Boston 2024

If you haven't looked over the bid documents here is a snapshot of what the temporary venues would look like on Boston Common and the Public Garden.

V00QvuR.png


So uh, whats happening to the Earl of Sandwhich??? Also I wonder why those venue boundaries include the Frog Pond and the hill.
 
tklalmighty said:
London just staged beach volleyball at the Horse Guards Parade, which is also a very notable public area. I hope I don't sound ignorant in saying I think London set the precedent for doing stuff like planning beach volleyball to be played on the Common.
.........
Click to expand...

This is Horse Guards Parade in non-Olympic years. Notice the small forest of trees, the rolling mounds and swales, the shrubbery and vegetative abundance. The bottom photo is of St. James Park, the trees in the background of Horse Guards are in St. James Park.
300px-Trooping_the_Colour,_1956.jpg


Horse-Guards-Parade-London-2012-Olympics-Venu_2625222.jpg


And it was always thus. From over 75 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT_KEgU2sms


st_james_park_002.jpg
 
Last edited:
Sorry if this has been discussed, but any word of plans for the athletes' village after the games?
 
Justin7 said:
Sorry if this has been discussed, but any word of plans for the athletes' village after the games?
Click to expand...

detailed documents here:

http://www.2024boston.org/docs

see the key venue doc, about page 31. There's talk of it in other places too, I forget exactly where.

short answer: 6,000 of the 16,500 beds turned over to UMass Boston for dorms, other parts of it turned into mixed use neighborhood. I think I saw some reference in some article (sorry, forget the link) that the idea was floated of some of the housing that was above and beyond AMB's needs would be relocated. I wish I could remember where I saw that.
 
Justin7 said:
Sorry if this has been discussed, but any word of plans for the athletes' village after the games?
Click to expand...

Housing for UMass Boston & a market rate neighborhood. It's actually a brilliant idea and opportunity to build up density near a new JFK/UMass Station.
 
I'm glad ArchBoston seems to be assessing this by what is proposed than just assuming it's just going to suck. Pretty much anywhere else I have been lurking doesn't care at all of asking about the plans after athletes' village. It doesn't matter, they just assume it's all a waste and anything that sounds remotely positive has to be some kind of trick.
 
I have a thought on beach volleyball, since it isn't being reviewed favorably for Boston Common. The BU Nickerson Field is not currently part of any Olympic venue proposals despite its proximity to the Beacon Yards cluster. Taking seating capacity and its proximity to Beacon Yards into consideration, why not suggest to the Olympic bid committee using Nickerson Field as a better option to host beach volleyball? Surely that would be a major cost savings.
 
datadyne007 said:
Housing for UMass Boston & a market rate neighborhood. It's actually a brilliant idea and opportunity to build up density near a new JFK/UMass Station.
Click to expand...

I agree, and outside of transit improvements, this village is so far the aspect of the overall bid I like the best, insofar as post-Olympics impact is concerned. Along with the density and upgraded JFK/UMass station, they're clearly contemplating a reconfiguration of that circular traffic morass there. Their schematics might not be the correct way to do it, but then they don't need to get that detail just right at this time. I do like that they show the traffic there both simplified and different than the status quo. It's kind of a visual marker indicating "this mess gets sorted out, even if not precisely as we show it here."
 
dshoost88 said:
I have a thought on beach volleyball, since it isn't being reviewed favorably for Boston Common. The BU Nickerson Field is not currently part of any Olympic venue proposals despite its proximity to the Beacon Yards cluster. Taking seating capacity and its proximity to Beacon Yards into consideration, why not suggest to the Olympic bid committee using Nickerson Field as a better option to host beach volleyball? Surely that would be a major cost savings.
Click to expand...

I believe that you run into capacity issues there. IIRC, the Boston Common site was supposed to accommodate 15,000, and Nickerson has room for just over 10k.

Now, you could build some temporary stands on the tennis courts to knock that up a little, and (just as with regular volleyball at BCEC) you have to balance the added ticket revenue against the cost of the larger facility. Nickerson also has a track and a soccer field, which is a much larger playing surface than beach volleyball needs. Either sightlines will be poor or you'll have to cover the track in sand.

All that said, it's worth considering, and if it's the most cost-effective option it may be worth doing. I had also noted a couple of times the piers in Eastie as a possible beach volleyball location.
 
Why not put the beach volleyball at Carson Beach? It is close to other proposed venues, and is actually a beach.
 
I like both Nickerson and Carson Beach for beach volleyball, and don't really care deeply, other than agreeing it ought not be on the Common. But I'd nominate Revere Beach. a) there's an actual beach, b) transit connections, and c) the reaction from local snobs would have great comedic value. Let me clarify that I like Revere Beach and say this in an attitude of snark against the snobs and with Revere. But snark aside, the Olympics is at risk of becoming too haughty for its own good, so throwing some beautifully non-haughty locations in the mix would be a properly Massachusetts contribution to the Olympic Movement - I say this in good humor but not at all sarcastically.
 
Carson Beach sounds good to me too. There's plenty of room for a temporary volleyball stadium over the the baseball fields at the northern end of Moakley Park, it wouldn't disturb the Common, and it's in the heart of the "waterfront cluster" with the Olympic Village and Stadium.
 
beach volleyball requires special sand, though... but I like the idea of putting it over in revere or carson beach. plus - maybe suffolk downs becomes the velodrome and bmx facility since Somerville doesn't want it over by assembly. There's actually a lot of space there for something.
 
I got the feeling from Curtatone that he's not necessarily against the Velodrome being at Assembly, but that he's either against the current plan, against not being briefed on the current plan, or against not having input on the current plan.
 
Didn't there used to be a cycling track at Wonderland way back in the day before it became a dog track? Given that site's history it could be cool to see the Velodrome go there.
 
anyone else notice on pg.37 of the "key Venue Plan" it looks like there is a new pedestrian bridge across Fort Point Channel in the drawing?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top