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  1. pixelsand8

    Do the Affordable Housing Laws Work?

    In my experience this isn't really the case. Crappy apartments are cheaper than decent ones but by a fairly negligible amount. The main benefit is that they tend to be easier to get because there is so much turnover, but the turnover happens because they suck to live in.
  2. pixelsand8

    Do the Affordable Housing Laws Work?

    I lived in a basement apartment in Cambridge for a little under a year. I found it to be a dreary experience and one I only put up with because I was desperate. As temporary housing (6-12 months) I think it's fine but anything longer than that can have really bad long term effects on the psyche...
  3. pixelsand8

    Avalon North Station | Nashua Street Residences | West End

    with all this construction going on I was waiting for Boston to get the attention of the rooftoppers. Awesome pictures.
  4. pixelsand8

    Somerville Infill and Small Developments

    Too bad. This thing is a massive waste of space.
  5. pixelsand8

    30 Dalton St. Residences | Back Bay

    Ok then. You think the Devon Tower is great. I think it's a horrible joke and a giant middle finger (literally) to decent architecture. Both are subjective opinions that can't be proven right or wrong so why not just leave it at that?
  6. pixelsand8

    30 Dalton St. Residences | Back Bay

    Not that I'm a big fan of the Pru but you're comparing apples to oranges. Boston is a dense, large and old city running out of land. Plus the Pru was conceived as part of a greater "high spine", not some stand alone monument to waste and ego. But this is off topic..
  7. pixelsand8

    30 Dalton St. Residences | Back Bay

    Really tall buildings in moderate sized cities like OKC and Indianapolis always come off as desperate and try-hard to me, and they always look goofy on the skyline. Context matters in architecture and I don't think these buildings can be evaluated on their own merit. No matter how nicely they...
  8. pixelsand8

    Somerville Infill and Small Developments

    Guess I was wrong when I said techies can't be interesting people. Another of the commenters in that link pointed that the guy is loaded and given his profession it seems believable. So that part at least fits the NIMBY narrative - "I've got mine so efff you".
  9. pixelsand8

    Somerville Infill and Small Developments

    Parking, probably. I'm convinced 95% of NIMBY'ism is driven by fear of having to drive around the block a few extra minutes in order to store one's private vehicle on municipal property. All that said, more sterile luxury condos does little to stem the tides chasing interesting creative people...
  10. pixelsand8

    Somerville Infill and Small Developments

    How would you finance it though? I don't see any towers going up with affordable housing that don't have a luxury component and/or aren't based in a desirable area close to transit.
  11. pixelsand8

    Somerville Infill and Small Developments

    haha, how does that porn shop even stay in business? The rendering for this building doesn't even look that bad. Not great either but so much crappier stuff going up in Somerville right now, I can't complain. That said, does anybody know what's going on a couple blocks down at Mystic and...
  12. pixelsand8

    Somerville Infill and Small Developments

    A quick tour of google earth shows this mostly to be the case. It honestly doesn't seem so bad when you are walking around the city because the buildings mostly front the sidewalk and the lots are often hidden out of view. All the same, surface lots are surface lots and thus a waste of valuable...
  13. pixelsand8

    Somerville Infill and Small Developments

    That's just the thing though, we need housing here and I feel like this lot can support way more than 7 units on a four story building no less. I sometimes like to count mailboxes on those squat square brick things you see all over Boston and there are generally 12-16 at least, and these were...
  14. pixelsand8

    Millennium Tower (Filene's) | 426 Washington Street | Downtown

    what are those giant gold letter sculptures on Comm Ave? Was that more "guerrilla art" that recently popped up? Pretty tasteless.
  15. pixelsand8

    Somerville Infill and Small Developments

    Looks decent but seven units? That's it? I guess it's not a huge lot but still. They must be huge units, or be at least 3BR. Latter would be far preferable if it's for families (which it probably won't be).
  16. pixelsand8

    Millennium Tower (Filene's) | 426 Washington Street | Downtown

    Or just do what they did on the Hancock, which really didn't need to latest stunt. Treat it like that cooling plant wall in Dewey Square where the art changes every so often. Because the space is temporary you could be "daring" and give people something to talk about. This would be turning a...
  17. pixelsand8

    Millennium Tower (Filene's) | 426 Washington Street | Downtown

    A booming real estate market and investors from China?
  18. pixelsand8

    Four Seasons Tower @ CSC | 1 Dalton Street | Back Bay

    I feel like it's gonna look weird all by itself on the edge of the skyline, won't have anywhere near the transformative effect of MT, despite being taller. Maybe it will provide a nice taper down from the Pru?
  19. pixelsand8

    Ink Block (Boston Herald) | 300 Harrison Avenue | South End

    Out of curiosity, what is lacking? Density? Architecture? Height? I'll be curious to see what this neighborhood is like when it's all built out, and reserve judgement till then. Ultimately though I think it would of been best if they never demolished what was originally here.
  20. pixelsand8

    Ink Block (Boston Herald) | 300 Harrison Avenue | South End

    maybe it's just me but I like when balconies are really prominent on low rise residential buildings. It provides good texture and differentiates it from an office structure - it says "hey, people live here". On bigger high rises they get more distracting unless they stay a bit more hidden within...

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