South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

I don't have strong opinions on fonts, so long as they don't look cartoonish. The kerning aligns with the actual track positions -- the alternating wider and narrower gaps between letters depend on whether there is a platform between the tracks, so I think that's exactly the correct way to display it.
 
Today
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SMCYB said:
I think the kerning is just a result of placing the numbers directly above the side of the platform corresponding to each train boarding area.
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The arches are amazing and there's so much to celebrate about the whole project -- that anyone is critiquing the fucking font and kerning (good for you for having a vague awareness of leading and kerning. very smart...) of the gate signs is so fucking idiotic. We examine and find fault with projects all the time on this forum, but are you fucking kidding me? Also, as noted, the "kerning" corresponds to the placement of the actual tracks. Un-fucking-real.
 
chrisbrat said:
The arches are amazing and there's so much to celebrate about the whole project -- that anyone is critiquing the fucking font and kerning (good for you for having a vague awareness of leading and kerning. very smart...) of the gate signs is so fucking idiotic. We examine and find fault with projects all the time on this forum, but are you fucking kidding me? Also, as noted, the "kerning" corresponds to the placement of the actual tracks. Un-fucking-real.
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Right, I know, I go through there twice a week. A designer would have considered this and developed a pleasing solution. As it is, it looks like they bought some oversized numbers at Ocean State Job Lot.
 
Jeremi said:
Right, I know, I go through there twice a week. A designer would have considered this and developed a pleasing solution. As it is, it looks like they bought some oversized numbers at Ocean State Job Lot.
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I'm there 5 days a week (if we're going there, which seems dumb). Sorry the font and placement upsets you(?).
 
Arenacale said:
As the "Proposed But Never Built" thread has seen some action recently, this post from Suffolk 83 in 2008 jumped out at me going back to the beginning. That post can vote now, and amazingly the tower is built, and looks great.

I'm very impressed with the garden space, I didn't know that was part of the build but it looks great.
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Sadly this post also from 2008 is still too relevent.

shawn said:
Re: proposed but never built

Reading this site is a bit depressing. Living in Tokyo - a city with a "make it happen" administration and residents who understand that they live in an organic, growing entity otherwise known as a "city" - has opened my eyes to what city growth can be.

Boston, break my heart, will always be filled with "what could have beens".
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So glad this is finally done/wrapping up. Curious to see how the new fare gates impact that arched concourse space.

This project had a really complex challenge of stitching between the existing head house, tracks, and bus terminal and it did...okay. I don't particularly like how the 2nd floor bus loop just sort of cruises past the arches - cheap 0-design looking facade and agree about the ugly letters, sorry. That mid-section transition between the arch base and glass tower is also a huge miss.

But otherwise it's fine. Perfect enemy of good yada yada. Nice set of photos on Dezeen.

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To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw: '"Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I wonder what a project would have looked like if developed by Steve Samuels and ask why not". :)
 
Jeremi said:
Right, I know, I go through there twice a week. A designer would have considered this and developed a pleasing solution. As it is, it looks like they bought some oversized numbers at Ocean State Job Lot.
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Yup. Good enough is not enough.

There's plenty to find right about this project. But there's also plenty to find wrong. It gets the job done well enough, but it will never be considered a world class train station... sadly. I'm sure there are dozens of members of this forum who could have designed it better.
 
tossed in some of the lounge pix, as well -- I realize in no way related to the new tower, but it seemed like a decent amount of folks were interested in that area. it's really cool and once again the staff were (today) very accomodating and proud and happy to let me roam around and check it out.

And, not for nothing, having spent lots of time in Frankfurt, Shanghai, London, Sao Paulo (etc. etc.) -- yes, South Station is a "world class" train station.
 
chrisbrat said:
tossed in some of the lounge pix, as well -- I realize in no way related to the new tower, but it seemed like a decent amount of folks were interested in that area. it's really cool and once again the staff were (today) very accomodating and proud and happy to let me roam around and check it out.

And, not for nothing, having spent lots of time in Frankfurt, Shanghai, London, Sao Paulo (etc. etc.) -- yes, South Station is a "world class" train station.
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I live in the Boston area and I want to be cheerleader and say South Station is great. But I've been to many that are, and sadly ours doesn't compete. It gets the job done and is certainly better than many, but it's certainly not as good as many as well. I accept constructive criticism in my own life, and I'm willing to let people here take their jabs at me for being honest about South Station. It's good... not great.

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Ever try to navigate Châtelet-Les Halles or Shinjuku?

I want for U.S. train systems -- and stations -- to up their game (and to do so quickly), but SS is pretty good.
 
Are we talking about world-class station architecture? Or world-class train stations?

Shinjuku sees about 3.5 million weekday transits. At peak commute times, the Yamanote Line's 11-car trains are moving 1,700 people per train every 30 seconds for almost 2 hours straight, twice a day. There are 37 platforms. During peak commute, there are more people physically inside Shinjuku Station at any given minute than there are in the entire state of Wyoming at that time.

South Station sees what, 100,000 transits per weekday?

Operational scale, and meeting the expectations which comes with such scale, is what makes for a "world-class train station" IMO. I'll get to visit the new South Station in November, and I am excited to see it in person finally; it looks beautiful. Much more attractive architecture than many of the world's big boys. But functionally, you can't put South Station or frankly any American train station outside NYC in the same "world-class" group as the likes of Shinjuku (or any of the hub stations in Japan's big cities), Gare du Nord, Frankfurt Main, Waterloo, Hongqiao, etc.
 
chrisbrat said:
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I'm intrigued to see what the final solution is for the temporary departures board. The MBTA sent out a survey a couple months ago, not sure how I got on that list, but asking where you typically wait for track announcements (inside or under the arches), how long you typically spend at South Station, whether that changes by season, etc. The temporary board was to stop people congregating near the ends of the platforms, but now people congregate near the temporary board. My memories are fuzzy but I do feel that pre renovation most people waited inside at the main departures board because the screens at the end of the platforms didn't exist yet. So if you get rid of the temporary board now, and with the new fare gate lines, people would be somewhat forced to go back to waiting inside...
 
HelloBostonHi said:
I'm intrigued to see what the final solution is for the temporary departures board. The MBTA sent out a survey a couple months ago, not sure how I got on that list, but asking where you typically wait for track announcements (inside or under the arches), how long you typically spend at South Station, whether that changes by season, etc. The temporary board was to stop people congregating near the ends of the platforms, but now people congregate near the temporary board. My memories are fuzzy but I do feel that pre renovation most people waited inside at the main departures board because the screens at the end of the platforms didn't exist yet. So if you get rid of the temporary board now, and with the new fare gate lines, people would be somewhat forced to go back to waiting inside...
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Seems like multiple boards in different locations would help solve the congregation problem. There's not enough room for everyone to wait inside with all the food kiosks taking up so much space. There is a lot of space outside, and for those who don't mind the wind tunnel effect (and rain on rainy days), outside is an option that gets you closer to the train and therefore earlier boarding. Maybe a board on either side so people congregate on the ends and leave the middle open for people exiting their arriving trains.
 
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