[ARCHIVED] Harbor Garage Redevelopment | 70 East India Row | Waterfront | Downtown

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Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

were there any new pictures/renderings shown at this meeting?
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

I can't look at it it's so bad. Where the hell is the opposition? I mean, what's there now sucks-but not any more than this does.

I think something like the Foster proposal for Congress St. would look nice here.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

It's bold and daring, and I don't have a problem with its height, however, it still needs modification and refinement. Those massive amounts of terra cotta, truly visible on the sidewalls from certain perspectives, need to be re-thought, for one. I would still like to have a clearer picture of what's going on at ground level, too.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

I fall more in love with the idea of the arch each time I look at the renderings. I don't think that most people realize how it will create a very cool illusion, given how relatively narrow it is.

I agree that the terra cotta should be rethought, but the shape of the 3 structures together is really neat.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

I think this should be much less squared, have much more glass curtain, and less (but still retain some) of the terra cotta-primarily on ground level.

This doesn't even look like a building. I like the arch idea, but seriously, when I first saw the render it looked like a modern bookshelf or something, not an important piece of Boston's future skyline and waterfront.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

It's slowly growing on me, for some reason. It's not what I expected to be proposed for this site but it almost seems fitting now.

Kind of makes me think of this proposal in Louisville, even though it's not quite as odd as this

museumplaza_layout-748364.jpg
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

^ I actually like that Louisville tower(s) better than this one. I just hate the brown terracotta, the rendering I posted looks like something shown during that "Life After Humans" show with the plants coming out of the top of the building and rust (the brown terracotta) setting in.

I agree with Kennedy that I'd like to see more of a glass curtain and be less squared. We all know this won't be the final design anyways, so hopefully the next one will be better.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The Louisville tower may be the most un-contextual "tower in the park," I've ever seen, but I can't stop myself from liking it a lot.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Here is your answer to financing. Like the blind guy helping the lame guy down the street, the bankruptcy guy is paired with the TARP-needy (Prudential).

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/business/economy/15insure.html?ref=economy



That is a valid point. The problem is every BANK in the U.S. at this point is involved with TARP or sometype of govt funding. I would say 90% of all commercial real estate in the United States probably the world has a loan or funded by sometype of Bank that should have went through the Banrktuptcy process now has received TARP funds.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Kind of makes me think of this proposal in Louisville...

A bit too much KoolhaasAde in the punchbowl.

I'm perpetually mixed on Koolhaas. His imagination (stripped of rational problem-solving) too often leads to really dumb, barely-buildable designs.

Louisville is a collage of Miesian design elements, an acid trip of the Seagram Building and McCormick Place (designed in the late 60s my Mies acolyte Gene Summers).
 
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Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

No, if it were inspiring or fresh it would be a compliment. But this actually looks like an IKEA bookshelf.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

More than vaguely. Or maybe more like a few Seagrams put togther oddly.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Ah, the century old question-is it still art if it looks like a toddler did it?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

I changed the thread title to give it a bit more distinction.

06.03.2009
Arches Away
Boston tower plan runs afowl of colonial founders
KPF's proposed Boston Arch towers would become one of the tallest buildings in the city, forver altering the skyline.
All images courtesy KPF

Thanks to his outsized personality, Don Chiofaro is considered Boston?s version of Donald Trump. In an oft-repeated story, the developer once arrived to a public meeting dressed in his bloodied Harvard football jersey?he was once an all-star linebacker?to show how tough he was.

His latest project is true to form. Known as the Boston Arch because of the architectural feature that bridges the Kohn Pedersen Fox?designed office and residential towers, the proposed mixed-use complex, filed with the city on April 15, would rival the Prudential Center in height and, at 26 FAR, would become the densest development in the city.

Residents of Pei Cobb Freed's harbor Towers (at left) are leading the fight against the towers. The aquarium can be seen in the foreground.

Chiofaro has already faced stiff criticism from neighbors and advocacy groups over the 770-foot-high, 1.5 million-square-foot project, but his greatest challenge may come from the very founders of the commonwealth. Though technically codified in 1886, Chapter 91 of the Massachusetts General Law dates back to the earliest laws created by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1640s. It requires that public access to the waterfront be maintained and amphibious habitats preserved, meaning that 50 percent of Chiofaro?s project must be dedicated to open space, and will also be subject to stringent air, light, and water-quality standards. This is in addition to city zoning ordinances that limit the building?s height to 155 feet and 4 FAR.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) is often more than happy to negotiate with developers in exchange for reasonable public benefits. Chapter 91, however, is subject to tough review at the state capital. As a result, more than a few projects have been seriously compromised by the measure, while others have been stopped cold. ?To build something on the scale Chiofaro is proposing, the rules would have to be broken,? said Yanni Tsipis, senior vice president at Collier, Meredith & Grew, a real estate consultancy representing the tenants of the neighboring Pei Cobb Freed?designed Harbor Towers who oppose the project.

Viviene Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Alliance, believes Chiofaro will eventually build on the site, although it could take years and considerable concessions. ?He?s a very astute developer with a known track record,? she said. ?But it?s early in the process. There will be much give and take, and much analysis remains to be done.? Li said her group has not yet taken a formal position on the project.

Then again, this is how most real estate deals get done: propose the most extreme possible project, and work down from there. Chiofaro said he had toiled for months on getting the project just right, revising its scale, composition, and components. ?The geometry of the buildings begins to be set specifically by what goes inside of them and what we?re trying to achieve on the ground,? Chiofaro told AN.

Seen from the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the new project is meant to serve as a link to the waterfront.

The site lies between the new Rose Kennedy Greenway and the waterfront and is occupied by a garage built as part of the Harbor Towers project. Chiofaro intended to simply build atop the garage, but when he began negotiating with the BRA, they suggested he tear it down and start from scratch, which is how the new towers evolved. Importantly, it is seen as a means to create a new access point for the waterfront, and particularly to the aquarium beyond.

As a result, a promenade was planned?Chiofaro likens it to the Galleria in Milan?that will bisect two major towers, one at 40 stories for offices, the other at 59 stories for a hotel and luxury residences. ?It?s the floorplates of these types that really begin to define the buildings,? Chiofaro noted. The only problem was that against the skyline, the two towers looked somewhat muddled, which is how the arch was conceived. ?Not only does it create an icon, a real gateway,? said Andrew Klare, an associate principal at KPF, ?but with that addition, it actually makes the scale break down.?

The one problem is that the added height may create problems for nearby Logan airport. The Federal Aviation Administration has already warned that the building could impede approaching planes, but the developer insists such concerns are all part of the negotiations?which are very much just beginning. ?We?ll see what gets built,? Li said. ?To say your project is green or will create jobs is not enough. It?s seeking some strong variances, which is not to say nothing would get built there. They just have to provide significant public benefits.?
Matt Chaban

Link
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Written in 1886! Excuse me, but that's really f*cking ridiculous.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

50% open space? They better mean like a giant/awesome beach or something like that because a covering 1,000,000 square foot building covering the ground means forced to be surrounded by 1,000,000 square foot of grass is dumb.
 
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