Boston College Master Plan

[palindrome]

I can't find anything on google, but I did hear from someone a while back that edmunds sunk into the ground much more than planned when first constructed.

 

[West]

West, so Edmunds was really built on the cheap? Dorm design of 30, 40, 50 years was certainly cookie-cutter, there surely must have been enough templates around to not screw up a floor plan.

I have no idea if it was built cheaply, I'm just relaying the word of mouth from numerous kids who've lived there (my wife teaches at BC, one daughter goes there). I strongly suspect that a healthy rehab budget could have done it wonders, since, as you note, the dorm room floorplan has been pretty basic for a long time.

The Globe mentions that BC is thinking of building a large residence hall on Lake St. I thought the NIMBY's on Lake St., which, IIRC, include Mr. Galvin, reached agreement with BC to minimize the number of undergraduates on the Lake St property.

I think so, but not on Lake Street, rather tucked back within the center part of the Lake Street property. It did finally get through the community review process.

What's going to be next on the discussion list will be what BC is doing on Shea Field at the SE corner of main campus at the intersection of Beacon and Chestnut Hill Drive. Their IMP showed three dorms there; I don't know the bed count. Since getting the IMP approved, they've determined they need to build an indoor practice facility for the football team on Shea Field, and it looks awfully cramped to me to jam that in along with the three dorms. If they propose to move the dorms elsewhere along with inserting a football-sized field house into the mix, I do believe they will have altered the IMP enough to have put themselves back on the tender mercies of Boston (for certain), Newton (maybe, depending where the dorms get bumped to), and both sets of NIMBYs. They'll need good luck with that. Hence the blame for all prior problems gets pointed at Menino.

 

[stellarfun]

West, indoor practice facilities for football are all the rage these days. Its the facilities arms race that plagues college sports. I have read where Holy Cross is building one,

A full length field (with end zones and buffer space between the wall and the end zone) is over 400 feet long. Looking at Google Satellite, it would fit within, but consume much of the Shea playing fields.

 

[TomOfBoston]

Does anyone here know the tragic history of the 2000 Commonwealth site?


http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=encee_facpub

 

[Equilibria]

I strongly suspect that a healthy rehab budget could have done it wonders, since, as you note, the dorm room floorplan has been pretty basic for a long time.

I'm not so sure about that last part. Even since I was in college, universities have largely abandoned the traditional dorm floor plan for apartment-style. Not every building can be retrofitted for that.

It's a special concern for BC, which is trying to get students back into campus housing. They can force them to live in outmoded digs, but that wouldn't look good to prospects and their parents. They're competing against both landlords and competing colleges.

Does anyone here know the tragic history of the 2000 Commonwealth site?


http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=encee_facpub

Didn't know that. Interesting. Also, I love the fact that Streetview for 2000 Commonwealth is from April and the ground is covered in snow...

 

[TomOfBoston]

Northeastern's Willis Hall was built the same time as Edmundson. Except Willis was built as an apartment style residence which was rare at that time. Bland on the outside Willis is still well liked by students.

 

[West]

A full length field (with end zones and buffer space between the wall and the end zone) is over 400 feet long. Looking at Google Satellite, it would fit within, but consume much of the Shea playing fields.

Agreed. If they orient it north/South and jam it right against the parking facility that abuts Alumni Stadium, there'd conceivably be room left at the Eastern corner of Shea field to cram in a dorm or two. But that flies in the face of what was agreed to with the neighbors, in which the dorms going into Shea will be shoved as far north on Shea as possible to "keep those kids away from my house", as it were. Sticking a field house in there will probably raise plenty of hackles as it is, trying to shift those dorms right to the perimeter of campus will set off those NIMBYs full bore. So I don't think that works. Since the practice facility was announced, I've not seen a peep from BC about site plans, how it might affect dorm planning, etc.

West, indoor practice facilities for football are all the rage these days. Its the facilities arms race that plagues college sports. I have read where Holy Cross is building one,

Yup, and having joined the ACC, that pressure is intense on BC. But you can feel the institutional reluctance coming off the campus in waves (from the Jesuits, that is, not the athletic department). BC has been foot-dragging on the facilities arms race, which is either to their very great credit, or is organizationally suicidal, depending on your view of big-money college sports.

The way this field house idea was tossed out into the public realm reveals the latent reluctance to go whole hog on sports facilities: they made the announcement in the midst of a dreadful losing season, so it smelled like an attempted distraction for an angry fan base. And the rendering was so lame that I'm pretty sure I could have whipped it up in an afternoon (and I'd have to download a rudimentary CAD program and do the tutorial first).

Now this recent Globe article on how BC is doing on housing promises. With the baseball / softball facility allegedly soon underway on the Lake Street property (that's the step in the process that vacates Shea Field for either a field house and/or dorms per the previously approved IMP), and Edmunds coming down to make way for a new "Plex", the discussions between BC and Boston about Shea Field's future must have started. That will inescapably get into the housing issue, not just the field house. Could be why we saw this Globe article, one side or the other or both whispering to the press.

I can just smell the various sides gearing up for another round of town/gown clashes. Where's my popcorn?

 

[dwash59]

Northeastern's Willis Hall was built the same time as Edmundson. Except Willis was built as an apartment style residence which was rare at that time. Bland on the outside Willis is still well liked by students.

Pretty sure Edmonds was apartment style as well.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/boston-college/970816-edmonds-hall.html

Apartments in Edmond's Hall have two people per bedroom, with either four or six people per apartment. They contain a private bathroom, living room, dining area, and full kitchen.

 

[tangent]

Pretty sure Edmonds was apartment style as well.

Yes. Lived there. Edmunds was pretty standard apartment style. 4 students, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, living room and kitchenette. Much nicer layout than places like Walsh Hall with an 8 person 4 bedroom one bath, common area and kitchenette layout. Even some of the newer dorms had the 8 person, 4 bedroom layout. Which is a bit crowded and undesirable in my mind.


Other than the usual HVAC, and other refurbishment costs with keeping the building, I think it is just the fact that it was ugly and you can attract bigger donations with newer buildings rather than refurbs of existing buildings you can't rename because it already has a name.

 

[whighlander]

Other than the usual HVAC, and other refurbishment costs with keeping the building, I think it is just the fact that it was ugly and you can attract bigger donations with newer buildings rather than refurbs of existing buildings you can't rename because it already has a name.

Tangent -- Of Course you can Rename it -- you just need to change something and then move the Edmunds name to something else

The paradigm is MIT's transformation of the old somewhat dilapidated Graduate Dorm on the Charles formerly called Ashdown House to a fully renovated and refurbished Maseeh Hall -- all it takes are good bones and a bundle of cash
http://maseeh.mit.edu/about.php
circa 1900 before MIT's first use of it

as Ashdown House late in life

Reborn as Fariborz Maseeh Hall MIT's newest and largest undergraduate dorm

Oh and the Old name is now attached to a new graduate dorm Ashdown Hall some 10 minutes walk away from Maseeh and LEED Gold

So the answer is YES you can -- you just ned the $

 

[stellarfun]

BC's proposed move of the baseball and softball fields to the Lake St. campus.

Baseball seating would be about 1,000.

 

[tangent]

Tangent -- Of Course you can Rename it -- you just need to change something and then move the Edmunds name to something else

The paradigm is MIT's transformation of the old somewhat dilapidated Graduate Dorm on the Charles formerly called Ashdown House to a fully renovated and refurbished Maseeh Hall -- all it takes are good bones and a bundle of cash
http://maseeh.mit.edu/about.php
circa 1900 before MIT's first use of it

as Ashdown House late in life

Reborn as Fariborz Maseeh Hall MIT's newest and largest undergraduate dorm

Oh and the Old name is now attached to a new graduate dorm Ashdown Hall some 10 minutes walk away from Maseeh and LEED Gold

So the answer is YES you can -- you just ned the $

Edmund's was too ugly for a makeover like that. That kind of work is usually reserved for attractive buildings that you gut on the inside. Of course it was possible to put a new facade on it and redo the HVAC at great expense... And time. But I doubt the math works out any or much cheaper compared to a new building.

And you end up needing another dorm during the very long renovation to house displaced students. Given the limited space and desirability to keep students and athletic facilities clustered you would have still been left with the problem of finding a location for the new athletic facilities on that side of lower campus

 

[odurandina]

cool writeup.....

https://ashdown.mit.edu/history.php

 

[tangent]

Now if Edmunds Hall was St. Edmunds Hall at Oxford... we wouldn't be taking it down:

YouTube Video

 

[85CommAve]

"Now if Edmunds Hall was St. Edmunds Hall at Oxford... we wouldn't be taking it down"

Not so sure about that. Recall what became of Alumni Hall and the Philomathia Club -- very nice examples of period architecture -- here one day, gone the next...

Why couldn't they have been relocated? Some of the decisions made at BC are puzzling to put it mildly.

Also, why has the front door of the law school (you know, the one with all the little windows in it) been allowed to survive -- I believe it's original to the building -- when it just plain clashes with the otherwise perfectly acceptable neo-Georgian architecture?! Another bewildering NON-decision.

 

[tangent]

"Now if Edmunds Hall was St. Edmunds Hall at Oxford... we wouldn't be taking it down"

Not so sure about that. Recall what became of Alumni Hall and the Philomathia Club -- very nice examples of period architecture -- here one day, gone the next...

Why couldn't they have been relocated? Some of the decisions made at BC are puzzling to put it mildly.

Also, why has the front door of the law school (you know, the one with all the little windows in it) been allowed to survive -- I believe it's original to the building -- when it just plain clashes with the otherwise perfectly acceptable neo-Georgian architecture?! Another bewildering NON-decision.

Yes that was a bit of a shame, hopefully BC would make a better decision today.

They hold several old mansions in Chestnut Hill on the other side of Beacon St that are worthy of preservation. But I think Newton Historical Society would put up more of a fight these days.

 

[85CommAve]

I see no provision for a tennis facility on the Lake Street campus. I know, I know, the plan calls for 3 (wow, really?!) courts in the new rec center to be used by the varsity -- hahahahahahaha -- good luck with that!

Ironic that the two parking lots between the projected baseball and softball fields used to be tennis courts when the property belonged to St John's Seminary. Hmmm...

Good luck with ACC tennis, BC! Maybe tennis should be dropped... pathetic commitment to it now.

 

[tangent]

BC's proposed move of the baseball and softball fields to the Lake St. campus.

Baseball seating would be about 1,000.

Too bad they don't just keep Shea Field where it is. Take advantage of proximity to the existing athletic support facilities and parking.

That little wedge of MDC Parkland on lower campus should really get traded to BC so they can move things around on Lower campus without having to go all the way over to the edge of the Brighton Campus. It is just a stand of trees without much habitat value isolated as it is and there are no trails.

Maybe BC could figure out a land swap with Boston/State and trade them the playing fields over on the Brighton Campus behind the Edison School.

 

[TomOfBoston]

Boston University is rehabbing Myles Standish Hall, an attractive but unexceptional early 20th century building, and relocating its residents for 2 years. I guess BC is letting its 2.5 billion dollar endowment go to its head.

Northeastern mostly solved the blandness problem of Willis Hall by wrapping new dorms around it so that only the front is really visible.

 

[jass]

Boston University is rehabbing Myles Standish Hall, an attractive but unexceptional early 20th century building, and relocating its residents for 2 years. I guess BC is letting its 2.5 billion dollar endowment go to its head.

Northeastern mostly solved the blandness problem of Willis Hall by wrapping new dorms around it so that only the front is really visible.

Myles wasnt built as a dorm, it was a hotel. As such, it is easier to rebuild to modern amenity standards.

I can see BU demolishing, rather than retrofitting the west campus slums in the next 20 years