Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

stick n move said:

68 Units Planned in Cambridge's Wellington-Harrington Neighborhood​

“The proposed development at 16–28 Porter Street reimagines a series of underutilized parcels within the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood as a new 68-unit multi-family building with a mix of unit types and including 13 affordable homes…..”


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68 Units Planned in Cambridge's Wellington-Harrington Neighborhood

68 Units Planned in Cambridge's Wellington-Harrington Neighborhood
www.bldup.com www.bldup.com
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Do we know if this proposal is a by right development under the new zoning?
 
stick n move said:

68 Units Planned in Cambridge's Wellington-Harrington Neighborhood​

“The proposed development at 16–28 Porter Street reimagines a series of underutilized parcels within the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood as a new 68-unit multi-family building with a mix of unit types and including 13 affordable homes…..”


16_porter.png


68 Units Planned in Cambridge's Wellington-Harrington Neighborhood

68 Units Planned in Cambridge's Wellington-Harrington Neighborhood
www.bldup.com www.bldup.com
Click to expand...
This is right across from the chapel that holds the Saints Cosmas and Damian - wonder if the Gaetani concerned that their neighborhood is being even more run over by people not from their group. Maybe the East Cambridge feast doesn't last another decade?
 
sm89 said:
A lot of these AHO projects with the bonus height change materials for floors 5-6. Why do the architects feel the need to highlight the added height so much? I always notice it immediately due to the jarring change and cheap look. Modern versions of this: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZLqRnrkTRpxUUQuy9

Examples Porter St (above)

Western Ave (Spears Funeral Home)
View attachment 67487

60 Ellery St
View attachment 65634View attachment 64426

84 Ellery (original proposal)
View attachment 68596
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Those are just examples of it done poorly, but its the same type of effect as the mansard roof. You make the top floor look like its part of the roof and it gives the appearance that the building isnt as tall as it actually is. It makes a 5 story building look like a 4 story building with a roof. Buildings need roofs, but you can make the roof another usable floor instead of just an attic. Its a design language that has carried on through generations.

Old south end rowhouse
IMG_4564.jpeg

New southie 5 over 1 done in historic style
IMG_4565.jpeg

2010’s style Roxbury condo
IMG_4567.jpeg

2020’s Roxbury stereotypical fiber cement panel 4 over 1
IMG_4566.jpeg


It works a lot better on certain buildings/styles/colors/amount of floors than others. 1 top floor with a black facade and the effect actually works, especially if the floor is set back. A floor done in a weird color or trying to do it with 2 or 3 floors and then it just looks ridiculous.
 
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stick n move said:
Those are just examples of it done poorly, but its the same type of effect as the mansard roof. You make the top floor look like its part of the roof and it gives the appearance that the building isnt as tall as it actually is. It makes a 5 story building look like a 4 story building with a roof. Buildings need roofs, but you can make the roof another usable floor instead of just an attic. Its a design language that has carried on through generations.

Old south end rowhouse
View attachment 68599
New southie 5 over 1 done in historic style
View attachment 68600
2010’s style Roxbury condo
View attachment 68601
2020’s Roxbury stereotypical fiber cement panel 4 over 1
View attachment 68602

It works a lot better on certain buildings/styles/colors/amount of floors than others. 1 top floor with a black facade and the effect actually works, especially if the floor is set back. A floor done in a weird color or trying to do it with 2 or 3 floors and then it just looks ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Yea, I was bringing attention to the top 2 floors in all those examples. They didn't make it look faux mansard, just an odd cheap top 2 floors.
 
I think it would look better to just bring the brick up one more level and make the mansard one level tall. A double height mansard isn't fooling anyone. It just looks goofy.
 
sm89 said:
Yea, I was bringing attention to the top 2 floors in all those examples. They didn't make it look faux mansard, just an odd cheap top 2 floors.
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Yea I didnt say they have a literal mansard roof, its a modern (many times shitty) take on the mansard effect of trying to disguise the height of a building by making the top floor come across as a roof structure vs a full floor. Like with most things in the modern era the shittiest examples have gone too far and look ridiculous. Some of them even use 2 floors now which is really stretching it. 84 ellery for example has taken it to a ridiculous degree, but the purpose here is still to make it look more like a 4 story building with a big roof vs a full 6 story brick building.

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The spears funeral home example same thing, attempting to make it look like a 4 story building with a roof structure. Also by setting the top 2 floors back someone looking up from street level will not see the 5th floor as you can see its even partially blocked from this angle, and will just see part of the 6th floor which is disguised as a roof structure. So from ground level this 6 story building will look like a 4 story building with a roof structure.
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Heres the same effect in southie but with 1 floor. This example has 1 roof floor which is set back, so from the street the top floor of the building is hardly visible at all. So to the passerby it pretty much appears to be a 3 story building. Theyre all just visual tricks to try to lessen the total mass of a building and make it appear smaller than it is. This is especially useful in nimby filled neighborhoods/cities where people are extremely concerned with 1 or 2 extra floors messing up the “character”.
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sean99090900 said:
Do we know if this proposal is a by right development under the new zoning?
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This just showed up in an entirely different manner than anything else has historically shown up on the Cambridge gov sites.

It's listed on the Planning Board page, but rather than as a Planning Board Special Permit case, it shows up as instance #001 of "Planning Board Advisory Consultation" (PBAC) cases:
www.cambridgema.gov

PBAC-001

advisory consultation application
www.cambridgema.gov www.cambridgema.gov

^From therein:
58Wd.png


So it seems like it is as-of-right, but probably because it's above a certain size, the PB gets a courtesy consultation?? (Someone more in-the-know about the workings of this new Cambridge procedure feel free to chime in)
 
as02143 said:
This is right across from the chapel that holds the Saints Cosmas and Damian - wonder if the Gaetani concerned that their neighborhood is being even more run over by people not from their group. Maybe the East Cambridge feast doesn't last another decade?
Click to expand...
When I was a 4 year-old kid living in East Cambridge, the festival would parade by right in front of our house. I still have great memories of the colors and wonder of it all. I hope it never does end.
 
Charlie_mta said:
When I was a 4 year-old kid living in East Cambridge, the festival would parade by right in front of our house. I still have great memories of the colors and wonder of it all. I hope it never does end.
Click to expand...
So I live/lived in this area now - recently moved a bit further out - and I don’t want to speak over anyone but from what I’ve seen a lot of this east Cambridge specific stuff is declining. Happy to be corrected but it’s become extremely expensive and gone the way of southie where the incumbent landowners have left. There are certainly some remnants but I’m in a coffee shop in east Cambridge writing this and the only people coming in are young couples, some with kids. Not that it isn’t a great place to live but I do wonder if people know how much it’s changed.
 
I'm just happy that East Cambridge is doing well with new people moving in and new developments happening. In some other east coast cities it could have devolved into a slum, but thanks to the prosperity of the Boston metro area, East Cambridge is in great shape. It's good to see the Festival still going on each year, as it is really a deep part of the historic culture of the area.
 
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