Best New Development of 2012

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briv

briv

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All members are encouraged to nominate a Boston area project* completed in 2012 that they believe is deserving of special recognition for its positive impact on the built environment.

Previous winners:

2011
Liberty Wharf

2010
Emerson College's Paramount Center

2009 (2-way tie)
Puma City
45 Province Street

2008
Battery Wharf


*includes all project types, i.e., building, park, infrastructure project, etc.
 
What's the criteria for this again? Only completed projects??
 
What else actually finished this year? With MassArt I feel as though we would be diluting the value of the award as it's obviously nothing special, but at the same time I can't think of anything else worth noting.
 
It's a stretch though I guess it could fall under transportation infrastructure, but I would nominate Japan Airline's nonstop air service to Tokyo that began in April.
 
kmp1284 said:
What else actually finished this year? With MassArt I feel as though we would be diluting the value of the award as it's obviously nothing special, but at the same time I can't think of anything else worth noting.
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Nothing special? That awesome facade is something Boston may never see again for decades!
 
kmp1284 said:
as it's obviously nothing special
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I'd argue that it's way more special than Battery Wharf and at least slightly more so than 45 Province. Definitely at least on the same level as Liberty Wharf architecturally, but more refined. I'd probably vote for it over all of the previous winners except maybe the Paramount.
 
I just don't find orange plastic paneling to be an aesthetic worth recognizing. Then again, looking back on previous winners, I wouldn't say any of them were particularly noteworthy either.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
Isabella Stuart Gardner Expansion?
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I personally think Renzo Piano blew it on this one, at least from the outside, but it was indeed finished in 2012. Coincidentally, the MassArt Tower actually blocks some of the sunlight that influenced the specific slope of the conservatory in the front.
 
The criteria for this award has been "best project completed in the previous year"--2012 in this case.

One of the major shortcomings with such narrow constraints, IMO, is that during years of less development sometimes projects can be elevated beyond their worth, and, inversely, during years of more development sometimes very good projects can be overlooked.

One solution to this problem is the one utilized by the BSA for the awarding of their annual Harleston Parker Medal for the most beautiful new building in the Boston area. They allow any building completed within the last 10 years to qualify. I'm wondering whether we should change the rule to allow consideration of buildings completed within the last ? years. This could possibly go a long way toward eliminating, say, having to decide between a tiny number of mediocre projects for best of the year when perhaps none deserve recognition.
 
briv said:
One solution to this problem is the one utilized by the BSA for the awarding of their annual Harleston Parker Medal for the most beautiful new building in the Boston area. They allow any building completed within the last 10 years to qualify. I'm wondering whether we should change the rule to allow consideration of buildings completed within the last ? years. This could possibly go a long way toward eliminating, say, having to decide between a tiny number of mediocre projects for best of the year when perhaps none deserve recognition.
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Isn't this what "Project of the Decade" in 2010 was for?
 
^ Agree. If there are truly no projects deserving of recognition in a given year, better to give no award at all. As has been done in the Worst Development category.

I'll throw in the Talbot Ave station just for fun.
 
I second the North Bank Bridge. Unless I find a compelling competitor, the bridge gets my vote.
 
*Mass Art Dorm
*Os Gemeos mural on greenway
*Re-done Brewer fountain and common
 
If we did in the last three years that would include most cycles of construction. ie the outside of the building is done in September but isn't occupied till January and then can't be counted.
 
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