structure...possibly even related to how original plans from years ago (pre-Hines) envisioned the tower itself overhanging the headhouse, but not any other structures. Even the as-built tower took great pains to basically not even touch the headhouse, though it had air rights/easement to overhang it.
I'd blame whomever is responsible for the site wide master plan (MBTA?) before I blamed the archictects. You could possibly also blame the developer for not pushing for new easements or something. But glancing at the design itself screams architect/builder taking pains to keep away from the headhouse, rather than being lazy about avoiding it.
 
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