Center Plaza Renovation | Center Plaza | Government Center

shouldn't they throw up a tower on one or two of the sections??

  • yes

    Votes: 26 78.8%

  • no

    Votes: 7 21.2%
  • Total voters
    33
Funny thing is that the hotel named The Colonnade (near the Pru) should probably be renamed "The Parking Garage".

It's a giant pile of carp.
 
Matthew said:
Funny thing is that the hotel named The Colonnade (near the Pru) should probably be renamed "The Parking Garage".

It's a giant pile of carp.
Click to expand...

;)

4012134279_bd6f734d9c_b.jpg
 
^Lol!

Center Plaza's worst sin isn't it's colonnade. That would be the fact the building walls in the beautiful Adams Courthouse a la The Cask of Amontallado. These proposed improvements to it's street level are welcome but they're mere bandaids. This building is just too long, too boring, too monotonous, and too..blah. And the fact that it visually defines much of City Hall Plaza is one of the reasons City Hall Plaza is so reviled.
 
Yep. I didnt even know about the old Courthouse until only a few years ago. A hillside park could replace Ctr Plaza with a tradeoff of a streetside development on the other side of Cambridge St. That would be ideal in my mind.
 
The colonnade at the Doge's palace doesn't contribute much to the action in the square. But that's probably because you just walk under it...no shops or restaurants.

Speaking of squares, the courthouse was always somewhat walled off, even by the townhouses that once occupied the eastern side of Pemberton Square, and then later by the commercial buildings that preceded Center Plaza. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemberton_Square#/media/File:PembertonSq_ca1920_Boston.png

Restoring the short street that ran up to Pemberton from Scollay would do a lot.
 
5gedLh2.jpg


Looks like they are doing some construction.This is next to CVS. Not sure if this project has been completely scaled back to only a new lobby or if they are doing it in phases.
 
^ I hope it's a heck of a lot more than what looks like an IKEA carpet and some new fluorescent light tubes in that render. This thing needs to be leveled.

More realistically, I was at least looking forward to that jewel box rooftop addition in the renders from a couple of years ago.
 
Btw does this mark the pinnacle of White's gone-full-retard BRA?
 
I agree that the building should be partially demolished, Court Street restored, Pemberton Square restored as a park, and judicious additions to height and scale added. The sidewalk area of this building has been redone at least 3 or 4 times in my memory...adding lights, subtracting lights, adding kiosks, taking them away, changing glass facades, etc. None of it works in part because there is no sense of place, no central destination, no clear theme for the entire strip. It would be great if most of the stores were places to eat and drink with venues for entertainment and music. And that all fast food outlets and chains would be banned.
 
aaaaaa said:
Thanks, Matthew. Those are good examples, and they all seem to have a levity that is missing from Church Park and Center Plaza. For those buildings the problems seem two-fold: excessively wide sidewalks and streets, and heavy, overbearing design.

I guess the next challenge is to find a modernist colonnade of a similar style as Church Park and Center Plaza that works well (a quick search yielded no results in an urban context).
Click to expand...

I think one of the other things working against Center Plaza is the curve, you are constantly looking past building as you walk by it. A straight line or a convex arc would draw the eye more to the building and retail with in it. Hopefully the renovations are addressing this.
 
Center Plaza redo | Downtown

https://www.tangram3ds.com/center-plaza/.

How about a discussion about the redo of Center Plaza?

The new curtain wall seems like an incredible improvement. But the current plan seems way too small, given the office and residential market, and transit access.... Center Plaza seems an especially fine location for some quantity of residential to be added on top w/ no additional parking.

A pair of modest, slender mid-rises a la 171 Tremont would be great. Maybe they looked at doing this. i Hope this does not become a lost opportunity in the Downtown Zone without a careful study....





 
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Re: Center Plaza redo | Downtown

The above renderings portray something hideous and suitable for Las Vegas in my opinion.

Instead, at a minimum, the portion of the building needs to be removed that blocks the street level view of the Courthouse from Cambridge Street. Also preferably a couple of high rises in the remaining footprint would be cool.
 
Re: Center Plaza redo | Downtown

Its gonna look like this. They're building on the roof, adding pass throughs to the structure, and ground level retail.

Center-Plaza-Office-Retail-Development-Government-Center-Financial-District-Boston-Synergy-Investments-Acquisition.jpg


centerplazacompos_20_1_.0.jpg


center2.jpg
 
Re: Center Plaza redo | Downtown

Sadly, they’re not breaking up the mass to visually link the courthouse to the plaza.
 
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