Its hard to read what that material is....But I do like the folds.
I think it's some sort of stamped metal, an inexpensive riff on the cladding of Herzog & DeMeuron's
de Young Museum or
Walker Art Center.
I don't dislike the folds, but I think I prefer the super-graphic/mural.
The city should be like oh you want to build a hotel here? Double the height add a separate entrance and put affordable housing in.
Though the scale of the site, and potential fire-safety issues might be a deal-breaker, I agree that the city needs to play a much more active role in combating displacement. In this way, Marty Walsh is every bit as blind as Tom Menino was.
This city has a huge housing shortage and the leaders of this city don't seem to be doing anything
Agreed. The City is interested in building new housing stock to retain a higher percentage of recent colleges grads who transition into high-skill/high-wage jobs, while attracting employers who will hire them (and attract more like them) to Boston. The City is focused on creating an fueling an economic solution and paying mere lip-service to existing and future social problems.
If the world is a chessboard, this is little more than high-stakes tic-tac-toe. Believing that market forces will solve the housing shortage is an old idea that was never particularly accurate or convincing. It's the equivalent of fighting a war on one front when you're surrounded.