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DZH22 said:
The render you posted doesn't show what they plan on doing with the exposed concrete top.
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it doesn't? sure looks like a mechanical screen/top "level" that isn't currently there to me -- either in pix or in person (i just walked by it today). but, sure.
 
BeeLine said:
IMG_6932 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
IMG_6934 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
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At first glance it seems that theyre still adding some bracing to the roof for some future cladding, but then looking back at a couple of beelines amazing photos that line up pretty well with the render it definitely appears to be fully topped out. If you look close at the triangle structural steel braces their points come together right at the top of the glass and the top square of massing is 3 floors tall. The render being more transparent definitely gives an optical illusion, but the top of both towers is the 3rd floor of the top box.

PhotoTemplate_Square_PortfolioThumbs_BU_ComuterDataScienceCenter.jpg
 
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Yea, he was suggesting that there was another dummy floor of glass that was yet to be installed which was going to stick up beyond the top floor as a mech screen which would block the concrete box from view, I was just showing that theres no more floors of glass to be added. I was responding to chrisbrats post.
 
stick n move said:
Yea, he was suggesting that there was another dummy floor of glass that was yet to be installed which was going to stick up beyond the top floor as a mech screen which would block the concrete box from view, I was just showing that theres no more floors of glass to be added. I was responding to chrisbrats post.
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Me too! Still doesn't answer the question of what is actually going to happen up there!
 
It does appear that it's unfinished but they've removed all of the construction equipment from the top (at least from what we can see) so I was just questioning if anyone knew of the plan for up there. Chrisbrat's rather obnoxious replies notwithstanding, perhaps they've just paused for a bit until the final mechanical screen above is installed. Those renders don't exactly line up with the final structure and those white bars up there now imply that something else may be added and hopefully it will.
 
Guess we'll have to wait and see; hopefully it'll be covered (or is there any chance it's a temporary structure?), but there's nothing evident from the 2 plan images below:

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rjacobs said:
Guess we'll have to wait and see; hopefully it'll be covered (or is there any chance it's a temporary structure?), but there's nothing evident from the 2 plan images below:
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Yea the renders and diagrams show nothing else sticking up above whats there now, so according to them it should be temporary. That being said it definitely looks like what bracing for some type of screen would look like, and the roof is pretty messy so it would make a lot of sense that somethings going to go there to hide all that stuff. It appears to be just the right height to hide most of that stuff up there. It wouldnt be the first time something about the treatment of the roof ends up different than depicted, if it is.
 
This is just extremely cool. While "Boston" still struggles with an architectural identity, this thing just blows the box up. It is not a box of books at all.

I still struggle with how the maintenance costs of such a structure will eat into the research functions that define its purpose, (hello Stata), but I'm going to put this one close to City Hall on the scale between bad and should never be touched.

It is beyond funky in so many different light conditions and at so many different vantage points...it is just....that passed the censors? I'm only 43 but this is the first building built in my lifetime here in Boston that has really challenged my sensibilities.

Do I want more of these? NO! Do I like the books they were reading when they designed this? Yes!
 
stick n move said:
Yea the renders and diagrams show nothing else sticking up above whats there now, so according to them it should be temporary. That being said it definitely looks like what bracing for some type of screen would look like, and the roof is pretty messy so it would make a lot of sense that somethings going to go there to hide all that stuff. It appears to be just the right height to hide most of that stuff up there. It wouldnt be the first time something about the treatment of the roof ends up different than depicted, if it is.
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They honestly could just slap some of that incredible mirrored glass (that makes some parts of the façade vanish in the right light conditions) on the sides of that box on top and it would be fine.....

A screen would be preferable; current state the least attractive option.
 
Cortes said:
I still struggle with how the maintenance costs of such a structure will eat into the research functions that define its purpose, (hello Stata), but I'm going to put this one close to City Hall on the scale between bad and should never be touched.
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Given BU's track record with building maintenance (the Law tower before it was gutted) I doubt if this building will siphon anything out of the research budget.
 
TomOfBoston said:
Given BU's track record with building maintenance (the Law tower before it was gutted) I doubt if this building will siphon anything out of the research budget.
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This building is going to be Robert Brown's physical legacy. I don't see them ever short changing maintenance budgets.
 
I think this is one of the first Boston buildings I've ever looked at and actually hated.

The massing is cool: bold, disruptive, and distinctive. Good urbanism is a combo of old, new, big, and small--this accomplishes that.
The use is awesome: converting a transit-adjacent parking lot into a state-of-the-art academic and research facility rocks.
Even the materials I like: the quality of glass and brise soleil materials used here is undeniable.

The chaos of this facade is what irritates me. To say it has too much going on is an understatement. The facade scheme(s) look like a metaphor for the 20-student BU City Planning Symposium I participated on 8 years ago: everyone made their A+ contribution to a draft report we were writing for a client, but the draft product had absolutely 0% cohesion from one section to the next. In that instance, a few of us at least had an 11th hour opportunity to knit the sections together into a slam dunk report that made our classmates, professors, and client proud... in this instance, the final product is still a f*cking mess.

I've gone by this thing near and far from a bike, on foot, and in a car. The solar glare/reflection off the building onto Commonwealth Avenue in the Spring (and most likely Fall) is shocking, particularly because it highlights one of the failures of the brise soleil in the first place! The fact that facade patterns not only differ from different levels but also from different sides of the same floors really irritates me. Complexity and contradiction may work on a personal, human level... to employ those principles on a facade scheme in this way is agonizing. A trio of of buildings employing 1-2 of these facade treatments each would've worked sooooo much better here.

This looks like a patchwork of really nice things, but ones that ultimately fail to coordinate together. It's like someone takes a Rolex Watch, a Ferrari, the Crown Jewels, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and the entirety of Boston's Seaport; welds it all together; and says, "Tah Dah!" It an insult to the building's interdisciplinary functions, the BU community, and Greater Boston.

I really hate this building. The Kenmore Flatiron cannot come soon enough.
 
rjacobs said:
View attachment 26728
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As a BU math and computer science grad, this one's particularly painful. Both departments have been primarily housed in the basement classrooms of Cummington Street since forever. COM students complain about their dated building? We had to have had the least sexy real estate on all of campus. This move out of the subterranean and into facilities with real windows will be a literal night-and-day upgrade.
 
theSil said:
As a BU math and computer science grad, this one's particularly painful. Both departments have been primarily housed in the basement classrooms of Cummington Street since forever. COM students complain about their dated building? We had to have had the least sexy real estate on all of campus. This move out of the subterranean and into facilities with real windows will be a literal night-and-day upgrade.
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I spent a lot of time on Cummington St. too, in the early 70's....labs, classes...in gross, old, converted buildings with no ventilation or A/C. I wonder when BU will replace the rest of them, like 111.
 
Life Coach Mike said:
I spent a lot of time on Cummington St. too, in the early 70's....labs, classes...in gross, old, converted buildings with no ventilation or A/C. I wonder when BU will replace the rest of them, like 111.
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Those buildings will be backfilled with something. BU's ever increasing research activity needs space. Despite BU owning most of the Kenmore Square area they still lease space in a few buildings there.
 
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