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Can we please get a transit-design team from another first-world country to consult or just design this for the MDOT, who clearly do not understand or have any demonstrated expertise in transit design? Also, can the Governor's office and the Mayor's office please insist that the Pike be...

Might the Alfonds?

I’d say directionally this is headed in the right direction, certainly — understanding these are just early steps along a long path ahead. MDOT has introduced some more pedestrianized design solutions in “village/downtown zones” recently, and hopefully they’ll so so here too (especially). I also...

Yes, Mori and her husband have had a house on an island in midcoast Maine for nearly 40 years. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/t-magazine/toshiko-mori.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

That team made a meaningful gesture toward recognizing and incorporating the facade of the contributing structure within the expansion and the team lead is a long-time Maine resident, so yes, I still find the choice by the PMA surprising.

But it’s not a binary choice: historic or extraordinary. Something extraordinary can *incorporate* history, rather than plowing it under to replace it. The Museum, unexpectedly, is making a binary choice.

The PMA received a proposal from a world-class architect-cum-Maine resident. Their proposal incorporated the Fore Street building into its solution and yet they dismissed the proposal. So, yes, the PMA made the disasterous situation they only now are beginning to recognize they are in. There was...

Agree and wish that 100 Fore Street had been designed to help activate that block as well. I’m sure the strange zoning rules for that block had best intentions, but the outcome looks like the top/back of a parking garage where some retail 2- to 4-story facade would help define and add energy...

Parking minimums removed citywide. New train hall on the main line (near the former Union Station) for the Downeaster, with a viaduct over Congress Street. Completion of the Franklin Street re-alignment to open up new development parcels and reconnect Munjoy Hill and East Bayside with Old Port...

I mean, by that standard, wouldn’t they also have to consider the MacLellan Building and the faux-temple Clapp House as candidates for destruction, given they were built pre-Civil War?

… and I think there may be almost the same amount of parking. Also, I'm surprised to see 2/3 of the plot not host to more units. Seems that a three-story building (if that's the height limit) could cover at least half of the lot to accommodate one or two more units — and it looks like the open...

What an elegant pivot and pleasant solution — The Casco —

Interesting choice by architects, planners and the institution to place the Child Care center as an extension of the seven story parking structure, so the children will be as close as possible to the gas-fumes of those humdreds of vehicles —

What about “Skyline” and “Cobblestone” lounges —

If they could find it in the budget to add some depth to the windows and have actual differentiation in depth where the materials change, it would really help a lot to reduce the monolithic effect. I also wish they would consider moving the rooftop 'arcade' from the lowest part of the site to a...

I really appreciate the Academic Building's thoughtful design and the way it maximizes the water views and creates a welcoming courtyard. Unfortunately the concrete box of a Parking Structure will be the tallest, bulkiest and potentially most prominent building on the site. In the renderings the...

Or Compass for the two lines that cross North–South, East–West?

Toshiko Mori PMA Free Street entry

Toshiko Mori — the architect of that “runner up” plan — is also a Maine resident, and the plan did build around that historic building, so I really don’t understand how her team wasn’t chosen. A real miss by the PMA board.

Interesting to read the questions from the “Westbrook Downtown Development” website, for example: “Parking garages are unsafe for women and at risk of fire since there will be electric charging spaces in the garage.” The answer: “The City recognizes that some may feel unsafe when parking in a...