691 Mass Ave | South End
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Re: 691 Mass Ave
The building made it into the Globe.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2011/11/05/harmony-with-history/LBRNVFX65eq3qcoYuUi80M/story.html
ARCHITECTURE REVIEW
In harmony with history
Contemporary building artfully fills a gap in South End neighborhood
By Robert Campbell | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT NOVEMBER 06, 2011
PHOTO CREDIT: CHANG ZHANG
The new apartment building at 691 Massachusetts Ave. by Urbanica Inc. The façade was designed by Studio Luz.
Architecture isn’t only about important buildings, or about the highly publicized so-called “starchitects’’ who design them. Architecture is the art we all live in. For better or worse, it shapes our ordinary lives, our homes and streets and neighborhoods.
You might not even notice, walking or driving by, the new apartment building at 691 Massachusetts Ave. in the South End. That’s because it fits so beautifully into its historic neighborhood. But take a second look, and you realize that this building isn’t just deferential to its surroundings. It’s also fresh, inventive, confident, and contemporary. (So were its neighbors, long ago, when they were new.)
The site was a vacant lot, where six decrepit townhouses had been demolished. For years it was an ugly gap tooth, more than 100 feet wide, in the architectural face of Mass. Ave. Then a small South End developer, Kamran Zahedi of Urbanica Inc., decided to fill it in with 40 new condos.
PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN HORNER
691 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston.
Zahedi made a courageous decision. He hired a pair of young architects known mostly for restaurant interiors and asked them to design a façade for his apartment house that would be beautiful and harmonious with the South End.
Anthony J. Piermarini and Hansy L. Better Barraza, the architects, are a married couple still in their 30s. They call their firm Studio Luz, Spanish for “light.’’ (Better Barraza is from Colombia; Piermarini is from Leominster.) Among their local designs are the Diva Lounge in Davis Square, Fin’s Japanese Sushi and Grill in Kenmore Square, and Mela restaurant and Seiyo Sushi and Wine Shop in the South End.
Zahedi’s own firm designed the rest of 691, but he figured he needed help with the façade. It presented a fascinating problem. On one side of the vacant lot was a row of typical South End townhouses, with high stoops and red-brick bow-front facades. On the other side was a four-story apartment house in Renaissance style, faced in warm gray limestone. For Studio Luz, the design challenge was to create a building that would relate to both sides, yet possess a contemporary character of its own.
Look at the façade photo. Even though 691 is a single building with one major entrance, it continues the row-house rhythm and scale of the bow-fronts on the right. The principal façade material is red terra-cotta, which picks up the color of the brick houses. Six protruding windows - what architects call oriels - remind you of the six bow-fronts that once stood on this site. They lend richness and depth to the façade.
Now look at the Renaissance building at the left. The new façade connects well here, too. A top story mimics the height of the neighbor and matches its flatness and pale color. New and old windows are of similar proportions, and the new ones even have a ghost of the Renaissance cornices.
The South End is a landmark district, and 691 had to pass muster with the preservation community and Boston’s planning staff. The architects say they got support from both. Historic districts can be fascinating. I’m still trying to figure out what is meant by the South End design guidelines when they call for façades that are “a series of vertical modules stacked horizontally.’’
There are two other ways this building could have been designed. It could have copied the historic architecture around it. That would be the Disneyland solution. But such a so-called “authentic reproduction’’ - a term that’s an oxymoron to begin with - usually looks like a stage set, because it has to be built with today’s technologies, which don’t include piling up heavy stone and brick bearing walls. A building must adapt to its era. It can’t, for instance, imitate the high stoops of the old South End because stoops don’t permit wheelchair access. As life changes, so must architecture.
The other alternative would have been to ignore the historic context altogether and just build something new and different. Aside from the landmark issues, it’s hard to see how such a building, no matter how well done, could offer the fascinating interplay with neighbors and with history that we see in 691.
There’s one other way in which 691 is contextual. It mimics the proliferation of galleries, restaurants, and art spaces that now occupy the lowest levels of so many South End buildings. On the ground floor are what developer Zahedi calls Small Office Home Office, or “SoHo,’’ units: six spaces with direct access from the sidewalk, each of which is conceived as a live-in home office or gallery.
Six ninety-one proves it’s possible to be a member of a family of buildings without dressing like your grandparents. It’s a model of how to build in a historic district.
Robert Campbell, the Globe’s architecture critic, can be reached at camglobe@aol.com.
The building made it into the Globe.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2011/11/05/harmony-with-history/LBRNVFX65eq3qcoYuUi80M/story.html
ARCHITECTURE REVIEW
In harmony with history
Contemporary building artfully fills a gap in South End neighborhood
By Robert Campbell | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT NOVEMBER 06, 2011
PHOTO CREDIT: CHANG ZHANG
The new apartment building at 691 Massachusetts Ave. by Urbanica Inc. The façade was designed by Studio Luz.
Architecture isn’t only about important buildings, or about the highly publicized so-called “starchitects’’ who design them. Architecture is the art we all live in. For better or worse, it shapes our ordinary lives, our homes and streets and neighborhoods.
You might not even notice, walking or driving by, the new apartment building at 691 Massachusetts Ave. in the South End. That’s because it fits so beautifully into its historic neighborhood. But take a second look, and you realize that this building isn’t just deferential to its surroundings. It’s also fresh, inventive, confident, and contemporary. (So were its neighbors, long ago, when they were new.)
The site was a vacant lot, where six decrepit townhouses had been demolished. For years it was an ugly gap tooth, more than 100 feet wide, in the architectural face of Mass. Ave. Then a small South End developer, Kamran Zahedi of Urbanica Inc., decided to fill it in with 40 new condos.
PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN HORNER
691 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston.
Zahedi made a courageous decision. He hired a pair of young architects known mostly for restaurant interiors and asked them to design a façade for his apartment house that would be beautiful and harmonious with the South End.
Anthony J. Piermarini and Hansy L. Better Barraza, the architects, are a married couple still in their 30s. They call their firm Studio Luz, Spanish for “light.’’ (Better Barraza is from Colombia; Piermarini is from Leominster.) Among their local designs are the Diva Lounge in Davis Square, Fin’s Japanese Sushi and Grill in Kenmore Square, and Mela restaurant and Seiyo Sushi and Wine Shop in the South End.
Zahedi’s own firm designed the rest of 691, but he figured he needed help with the façade. It presented a fascinating problem. On one side of the vacant lot was a row of typical South End townhouses, with high stoops and red-brick bow-front facades. On the other side was a four-story apartment house in Renaissance style, faced in warm gray limestone. For Studio Luz, the design challenge was to create a building that would relate to both sides, yet possess a contemporary character of its own.
Look at the façade photo. Even though 691 is a single building with one major entrance, it continues the row-house rhythm and scale of the bow-fronts on the right. The principal façade material is red terra-cotta, which picks up the color of the brick houses. Six protruding windows - what architects call oriels - remind you of the six bow-fronts that once stood on this site. They lend richness and depth to the façade.
Now look at the Renaissance building at the left. The new façade connects well here, too. A top story mimics the height of the neighbor and matches its flatness and pale color. New and old windows are of similar proportions, and the new ones even have a ghost of the Renaissance cornices.
The South End is a landmark district, and 691 had to pass muster with the preservation community and Boston’s planning staff. The architects say they got support from both. Historic districts can be fascinating. I’m still trying to figure out what is meant by the South End design guidelines when they call for façades that are “a series of vertical modules stacked horizontally.’’
There are two other ways this building could have been designed. It could have copied the historic architecture around it. That would be the Disneyland solution. But such a so-called “authentic reproduction’’ - a term that’s an oxymoron to begin with - usually looks like a stage set, because it has to be built with today’s technologies, which don’t include piling up heavy stone and brick bearing walls. A building must adapt to its era. It can’t, for instance, imitate the high stoops of the old South End because stoops don’t permit wheelchair access. As life changes, so must architecture.
The other alternative would have been to ignore the historic context altogether and just build something new and different. Aside from the landmark issues, it’s hard to see how such a building, no matter how well done, could offer the fascinating interplay with neighbors and with history that we see in 691.
There’s one other way in which 691 is contextual. It mimics the proliferation of galleries, restaurants, and art spaces that now occupy the lowest levels of so many South End buildings. On the ground floor are what developer Zahedi calls Small Office Home Office, or “SoHo,’’ units: six spaces with direct access from the sidewalk, each of which is conceived as a live-in home office or gallery.
Six ninety-one proves it’s possible to be a member of a family of buildings without dressing like your grandparents. It’s a model of how to build in a historic district.
Robert Campbell, the Globe’s architecture critic, can be reached at camglobe@aol.com.
Re: 691 Mass Ave
I LOLed really hard at this. Seriously? This building sticks out like a sore thumb. The buildings on either side have architectural details that this one severely lacks. Making a few windows stick out just doesn't cut it. And the entrances blend into the building as opposed to being prominent like in its neighbors. To me this building is barely a step above those hideous plain apartment buildings from the 1960s on Columbus Ave, with their large flat walls and small windows.
I also wonder if there isn't a way to still have the first level a few steps above street grade while still making the building ADA-accessible.
I LOLed really hard at this. Seriously? This building sticks out like a sore thumb. The buildings on either side have architectural details that this one severely lacks. Making a few windows stick out just doesn't cut it. And the entrances blend into the building as opposed to being prominent like in its neighbors. To me this building is barely a step above those hideous plain apartment buildings from the 1960s on Columbus Ave, with their large flat walls and small windows.
I also wonder if there isn't a way to still have the first level a few steps above street grade while still making the building ADA-accessible.
Re: 691 Mass Ave
^ So what IS a good example of a modern building that fits into a context like this? I think this building is okay, I would have preferred that the top not be the lighter gray. I am genuinely curious about what you think is successful.
^ So what IS a good example of a modern building that fits into a context like this? I think this building is okay, I would have preferred that the top not be the lighter gray. I am genuinely curious about what you think is successful.
whighlander
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Re: 691 Mass Ave
I always enjoy reading Campbell -- even if I don't always agree with his senitments
Here I think he over praises the new building fitting into the surroundings -- it definitely stands out from its neighbors -- but it isn't an objectionalble level of stand-outism
However, despite this disagreement -- I especially like Campbell's introductory comments:
" Architecture isn’t only about important buildings, or about the highly publicized so-called “starchitects’’ who design them. Architecture is the art we all live in. For better or worse, it shapes our ordinary lives, our homes and streets and neighborhoods.
You might not even notice, walking or driving by ... That’s because it fits so beautifully into its historic neighborhood... It’s also fresh, inventive, confident, and contemporary. (So were its neighbors, long ago, when they were new.) "
This commet fits well with the piece of art recetly installed in the new Comtemporary art Wing of the MFA: -- a blue neon sign tht says "All Art Has Been Contemporary"
The missing link in both statements -- sucessful art / architecture continues to be appreciated when its not contemporary
On this in-fill project -- the jury is still out
I always enjoy reading Campbell -- even if I don't always agree with his senitments
Here I think he over praises the new building fitting into the surroundings -- it definitely stands out from its neighbors -- but it isn't an objectionalble level of stand-outism
However, despite this disagreement -- I especially like Campbell's introductory comments:
" Architecture isn’t only about important buildings, or about the highly publicized so-called “starchitects’’ who design them. Architecture is the art we all live in. For better or worse, it shapes our ordinary lives, our homes and streets and neighborhoods.
You might not even notice, walking or driving by ... That’s because it fits so beautifully into its historic neighborhood... It’s also fresh, inventive, confident, and contemporary. (So were its neighbors, long ago, when they were new.) "
This commet fits well with the piece of art recetly installed in the new Comtemporary art Wing of the MFA: -- a blue neon sign tht says "All Art Has Been Contemporary"
The missing link in both statements -- sucessful art / architecture continues to be appreciated when its not contemporary
On this in-fill project -- the jury is still out
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Re: 691 Mass Ave
Niketown Boston/200 Newbury St (CBT Architects) is probably the best example. That really was a brilliant project for Newbury St. It took every aspect of Back Bay architecture into account and modernized it a bit, while still keeping the charm.
I'd say this building falls one step below Niketown in the terms of historical context, which still keeps it in good architectural standing. The scale is right, the colors are relatively right, the massing is right, but some of the smaller detailing is missing.
Edit: re: Paulc: 424 Mass Ave is another great example and a bit more relevant to the immediate context of this building.
Niketown Boston/200 Newbury St (CBT Architects) is probably the best example. That really was a brilliant project for Newbury St. It took every aspect of Back Bay architecture into account and modernized it a bit, while still keeping the charm.
I'd say this building falls one step below Niketown in the terms of historical context, which still keeps it in good architectural standing. The scale is right, the colors are relatively right, the massing is right, but some of the smaller detailing is missing.
Edit: re: Paulc: 424 Mass Ave is another great example and a bit more relevant to the immediate context of this building.
Re: 691 Mass Ave
For the reasons you like Nike I think 242 Mass Ave is just a little better. You would never notice either of them looking at the streetscape but if you stop and look at the building they are actualy interesting.
For the reasons you like Nike I think 242 Mass Ave is just a little better. You would never notice either of them looking at the streetscape but if you stop and look at the building they are actualy interesting.
Pierce
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Re: 691 Mass Ave
FP3
My 2 cents: 691 Mass Ave is far from the greatest building in the city in the last 5 years, let alone 20. I thinks it's good, and I'm not very familiar with it yet, but without the press I wouldn't be putting this up there with Macallen or Community Rowing or ICA
FP3
My 2 cents: 691 Mass Ave is far from the greatest building in the city in the last 5 years, let alone 20. I thinks it's good, and I'm not very familiar with it yet, but without the press I wouldn't be putting this up there with Macallen or Community Rowing or ICA
kz1000ps
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Re: 691 Mass Ave
I wonder how well this terra cotta facade will weather. I like this project, but right now the red comes off as cartoonish and I have no idea what these kind of panels will look like given 10 or 100 years to age.
I wonder how well this terra cotta facade will weather. I like this project, but right now the red comes off as cartoonish and I have no idea what these kind of panels will look like given 10 or 100 years to age.
whighlander
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Re: 691 Mass Ave
Kz -- there is terra cotta in Boston (downtown, Back Bay) which is over one hundred years old -- its still going strong.
As Campbell mentioned in his discussion of Yawkee Center at Dana Farber -- "The day I visited Yawkey with Frasca, it happened to be raining. All around, large older concrete buildings on the narrow streets were soaking up the rain, turning into the visual equivalent of massive heaps of wet cardboard. Yawkey, by contrast, was looking great. Its materials ? glass, mostly, and panels of reddish terra cotta ? don?t absorb water. The building looked freshly washed"
The stuff if it is glazed properly, is quite impervious to water and hence subject to less surface deterioration than either brick or concrete
Think of the glazed pottery found in the ground that is thousands of years old
Kz -- there is terra cotta in Boston (downtown, Back Bay) which is over one hundred years old -- its still going strong.
As Campbell mentioned in his discussion of Yawkee Center at Dana Farber -- "The day I visited Yawkey with Frasca, it happened to be raining. All around, large older concrete buildings on the narrow streets were soaking up the rain, turning into the visual equivalent of massive heaps of wet cardboard. Yawkey, by contrast, was looking great. Its materials ? glass, mostly, and panels of reddish terra cotta ? don?t absorb water. The building looked freshly washed"
The stuff if it is glazed properly, is quite impervious to water and hence subject to less surface deterioration than either brick or concrete
Think of the glazed pottery found in the ground that is thousands of years old
Re: 691 Mass Ave
I would not want to live in one of the first floor units of this building. This photo makes it feel like you're right on the street. I'm sure the reason for having the first floor at this level has everything to do with accessibility. I'd rather live in one of the neighboring, older buildings which would at least give you some relief from being at that street level.
I would not want to live in one of the first floor units of this building. This photo makes it feel like you're right on the street. I'm sure the reason for having the first floor at this level has everything to do with accessibility. I'd rather live in one of the neighboring, older buildings which would at least give you some relief from being at that street level.
Re: 691 Mass Ave
Instead of making the entire first level at ground level, they could have raised the first level a half level up like the older buildings, but just put the entryway at ground level. An elevator inside would take you up. I think this would also help the building better match it's neighbors.
Instead of making the entire first level at ground level, they could have raised the first level a half level up like the older buildings, but just put the entryway at ground level. An elevator inside would take you up. I think this would also help the building better match it's neighbors.
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briv
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Re: 691 Mass Ave
New developments in this city so utterly and regularly botch the fundamentals that it's hard to criticize the nuances of one that appears to get them all right. It's like an architectural Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, where things like intellectual satisfaction and architectural merit sit at the top of the pyramid, above basic things like, does it disrupt the harmony of the street?, or does it use quality materials (is it cheap shit)?, or is it appropriately scaled?, or does this building read as its typology? or is the building humanly oriented? or does this building diminish the place in which it stands? etc. Basically what it comes down to is whether the building is a careless, bottom-line driven real estate "opportunity", or is this architecture? Too many new projects in the city qualify as the former. I'm happy that this one qualifies as the latter, and for that I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
New developments in this city so utterly and regularly botch the fundamentals that it's hard to criticize the nuances of one that appears to get them all right. It's like an architectural Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, where things like intellectual satisfaction and architectural merit sit at the top of the pyramid, above basic things like, does it disrupt the harmony of the street?, or does it use quality materials (is it cheap shit)?, or is it appropriately scaled?, or does this building read as its typology? or is the building humanly oriented? or does this building diminish the place in which it stands? etc. Basically what it comes down to is whether the building is a careless, bottom-line driven real estate "opportunity", or is this architecture? Too many new projects in the city qualify as the former. I'm happy that this one qualifies as the latter, and for that I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
JohnAKeith
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Re: 691 Mass Ave
Four unit building in Dorchester that a client looked at was required to have first-floor be ADA compliant (ramp) even though the other three units would not be, no elevator.
Costs rose as a result.
Usefulness in question.
Four unit building in Dorchester that a client looked at was required to have first-floor be ADA compliant (ramp) even though the other three units would not be, no elevator.
Costs rose as a result.
Usefulness in question.