115 Federal St. (Winthrop Square)

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Am I the only one who thinks the rendering looks very similar to the last Russia Wharf image?
 
It's a friggin box with a spire not-so-tactfully tacked on its side. That glass better be of really, really, really good quality to make up for this blandness.

Wow Renzo, you've incorporated X braces... yawn.
 
Here is the BRA's press release, for the click averse:

Press Releases
Mayor Menino Announces Winthrop Square Redevelopment Proposal
Development team hires Pritzker prize winner Renzo Piano to design iconic tower; Design Shows One of the Largest Proposed Green Buildings in the World

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced that a proposal from Boston-based Trans National Properties has been submitted to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) for the redevelopment of the City-owned Winthrop Square parcel located at 115 Federal Street. The team, led by Steve Belkin, Chairman of Trans National Properties, has retained internationally celebrated architect Renzo Piano to design a beautiful, bold symbol of contemporary Boston. Mayor Menino said the group?s response includes plans for a mix of uses, as was called for in the Request for Proposals (RFP), focusing primarily on office space and retail.

?This proposal outlines an enormous investment in our downtown,? Mayor Menino said. ?This is a case of the market speaking loud and clear, and it?s saying that people are bullish on Boston and what this city can accomplish going forward.?

In calling today?s submission an expression of the private sector?s willingness to commit capital to the creation of Boston?s future, Mayor Menino explained that the proposal will require thorough consideration before any decision on the parcel?s designation. If the parcel is designated to this development team, then the proposal will have to proceed through standard development review processes, which include opportunities for the public to share ideas regarding the development.

In addition to about 1.3 million square feet of commercial office space and nearly 40,000 square feet of high-quality retail and restaurant use, the proposal responds to the RFP mandate to create a premier civic destination by incorporating some 55,000 square feet of public space, including a one acre ?Town Green? on the ground floor, complete with public art installations and integrated with retail uses, as well as a distinctive ?Lookout Garden? on the top of the building, providing visitors with a richly landscaped, publicly accessible observatory that is protected from the wind.

?Boston is one of the world?s great cities, and today?s proposal indicates the level of quality that our city deserves and merits,? Mayor Menino said. ?This project proposal combines superlative aesthetics with the principles of smart growth and environmental sustainability, presenting residents and visitors with a new, exhilarating experience of Boston.?

On May 30, 2006, when the much-anticipated RFP was released, the city articulated a vision to create a premier civic destination, drawing upon the vitality of the nearby Rose Kennedy Greenway, Downtown Crossing, and South Station to bring renewed energy to Boston?s financial center. The RFP called for a significant civic component to the project, as well as a strong mix of uses. At a time when the city?s commercial occupancy rates are higher than ever, a strong office space component was anticipated.

The project site, bounded by 75 Franklin Street/101 Federal Street to the north, 100 Summer Street to the south, Devonshire Street to the west, and Federal Street to the east, is approximately 47,000 square feet. The parcel is of significant size, lending itself to a wide array of redevelopment uses. The RFP articulated four major goals of the development opportunity: 1) The project must demonstrate an innovative economic development strategy; 2) It must dramatically enhance the downtown public realm; 3) the project shall be a new model and set new standards for sustainable development; 4) 115 Winthrop Square must be a beautiful, bold, contemporary icon.

Phase one of the submission process asked respondents to calculate a disposition price for the project of $70 per Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The BRA will determine the final disposition price at the time of the second stage submission.

The BRA will ensure a comprehensive review process that could involve more than one stage of review before final selection is made. A selection committee will make the final recommendation to the BRA Board of Directors, before which is may avail itself of the expertise of external advisors from a cross-section of development related fields. Following the BRA?s internal review of the second stage, a public meeting will be scheduled to present proposals to the community.

The BRA will make available to the public a summary of the development proposal.

Contact: Susan Elsbree, 617.918.4426

Release Date: November 13, 2006
 
Am I the only one who thinks the rendering looks very similar to the last Russia Wharf image?
Click to expand...
While there may be some similar elements, very similar they are not.
Untitled-2-copy.jpg
WinthropSquare.jpg
 
Damn we really need SST or GWC or that other 1000ft proposal to balance this out. When is SST starting construction again?
 
That's amazing...amazingly uneventful.

I serious hope that that's a conceptual drawing because I can't see that being the new signature tower of Boston. I'm all for height, but to build something like that...I don't know. I'm not blown away and I really expected to be or at the very least LIKE the design.
 
Laramaro, I think they were referring to the earlier rendering of Russia Wharf.

2001204.00.jpg
 
I wonder what Robert Campbell thinks of thinks of this design.
 
The Globe said:
A glass tower of singular design is sole response to mayor's call

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | November 14, 2006

Nine months after Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino challenged architects and developers from around the world to propose a 1,000-foot tower downtown that symbolizes "this city's greatness," only one businessman responded to his call.

Boston businessman Steven Belkin yesterday submitted a proposal to replace the Winthrop Square city parking garage with a 75-story glass office tower of an audacious design by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, elevating 1.3 million square feet of commercial space three stories over a one-acre public park at ground level.

The tower would be supported by columns, allowing the park to open onto Federal and Devonshire streets. A canopy system would provide shelter during the winter.

Escalators at the building's ends would whisk people to the lobby, and from there visitors could take express elevators to the roof, where Belkin has another surprise in store: a 20,000-square-foot park and public space.

Early drawings of the building show exterior glass with varying surface appearances on different sides and a tall spire rising up along one side.

"I called for world-class architects to come up with a building that reflects all the greatness and potential of Boston," Menino said in a prepared statement yesterday. "Today's proposal . . . promises everything we asked for."

Yesterday Belkin said he had answered Menino's call "with a project driven by unprecedented public spaces and an innovative, environmentally friendly design." He calls it Trans National Place, after his company Trans National Group.

Menino had hoped his offer of downtown city land would draw intense interest -- a spokeswoman at the time predicted "dozens" of proposals -- but the sole submission appeared to be driven by the physical layout of the property.

Though about an acre in size, the Winthrop Square garage site is oddly shaped and wedged between two buildings owned by Equity Office Properties of Chicago, making it difficult to use as a conventional building footprint. But Belkin, chairman and founder of credit card and travel companies and part owner of two Atlanta sports teams, had the foresight to purchase a neighboring building, 133 Federal St. , which when combined with the garage land makes it a relatively straightforward square building parcel.

"Very clearly, Belkin had the corner on the market, because he had the corner," quipped David I. Begelfer, chief executive of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

Potential players in the skyscraper stakes echoed Begelfer's view.

"The bottom line is that the city site is a difficult one to develop without the Belkin parcel," said developer John B. Hynes III , who long had his eye on the site and even talked to Belkin about codeveloping. "It looks like everyone who looked at it saw it the same way."

Architect Alex Krieger, chairman of Chan Krieger Sieniewicz , was a consultant about a year ago to Equity Office Properties, which had considered submitting a proposal for the garage site.

"It's not the world's greatest opportunity, especially with the mayor's announcement that it's got to be a very large project," said Krieger. Large projects mean developers have to pay more for the land, Krieger added.

In an interview with the Globe last March, Belkin said he had been working on ideas for a skyscraper there since 2000 and wanted to create an "indoor town green." Noting the site is a block from the new Greenway parkland that will replace the former Central Artery, Belkin said he "wanted to build a community of the future. We need to bring a community feeling back into the city."

Belkin pioneered the successful use of "affinity" credit cards, those tied to businesses or other organizations, and has started more than two dozen companies. He is extensively involved in charitable work in Massachusetts, including efforts on behalf of Harvard University, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Architect Renzo Piano, who is working with local architect CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares Inc. on the project, designed the commercial and cultural Centre Pompidou in Paris in the 1970s and recently created a new headquarters in Times Square for The New York Times Co., which owns The Boston Globe. Belkin has employed the real estate firm Meredith & Grew to be development manager for his project.

Kairos Shen, the city's director of planning, said the building would be environmentally friendly, "one of the largest green buildings in the country." Energy-saving aspects would include an insulating double skin of exterior glass, photovoltaic cells, and reflective panels on Belkin's and neighboring buildings to direct sunlight into the park underneath the tower.

"It will create a major new open space in the middle of the city comparable in size to Post Office Square" park, Shen said.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com
Click to expand...
Link
There is a small ground-level rendering in both the Globe and Herald paper versions today.
 
I still think think this building would be much better with some setbacks, a slope or some sort of cap, but that would reduce the size of the green roof which seems to be one of the selling features, so I doubt we will see a major change in shape. :(
 
Spire looks like construction scaffolding.

Waste of money for it to have its own structure running to the ground. Doubt it will last in its present form.

Building is disappointing and may remain so; now that it's almost finished, more and more folks are expressing disappointment with New York Times Tower. Morgan Library addition is a crashing bore. Piano: overrated.

Then again...London Bridge Tower. Why not just build that design here? Can someone photoshop it onto the skyline?
 
Unless the spire is a mooring mast for zeppelins, that whole design is pretty boring. Be careful what you wish for is the lesson here, I guess. When this 1000 foot tower idea was first announced I wrote a very short blog post about tall buildings in Boston and Winthrop Square http://bostonhistory.typepad.com/notes_on_the_urban_condit/2006/02/tall_buildings_.html and had some visitors from architectural firms like SOM and Cesar Pelli (now renamed Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects). I'm not a fan of SOM, but I believe Pelli would have been a more interesting choice although given the proximity of Winthrop Square to South Station (is that Pelli tower ever going to get built there) it may have been redundant.
 
I also note from that article that they do indeed plan to raze Rudolph's stumpy building next door to build this tower. That's the first time I have seen that confirmed.
 
Kinda hilarious that after all of this we got a rectangle with a stripe. Ha ha. (Well, a spire too.)
 
WinthropSquare.jpg

This picture makes me realize how much International Place has grown on me and how much I like it now.
 
ground level

I'm not too excited about the design either, but I have hopes that it may evolve. I am very curious to hear more about the plan for the lower levels of the structure. The plan seems incredibly ambitious and perhaps a bit naive. The big questions in my mind pertain to security and also to the viability of retail ventures that are elevated three stories above the ground. I frankly think it would be preferable if the building met the ground in a more conventional fashion. Preservation of a discernible street-wall and real ground floor retail would be my preference.
 
I thought buildings disconnected from the ground level were considered a mistake of modernist architecture.
 
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