BU Development Thread

TomOfBoston said:
Back in the 1960's BU stood for Big and Ugly. Then around 1970 the BUtification program was started. It consisted mostly of small landscaped parkettes in various corners of the campus.

Look at Northeastern. The campus used to be a bunch of grey brick buildings with asphalt walkways and gravel parking lots. Today it has been transformed into an attractive deeply urban university. And Northeastern has less land to work with than BU.
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Different priorities.
Both are ugly.
 
^ Perhaps both are ugly, but I think Northeastern's landscaping crew deserves a good amount of praise for creating and maintaining what is some of the most lush landscaping in the city.
 
kz1000ps said:
^ Perhaps both are ugly, but I think Northeastern's landscaping crew deserves a good amount of praise for creating and maintaining what is some of the most lush landscaping in the city.
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They rip up and replant the planter in front of the Bank of America ATM on Forsyth St THREE TIMES PER YEAR.
 
Beton Brut said:
Now that the cat is out of the bag, I'll attest to having seen the brief on this project as well. I'd describe it as a more refined approach to what we've seen from Rem Koolhaas with elements that suggest an awareness of Mecanoo's Birmingham Library (without the ornamental grillwork seemingly purloined from Wright's final years).
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Me too and I honestly have no idea what you are talking about. I saw something very simplistic. Simplistic not simple. So maybe in your face like Koolhaas but not the real elegance Mecanoo brings to their buildings. I wish it was.

It needs a lot of work.
 
estyle said:
Me too and I honestly have no idea what you are talking about.
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I can't say too much about what I've seen, as it might reveal the source.
estyle said:
...maybe in your face like Koolhaas
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Yes.
estyle said:
...but not the real elegance Mecanoo brings to their buildings.
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When I said, "awareness of" I was referencing the stacked massing of Mecanoo's Birmingham Library, in connection with ccole's comments about "uneven stack of books." As with any piece of bold "statement" architecture, the details and finishes will define its sensory value.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
The Academy property is a waiting/baiting game to see if MassHighway redoes the 8-headed monster Mountfort/BU Bridge intersection into a compacted single-point intersection with turning lanes to get rid of the lane sprawl and gridlock from being caught between two signal cycles.

The state is keeping the door ajar for coming back and doing that, and if they do the compacting of the distended BU Bridge turn lanes will allow for a full-width sidewalk in front of the Academy commensurate with the next block over, and serve up the land for BU to mass right up against that expanded sidewalk. That's definitely a net gain well worth sitting tight and waiting for, because even if they filled Lot H with something big right this second it would be set awkwardly further back from the street and have to be fronted by that godawful squished sidewalk and pure-chaos U Rd./BU Bridge crosswalks...so it's never going to mesh as elegantly with the street as 808 on the opposite corner.

That's one where if the intersection fix is in still in a back-and-forth negotiation state it is MUCH worth waiting for a final road design before turning loose an architectural concept for the parcel. Even if it takes till the mid-20's for that to come to pass. Centrally located anchor parcels aren't easy to come by. Would you rather they shiv it off-center onto one of the city's worst FAIL intersections now and have it be a forever square-peg fit with serious access downsides...or try to coax the intersection fix first then get the redev really right? With no second chances, I'd rather they pull out all the stops to get it really right.
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How would this work out of curiosity? Trying to visualize a new turn lane onto the BU Bridge from Comm Ave westbound, an admitted clusterfuk, going through the academy parking lot and how that changes the current traffic pattern. Does that include cutting off the Storrow on/off ramps from University Road as well?
 
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Greta photos. That crosswalk treatment is poor, bad ADA design. Trees are a nice addition. Seating looks eh.

Also missed opportunity for bikeshare station integration
 
jass said:
Greta photos. That crosswalk treatment is poor, bad ADA design. Trees are a nice addition. Seating looks eh.

Also missed opportunity for bikeshare station integration
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How would have you designed the crosswalk differently?
 
They also added a HUGE curb extension at Charlesgate West to try to T-off the Bay State/Beacon intersection and slow turning speeds. It makes the crosswalk much shorter too.
 
bdurden said:
How would have you designed the crosswalk differently?
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The truncated domes should be oriented so a bling person goes straight into the crosswalk and into the next sidewalk. Instead, most of them send someone across into the fire hydrant
 
jass said:
The truncated domes should be oriented so a bling person goes straight into the crosswalk and into the next sidewalk. Instead, most of them send someone across into the fire hydrant
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That makes sense. Is that specified in the ADA guidelines? Wonder if there is a warranty period and they can just go back and line it up properly and redo the concrete?
 
tangent said:
That makes sense. Is that specified in the ADA guidelines? Wonder if there is a warranty period and they can just go back and line it up properly and redo the concrete?
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It's a should, not a shall. So the installation isn't illegal, but it is poor practice. The engineer who drew up that ramp interface didn't give a shit about best practice. Flexibility is allowed to accommodate cost issues (ie drainage), but thats not the case here.

We should expect better in a walking city in 2018
 
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