500 Boylston Infill | 500 Boylston St | Back Bay

stick n move said:
What happened to this? Was it VE’d? This is what the lobby upgrade was supposed to be.
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Yuck. So glad they didn't move forward with this. oof.
 
Philip Johnson's post-modern, "parody" architecture have a short shelf life on the aesthetics scale. He clearly worked too long into his dotage and admitted that he was basically an architect-whore who gave clients in spades whatever they wanted. Thus he dumped hundreds of misused and fake Palladian windows on the International Place tower (later corrected on the second tower) because he thought they depicted "Boston colonial architectural style". Then he gifted us with 500 Boylston with it's double height windows and anticipated twin to the east (whatever you think of Robert Stern, at least he managed to create something tolerable for that important corner and saved Boston from a second massive "radio"). Not long after opening 500 lost its roof-top urns (I was told due to the fear of them falling off the roof...why? They were afraid the glue wouldn't hold, I was told). Aside from being used as the backdrop to a TV series, 500 as a friendly pedestrian asset failed. I won't miss the fake columns with their obvious expansion joints. The key will be filling the area with attractive reasons to hang out, other than a couple of trees that will have to grow in the dark (anyone ever see sunshine in that space?) The lobby already is a waste of space. And how much do you want to bet that huge bollards will be installed to keep out possible terrorist attacks....and create a new kind of barrier to foot traffic?
 
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Life Coach Mike said:
(whatever you think of Robert Stern, at least he managed to create something tolerable for that important corner and saved Boston from a second massive "radio").
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While not the topic of this thread, I'd appreciate another (or a few) RAMSA pieces in Boston. Maybe on the BP Lord & Taylor site...
 
Life Coach Mike said:
Philip Johnson's post-modern, "parody" architecture have a short shelf life on the aesthetics scale. He clearly worked too long into his dotage and admitted that he was basically an architect-whore who gave clients in spades whatever they wanted. Thus he dumped hundreds of misused and fake Palladian windows on the International Place tower (later corrected on the second tower) because he thought they depicted "Boston colonial architectural style". Then he gifted us with 500 Boylston with it's double height windows and anticipated twin to the east (whatever you think of Robert Stern, at least he managed to create something tolerable for that important corner and saved Boston from a second massive "radio"). Not long after opening 500 lost its roof-top urns (I was told due to the fear of them falling off the roof...why? They were afraid the glue wouldn't hold, I was told). Aside from being used as the backdrop to a TV series, 500 as a friendly pedestrian asset failed. I won't miss the fake columns with their obvious expansion joints. The key will be filling the area with attractive reasons to hang out, other than a couple of trees that will have to grow in the dark (anyone ever see sunshine in that space?) The lobby already is a waste of space. And how much do you want to bet that huge bollards will be installed to keep out possible terrorist attacks....and create a new kind of barrier to foot traffic?
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I said this in another thread a few days ago, but it is worth repeating here, Philip Johnson was a literal Nazi and much of his architecture reflects a facist ideology. he went to Hitler Youth rallies, he wrote a glowing review of Mein Kampf and published it, he effectively segregated the MoMA architecture department by refusing to collect or show any words by black architects, and he ran for office under an American fascist banner. The cherry on top is that later in life he blamed being a Nazi on his being gay. He is quoted as saying basically that he was a Nazi because he had a homoerotic fascination with the outfits the SS wore. Oh no, he didn't believe any of it, he just thought the outfits were hot. (As a gay man myself I find this one of the more reprehensible things he ever said). These comments by Johnson and the facts of his life reframe much of his works a sort of queered facist architecture. You don't want to build a big, flat, imposing fascist building for AT&T in New York? Just put a chippendale top on it and now its ironic, not scary at all! I'd say much of his work in Boston does the same thing. Taking fascist architectural forms and concepts and plastering them with humor to hid what's underneath.
 
found5dollar said:
I said this in another thread a few days ago, but it is worth repeating here, Philip Johnson was a literal Nazi and much of his architecture reflects a facist ideology. he went to Hitler Youth rallies, he wrote a glowing review of Mein Kampf and published it, he effectively segregated the MoMA architecture department by refusing to collect or show any words by black architects, and he ran for office under an American fascist banner. The cherry on top is that later in life he blamed being a Nazi on his being gay. He is quoted as saying basically that he was a Nazi because he had a homoerotic fascination with the outfits the SS wore. Oh no, he didn't believe any of it, he just thought the outfits were hot. (As a gay man myself I find this one of the more reprehensible things he ever said). These comments by Johnson and the facts of his life reframe much of his works a sort of queered facist architecture. You don't want to build a big, flat, imposing fascist building for AT&T in New York? Just put a chippendale top on it and now its ironic, not scary at all! I'd say much of his work in Boston does the same thing. Taking fascist architectural forms and concepts and plastering them with humor to hid what's underneath.
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I'm going to put you down as not a fan.
 
navigator4 said:
I'm going to put you down as not a fan.
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You could say that.

Harvard just stripped his name from the first building he ever designed, which they own, becasue of all this. Look up The Johnson Study Group if you want more of the story.
 
Sorry to see the Speer Baroque space go. Representative of an era.
 
tobyjug said:
Sorry to see the Speer Baroque space go. Representative of an era.
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That maybe true but that was a truly soulless plaza no one ever used. If it were southern facing and more sun got to it maybe people would have used it. Hopefully the new programming will spice it up, it would be nice to have another vibrant public area there
 
I don't know what to feel about this project. I know that the plaza kinda sucked and that Philip Johnson was not so much of a great person but I really despise the plans for the infill space. Is the project even going forward or not?
 
squidman1 said:
I don't know what to feel about this project. I know that the plaza kinda sucked and that Philip Johnson was not so much of a great person but I really despise the plans for the infill space. Is the project even going forward or not?
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It is under construction now.
 
squidman1 said:
I don't know what to feel about this project. I know that the plaza kinda sucked and that Philip Johnson was not so much of a great person but I really despise the plans for the infill space. Is the project even going forward or not?
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dirtywater said:
It is under construction now.
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I'm fairly certain the filled in plaza is not going forward. I think they're moving forward with a refreshed plaza design and some minor cosmetic updates to the ground floor.
 
stefal said:
I'm fairly certain the filled in plaza is not going forward. I think they're moving forward with a refreshed plaza design and some minor cosmetic updates to the ground floor.
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Correct, and the elimination of the columns and balustrade that framed the entry to the plaza.
 
I agree, the pillars kind of walled this thing off from the street.
 
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