Avalon Exeter | 77 Exeter Street | Back Bay
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Downburst
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
I believe so. You can see it in some old plans for the site...
I recommend looking at this (fascinating and informative) thread.
From that thread:
It's the one in front of the Prudential from that perspective. The design -should- be different, but that should be roughly the location, correct me if I'm wrong.
I believe so. You can see it in some old plans for the site...
I recommend looking at this (fascinating and informative) thread.
From that thread:
It's the one in front of the Prudential from that perspective. The design -should- be different, but that should be roughly the location, correct me if I'm wrong.
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
http://bhpdevelopment.wordpress.com/project-portal/boston/888-boylston-street/ for rendering
http://bhpdevelopment.wordpress.com/project-portal/boston/888-boylston-street/ for rendering
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
The plaza also hosts events and concerts.
The plaza also hosts events and concerts.
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
It's terribly awkward, no doubt, but I'm not sure it's entirely pointless. Between the Pru and convention center traffic, a lot of people linger in that space, especially on a warm day.
It's terribly awkward, no doubt, but I'm not sure it's entirely pointless. Between the Pru and convention center traffic, a lot of people linger in that space, especially on a warm day.
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
I'm not pained by the loss of a windblown concrete slab in front of the Pru for concerts, etc.
Just 1.5 blocks away, the park in front of Trinity Church is a far nicer place for concerts and hanging out.
My concern is the unfortunate difference between the thinner, taller, more graceful earlier iteration of the proposed 888 Boylston versus the newer one - - which is just another chubby Menino landscraper. Evidently, Boston is going through a "Rubenesque Period".
I'm not pained by the loss of a windblown concrete slab in front of the Pru for concerts, etc.
Just 1.5 blocks away, the park in front of Trinity Church is a far nicer place for concerts and hanging out.
My concern is the unfortunate difference between the thinner, taller, more graceful earlier iteration of the proposed 888 Boylston versus the newer one - - which is just another chubby Menino landscraper. Evidently, Boston is going through a "Rubenesque Period".
Ron Newman
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
On a warm day, the food court seating spills out into this plaza. Some folks will miss it.
On a warm day, the food court seating spills out into this plaza. Some folks will miss it.
czsz
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
It was a nice punctuation in the street and made it somewhat more civilized than your typical canyon. It was sort of like Boston's equivalent of the Rockefeller Center passageway and ice skating rink complex. That said, it was definitely too large and rarely inviting in non-balmy months (which, I guess I have to continuously remind members of this forum, is most of the year in Boston). It would have worked better if it were smaller.
It was a nice punctuation in the street and made it somewhat more civilized than your typical canyon. It was sort of like Boston's equivalent of the Rockefeller Center passageway and ice skating rink complex. That said, it was definitely too large and rarely inviting in non-balmy months (which, I guess I have to continuously remind members of this forum, is most of the year in Boston). It would have worked better if it were smaller.
found5dollar
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
For those too lazy to click a link like I usually am...
For those too lazy to click a link like I usually am...
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
I will. It's not even too windy on cold days. If they built a vestibule for the food court doors and left them open in the winter I think people would use it more then too. Shmessy, have you ever actually used the courtyard? I have for years, and its a pretty decent space. The rest of the useless plazas should be redeveloped but this ones not too bad. It also hosts a decent farmers market in the summer, and as mentioned concerts. It's also one of the best places to view the pru.
Also, no one is going to walk to copley with their meal from the food court, which is mobbed during lunch hours.
I will. It's not even too windy on cold days. If they built a vestibule for the food court doors and left them open in the winter I think people would use it more then too. Shmessy, have you ever actually used the courtyard? I have for years, and its a pretty decent space. The rest of the useless plazas should be redeveloped but this ones not too bad. It also hosts a decent farmers market in the summer, and as mentioned concerts. It's also one of the best places to view the pru.
Also, no one is going to walk to copley with their meal from the food court, which is mobbed during lunch hours.
Shepard
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
Not so bad if that's the footprint. The terrace is extremely tacky anyway - pretty much an outdoor cafeteria for food court teens, and all those fast food signs hanging on it... yuch, glad to see that gone. This building will also finally eliminate that awful blank wall of Hynes.
Not so bad if that's the footprint. The terrace is extremely tacky anyway - pretty much an outdoor cafeteria for food court teens, and all those fast food signs hanging on it... yuch, glad to see that gone. This building will also finally eliminate that awful blank wall of Hynes.
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
Dave, I've been there many times, but I haven't "used it". When I'm there, I walk on past to the park in Copley Square. As Shepard or Itchy put it, it really is a "yuch".
I appreciate your point about workers in the Pru needing a lunch area in the immediate vicinity. It would have been better if the Pru had made it a more inviting space and a little less "Mini Version City Hall Plaza"
Dave, I've been there many times, but I haven't "used it". When I'm there, I walk on past to the park in Copley Square. As Shepard or Itchy put it, it really is a "yuch".
I appreciate your point about workers in the Pru needing a lunch area in the immediate vicinity. It would have been better if the Pru had made it a more inviting space and a little less "Mini Version City Hall Plaza"
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
It's helpful to remember that it ended up an also-ran only when the Pru mall was created. Before that there was an open arcade (what's now the fully-enclosed Boylston arcade). The food court was designed to connect the outdoor terrace to the interior "center court." Did it work so well? Not really. But the plaza was identified decades ago as a development opportunity. Do I even recall that the piles are rated for a 20-something story building?
It's helpful to remember that it ended up an also-ran only when the Pru mall was created. Before that there was an open arcade (what's now the fully-enclosed Boylston arcade). The food court was designed to connect the outdoor terrace to the interior "center court." Did it work so well? Not really. But the plaza was identified decades ago as a development opportunity. Do I even recall that the piles are rated for a 20-something story building?
Ron Newman
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
Is that necessarily a bad thing? It means (contrary to some posters here) that the space was being used.
Will the new building connect directly into the Hynes? The diagram appears to show such a connection.
Is that necessarily a bad thing? It means (contrary to some posters here) that the space was being used.
Will the new building connect directly into the Hynes? The diagram appears to show such a connection.
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
The food court is widely utilized by people other then just the workers in the Pru and "teens", particularly because of the accessibility from the courtyard. I can testify a ton of the staff and students at the BAC use it when boloco and b-good wear thin and dont have time to wait for service at the Pour House. It's pretty decently patronized by Berklee kids as well.
Speaking from personal experience, the moment I found the terrace doors locked for the season I would not return until they were opened again in the spring. Having to walk through the mall made it completely not worth it as the boylston arcade is particularly cramped and overcrowded. I don't know if this applied to more than myself and my immediate friends.
If the new tower allows for another point of egress from the street to the food court or Hynes I think it will not be as big of an issue. The terrace can go for all I care, but I will lament the loss of the courtyard, as well as the great view of the Pru itself from this location.
The food court is widely utilized by people other then just the workers in the Pru and "teens", particularly because of the accessibility from the courtyard. I can testify a ton of the staff and students at the BAC use it when boloco and b-good wear thin and dont have time to wait for service at the Pour House. It's pretty decently patronized by Berklee kids as well.
Speaking from personal experience, the moment I found the terrace doors locked for the season I would not return until they were opened again in the spring. Having to walk through the mall made it completely not worth it as the boylston arcade is particularly cramped and overcrowded. I don't know if this applied to more than myself and my immediate friends.
If the new tower allows for another point of egress from the street to the food court or Hynes I think it will not be as big of an issue. The terrace can go for all I care, but I will lament the loss of the courtyard, as well as the great view of the Pru itself from this location.
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center
The cogs are winding in my head now (if it isn't obvious from this post, I miss designing in studio)... what if 888 were to be significantly thinned, creating an interior courtyard? It would be built out to the street and be about as wide as the Mandarin. That would leave an interesting courtyard as residual space, a little more private than what exists now.
It would also produce a slender glass tower.
The cogs are winding in my head now (if it isn't obvious from this post, I miss designing in studio)... what if 888 were to be significantly thinned, creating an interior courtyard? It would be built out to the street and be about as wide as the Mandarin. That would leave an interesting courtyard as residual space, a little more private than what exists now.
It would also produce a slender glass tower.