45 Province St | Downtown Crossing

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Re: 45 Province St

Great pictures Toby and Mike!
How many floors are left to build??? I can't count the floors because there are no recent pictures with a full view of the building.
 
Re: 45 Province St

TheBostonBoy said:
Great pictures Toby and Mike!
How many floors are left to build??? I can't count the floors because there are no recent pictures with a full view of the building.
Click to expand...

appears at least 7 (including mech) if you can believe the renderings on page 1.
 
Re: 45 Province St

^Ya, i was looking at that earlier for reference. You can see how on the left side it goes inward and goes up more....from the rendering it appears that there is still that little stump part to build.
 
Re: 45 Province St

singbat said:
appears at least 7 (including mech) if you can believe the renderings on page 1.
Click to expand...

Comparing this rendering:
45Province040804.jpg


with this shot:

L1060370.jpg


since they show the same side, I enlarged the rendering and counted 8 more floors and the stumpy mechanical floor to go before this building tops out.
 
Re: 45 Province St

The tower still have some ways to go. It should grow to about a few floors higher than 101 Arch St. which stands at 276ft.
 
Re: 45 Province St

Didn't think you'd be able to, but you can already clearly see this project from the Chelsea waterfront.
 
Re: 45 Province St

April 5:

4-5-08Avenir1026.jpg


Some more of the facade is going up (see below). What do all think? IMO, it's disappointing that it's precast, but what can we expect? The cost to use real materials is way too much these days.

4-5-08Avenir1027.jpg
 
Re: 45 Province St

I've seen worse (as I've seen better).

Is anyone willing and able to explain, in layman's terms, the lack of 'real materials' used in new construction--I understand it costs more, by why is it now seemingly cost-prohbitive to use these whereas it was not in the past?

Has not technology advanced to a sufficient degree to where cost savings elsewhere on a project would allow for a facade to be of something other than a drab precast?
 
Re: 45 Province St

If you are a developer why would you want to spend more money than you need? The point of these buildings is to make as much money as possible. Most of the people buying these units are middle men who are just going to flip it to someone at a small profit.
 
Re: 45 Province St

This building isn't clad in precast concrete, it's terracotta -- and, IMO, in terms of quality and aesthetics, it's light years ahead of the typical precast that's been so prevalent in this city lately. Terracotta is essentially baked clay, very similar to brick. It's a material that has been used for centuries and if you walk around downtown you'll see many older buildings from 19th and early 20th century that utilize terracotta cladding and decoration.

I think the reason so many people confuse this type of terracotta cladding with precast is because it uses a system of prefabricated panels (this was discussed a few pages back in this thread). This is meant to cut down on installation/labor costs. The downside is that it appears to leave a visible seam between panels. If the tiles were installed a more tradition way, in place and by hand, I don't think you'd see those gaps. It would undoubtedly be more expensive, though.
 
Re: 45 Province St

Yes, it's a shame that the terracotta is pre-cast onto concrete panels, but this is as good as it gets today. Was anyone really expecting there to be a crew of masons going course by course all the way up to the top?

Even NYC's 15 Central Park West (R.A.M. Stern's prestigious throwback) had its Indiana limestone pre-cast onto panels, and that's arguably the most upscale development to have been built in the past five or more years.
 
Re: 45 Province St

"This building isn't clad in precast concrete, it's terracotta."

It's the prefabricated panels, not the materials (terracotta/brick) that make buildings look so uninspired. I just wish they'd find a way to use prefabrication in a way that wasn't so obvious.
Is it cost prohibitive to prefabricate ornamental details?
 
Re: 45 Province St

kz1000ps said:
Yes, it's a shame that the terracotta is pre-cast onto concrete panels, but this is as good as it gets today. Was anyone really expecting there to be a crew of masons going course by course all the way up to the top?
Click to expand...

This is why I don't understand why everyone is so upset about the facadectomy at Russia Wharf and Dainty Dot. At least we'll have some real brick work in the city
 
Re: 45 Province St

Aren't bricks pre-fabricated?

It's not so much the materials that are used that bothers me too much. It's the quality of workmanship that goes into the facade itself. Terracotta is a nice material to work with, it's the manner in which the panels are attached to the building and the fact that they are not staggered that I dislike. Same with concrete panels. I'm sure there is a way to make pre-cast concrete look good - for instance, using running bonds and masonry. After all, its just another material that easy to manipulate in terms of colors, sizes and textures. But alas, Masonry details are what I think are bygone, not quality materials.
 
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