Boston Properties Office Tower | 888 Boylston Street | Back Bay

This whole discussion of the lost views of the Pru from the Boylston St. plaza remind me of similar complaints from residents of Harbor Towers, The Clarendon, and numerous other buildings regarding their possible lost or changed views! ;)

Atlantaden -- Ultimately, the "Pru View" -- aka the view of not from the Pru -- improves the further that you are from it -- at least until the angle it subtends gets too small for the "Pru Effect"

That's why the the best view of the Pru is and will remain the iconic one from just between the Bldg 10 columns at MIT looking across Killean Court and then across the River up and over the Beacon St. wall and then suddenly the Pru launches upward with its family of "offsprings" surrounding it -- and particularly just at twilight -- and most iconically on the 4th

The new tower is just another member of the offsprings -- perhaps R2D2 is "Mrs Pru"?
 
Obviously we should not be hampering development of solid street-scape and ground-floor to preserve the views of our skyline from the skyline's front door...
 
Atlantaden -- Ultimately, the "Pru View" -- aka the view of not from the Pru -- improves the further that you are from it -- at least until the angle it subtends gets too small for the "Pru Effect"

I wasn't the loss of any view I was lamenting about, I was just gently polking fun of the fact that, even here on ArchBoston, though we complain of the rampant NIMBYISM is this town, the face remains, that most of us, at times, become a NIMBY ourselves, depending on the circumstances. In this particular case, not me, however.
 
The Boylston entrance has opened!

https://twitter.com/kathyccs7/status/692454635156721671

CZwXxJSWYAUlxI7.jpg:large
 
What's with the weird concrete/tile merge near the doors? Hopefully that's not permanent.

I'm sure they're waiting until 888 is done, and then will repave the whole plaza.

Also, thank god. Cutting through the Sheraton was a pain, especially last night with a conference going on.
 
Also, thank god. Cutting through the Sheraton was a pain, especially last night with a conference going on.

Why not just enter through the Mandarin lobby on Boylston? Up the staircase on the left in the lobby and right through the doors into the Pru Mall.
 
It's nice. Definitely diminishes the 'diamond in the rough' quality of the Apple store facade across the street. ( Not that that's any great crime - just my observation on the evolution of the neighborhood... )
 
I came out from the mall onto Boylston through here today: really creates a kind of "grand entrance" into Back Bay. Once the 888 building and plaza gets occupied, this is going to be a very dramatic vantage point from which to view Boylston. Well done.
 
Seriously, they put back the same escalator configuration? There should be two up escalators and double the width stairs.


Why not just enter through the Mandarin lobby on Boylston? Up the staircase on the left in the lobby and right through the doors into the Pru Mall.

I'm always heading towards mass ave.
 
The Boylston entrance has opened!
Yay! I live around the corner and work at Lechmere. That was my shortcut to the E-Line in foul weather.

Now all they need to do is get the 55 bus stop back.
 
This is stumpy as hell from a distance, but looks great where it counts.
 
This is stumpy as hell from a distance, but looks great where it counts.

Most angles, yes. Coming into town on the Pike, it actually get some separation and looks quite nice.
 
I was talking to the guys at Tesla, (in Pru), about how they wouldn't have room to showcase the Model X. Their reply was that they will be the street level retail in 888 when it becomes ready.
 
I wonder how much power those turbines will generate on average?

Fenway -- don't hold your breath looking for anything except for the PR value

All other things being equal the power output scales with the area of the Turbine [not the diameter]

Those really Big Ones are of order 2 MW [name plate rating which means 800 KW typical output] -- about 65 m diameter
Vestas-V80-wind-turbine.jpg


20 kW by comparison
SW-20Kw.jpg


Those atop 888 Boylston are of order 1% of the area of the Big One in comparison -- so I'd guess they are capable of a few kW rated output with average power 1000 W or so

Probably enough to light the entrance area on a typical windy day
 

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