Avalon North Station | Nashua Street Residences | West End

cca said:
Is this not the formula to attract as many people as possible to your property? Offend no one, let them make their statement with their Ikea Kitchen or Stickly Dining room table?

This is america. These buildings are repositories for peoples individualism. No one want to buy someones else's vision.

Move on. It has happened and will continue to happen.

cca
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I agree that this is the Toyota Camry of buildings. But, it is clean, has some reasonable mass, and is tall, relative to its surroundings (helping to form the bridge between Boston and Cambridge). No, it won't win design awards or many hearts, but we could have done far, far worse!
 
See my earlier comments on this project. I still think it gets a good grade just for making a tough location more human. The architecture is in a way very secondary to the urban improvement.

cca
 
DBM said:
Based on what I've seen so far, I think it's safe to say that, in a few weeks, when Avalon North Station assumes its final appearance, it will exude impeccable branding conformity with Avalon 45 Stuart St., aka Avalon Jacob Wirth's.

Which is to say, completely and blissfully unburdened with a smidgen of soul, character, or passion. 100% generic, sterile, tower 'o' box. A paradigm of personality-free aesthetics.
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These are honest questions, though I admit they read a bit combative. I'm trying to be constructive.

Do you apartment/condo hunt based on the exterior soul, character, or passion of the building?

Are you more likely to choose a particular building based on loving the exterior aesthetics or avoid a building based on hating the exterior?

How much extra are you willing to pay in rent/price for superior exterior aesthetics? $100 per month? $500? $1000?

Would you be willing to post a photo of the building you live in so we can see the expression of your personality in the facade of your home?
 
Bland and uninspiring as it may be, it is certainly coming out better than I was expecting. That's a very low bar, and the fact that it is so prominent is a letdown- however. It could be worse, and as cca says, the urban improvement is arguably more important here.
 
How come none of these things ever seemed to be a factor prior to emergence of Modernism?
 
Coming down from the north yesterday night, I mistook the crane as part of the structure and thought how proportionally better it would have been if the height of this tower was up to the cab of the crane.
 
fattony said:
Do you apartment/condo hunt based on the exterior soul, character, or passion of the building?
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It is a factor. Probably more so when buying than when renting.

fattony said:
Are you more likely to choose a particular building based on loving the exterior aesthetics or avoid a building based on hating the exterior?
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Again, probably more so when buying than when renting. A shitty facade/massing can be overcome by other amenities. For me personally, it would be harder to justify buying in a building whose aesthetics I hate. But, then again, I post on ArchBoston, so I may not be a representative sample.

fattony said:
How much extra are you willing to pay in rent/price for superior exterior aesthetics? $100 per month? $500? $1000?
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Probably $100. Not $500/month. A significant amount more when buying.

fattony said:
Would you be willing to post a photo of the building you live in so we can see the expression of your personality in the facade of your home?
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Pass.
 
fattony said:
Would you be willing to post a photo of the building you live in so we can see the expression of your personality in the facade of your home?
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Certainly. I've lived in a loft-style (certainly not true loft, but similar) apartment in the Watch Factory in Waltham since it opened, in summer 2012.

I'm not sure what portion of the rent is attributable to any aesthetic considerations, but it certainly seems like a unique building to me. There's a reason Waltham is nicknamed "The Watch City." Also, it was converted to making precision bomb sights for American bombers during WWII. Further evidence of New England's role in the preservation of democracy and civilization.

As an expression of my personality, well... I've never had an industrial factory-style job ever, so I suppose I'm a bit of a poseur for living here, just like all the other tenants. It's certainly nice for being on the Charles for canoeing and a five-minute walk to Moody St. and all its fun restaurants.

Here's a picture:
content_location_bg.jpg
 
fattony said:
These are honest questions, though I admit they read a bit combative. I'm trying to be constructive.

Do you apartment/condo hunt based on the exterior soul, character, or passion of the building?

Are you more likely to choose a particular building based on loving the exterior aesthetics or avoid a building based on hating the exterior?

How much extra are you willing to pay in rent/price for superior exterior aesthetics? $100 per month? $500? $1000?

Would you be willing to post a photo of the building you live in so we can see the expression of your personality in the facade of your home?
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I think aesthetics matter to a lot of people, in the older suburbs around Boston, particular neighborhoods, streets and even homes that have that certain "curb appeal" always seem to be in higher demand from buyers. There are so many people who will pay a significant mark up for a prewar colonial vs a 1960s colonial even assuming identical neighborhood and interior amenities
 
While it is part of the transition era around North Station -- this building is so much better than any of the old near-by towers that it gets the chops licking for the future especially the Boston Properties redevelopment on the old Boston Garden site itself and later the Congress St. Garage red-do
 
This building is surprisingly prominent from so many directions. Kind of shows what a lonely place the North Station area still is.

I can't wait until the other towers join the neighborhood.
 
JeffDowntown said:
This building is surprisingly prominent from so many directions. Kind of shows what a lonely place the North Station area still is.

I can't wait until the other towers join the neighborhood.
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I was just about to say, the visibility of this thing from so many directions is nuts, for something that's essentially decent infill. Hopefully the lighting scheme they use for the roof is nice.

wVqEtqY.jpg
 
I was at the skate park last night and this thing from that view dominates over everything in Boston just because of its location.
 
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