Allston-Brighton Infill and Small Developments

[AdamBC]

Looks like 226 Harvard Ave is pretty much done. Didn't have my camera and no longer live on the B-line. If anyone is in the area, care to snap some shots?

 

[kz1000ps]

The most recent shots I have are from October 15th. From Brainerd Street:

I thought squares as ornamentation went out of fashion circa 1992? From Harvard Ave:

Again, I'm behind on these smaller projects right in my area, but here's some shots from November 5th of the Walgreens going up in Union Square.

I was just by there the other day and it looked like steel erection was complete.

 

[czsz]

...I also thought baby blue window panelling went out around 1963.

 

[kz1000ps]

1/13.. 226 Harvard:

Completely Off-Topic, but the car buffs will appreciate this: my first sighting of the awe-inspiring Nissan GT-R. Godzilla in the flesh!

And yesterday, the frigid 17th, here's the Walgreens in Union Square:

^ lousy shots, but it was much too cold to stray even a millimeter off my set course!

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

That car was the best picture.

 

[kz1000ps]

Office addition on Comm Ave, around the BU West stop:

 

[czsz]

It's not perfect, but it's a start to adding some density and girth to these one-story buildings. Nice that they didn't crap up the detailing, too.

 

[ablarc]

Why do they bother?

 

[Ron Newman]

Bother with what? The blank brick wall is presumably waiting for someone to demolish the gas station next door and erect a matching building.

 

[ablarc]

Bother replacing a crummy building with a crummy building.

 

[Joe_Schmoe]

Those things are the semi-urban equivalent of the suburban box store. They're semi-urban in that they are built up to the street, with the parking behind, but still manage to damage the street. They're always chain drugstores, supermarkets, or Staples. We should come up with a name for them. I say we call them McBoxes.

 

[Ron Newman]

Who is the occupant of this building? I can't tell from the photo. I see a Staples, but that's next door.

 

[pelhamhall]

Bother replacing a crummy building with a crummy building.

Because it is profitable. Good architecture is expensive. In Boston, good architecture is prohibitively expensive.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Good architecture is expensive.

No, it's not. Good architecture is simple and cost effective while being visually pleasing.

This is cheap architecture.

 

[pelhamhall]

Given the site size, the height restrictions, the need for retail parking and the need to maximize the floor plate, the desire to turn a profit in a low-rent district and placate the always-angry neighborhood groups - what else could this little patch of dirt sprout than a stumpy, faux-brick cheap looking box?

It is sad. We haven't had a mayor in so long we forget what it's like to have a leader instead of a manager.

 

[Lurker]

That building could be made much better with some very minor cosmetic additions. I think I might have to scan a sketch later to make the point.

What really hurts these buildings, and for the matter most modern buildings, are cheap windows which lack any articulated depth.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

That building could be made much better with some very minor cosmetic additions.

If they cut half the windows it would already look nicer.

It is sad. We haven't had a mayor in so long we forget what it's like to have a leader instead of a manager.

The mayor really didn't have anything to do with this, the blame is on the developer.

 

[commuter guy]

What really hurts these buildings, and for the matter most modern buildings, are cheap windows which lack any articulated depth.

So very true IMO - not enough visual texture.

 

[jass]

It's not perfect, but it's a start to adding some density and girth to these one-story buildings. Nice that they didn't crap up the detailing, too.

Just FYI, its a BU owned building and theyve touted how it will be geothermally heated, one of the only such buildings in the area.

 

[czsz]

To be honest, I'd rather see a teeming, denser neighborhood of shoddily built 2-3 story buildings like the one next to Staples than a street full of one-story taxpayers of the most exquisite detail, as Harvard Ave./St. becomes when it enters Brookline and passes through JFK Crossing.

This building vastly improved the no-mans-land of parking lots, big boxes, and auto-related businesses marring the otherwise relatively urban corridor between Brookline and Allston.