Shared just now on Boston 2024's Facebook page:
Lots of problems in that picture. Cabot Yards is not shown, and neither are the barges in Fort Point Channel. The deck over Cabot Yards is meant to support practice fields according to all of their site plans, but in this picture the yards have been eliminated and the site built up. The practice fields appear to the south of the Stadium, which given the site plan is not only inaccurate but physically impossible. It wouldn't be such an issue a year ago, but they released this fanciful rendering after the bid documents. Not professional at all.
A few other initial thoughts on the venue sections of the document (I'm in a hotel with a slow internet connection, so I'll get to the rest later):
- The IBC/MPC complex needs more thought. The BCEC is enough of a monolith as it is (and as it will be). You do not need to put another monolith alongside it. Break that up into smaller buildings, which will be easier to repurpose after the Olympics anyway. I hope the BRA forces a redesign, but it probably won't.
- There's way more land involved in these proposals than is necessary. No need to take private property next to JFK/UMass, and no need to deck Cabot Yard. The latter of these doesn't even seem to serve any purpose - who exactly is going to be practicing on soccer fields for track and field events? They've also messed up MBTA access to their stadium by running their Olympic Boulevard on a deck for dramatic effect. Dorchester Avenue exists. Use it. Use its access to Broadway and Andrew. Call it by its actual name.
- For some reason, they've applied the Beacon Park label to Lower Allston, while not actually using Beacon Park proper at all other than for a bunch of security gates where MassDOT's road grid is supposed to go. I assume they asked Harvard and have confirmed that the entirety of the property north of Cambridge St. will be vacant in 2024, which should be met with glum acceptance by residents. Fortunately, they may be able to shift the aquatics to Tufts (perhaps just to temporary facilities on University property) at some point.
- They've made too much use of the BCEC. Perhaps Conte Forum is used for prelim basketball, but why is it the backup volleyball venue? It exists, it has transit access, it can host volleyball, and BC must be behind you for it to be the backup. Use it, and save the money on building 20,000 seats in Hall D. Same with Matthews Arena for one of the other BCEC events (any one, really). You say you want to leverage the colleges, but you only seem interested in three of them (really two of them - BU is a third wheel).
- Are they floating stands over the river in Lowell? It looks like the seating is on either a barge or a pier. Also, no way that there will be "no significant permitting challenges" with multiple permanent athletic venues directly on the Mystic, with a boardwalk overhanging the river. Gonna get some pushback there.
For all that, many venues are quite clever - Killian Court would make a great archery venue, and the leveraging of Harvard is promising. Now, this needs to move on from the architects so that it can be shot full of reality by accountants, engineers, planners, and athletes.