Copley Place Expansion and Tower | Back Bay

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chrisbrat said:
i always liked the "vibe" in there. i guess it was '80s, but (to me, anyway) in a perfectly fine way. i mean, the BPL has a very "mid-19th century vibe" and that's absolutely fine. why try and whitewash over the vibe of a building constructed in the 1980s? i dont get it
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I'm sure that aesthetic will come back into vogue some day--maybe in 2040 folks will look at photos of that and say "geez, that was classic late 20th century" but in 2016 it just looks passé and tacky. Things have to go out of style before they can come back into style.
 
Tombstoner said:
I'm sure that aesthetic will come back into vogue some day--maybe in 2040 folks will look at photos of that and say "geez, that was classic late 20th century" but in 2016 it just looks passé and tacky. Things have to go out of style before they can come back into style.
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i absolutely agree, but wouldn't the type of awareness you just outlined potentially save us from more "whoops" moments, a la scollay square (not comparing the quality of design/architecture of copley place to all the 19th/18th century and pre-war stuff in scollay)?

yeah, it may not be the height of fashion right this moment, but this complex is solid and very representative of a specific time -- how about maintain it (of course) and update where functionality makes it necessary to do so but leave it well enough alone?

obviously my vision of the whole area is seen through a filter or personal bias/history, but i dunno... tossing an entire era of architecture out the window seems extremely short-sighted especially given the regrettable mistakes of the past within this very city, initiated and executed for the same reasons.
 
Tombstoner said:
Actually, I think they've done a lot of interior renovation already--things seem much brighter, lots of white-on-white. I really hope the waterfall is dismantled--very 80s vibe and not a good 80s vibe.
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Tombstoner the mid 21st C 2nd decade vibe si white, white, color changing LED lights and at least one Floor to Ceiling Living Wall

that's a part of the $20M the MOS spent on the conversion of the entry lobby and the entry area of the Yawkey Gallery on the Charles River

Before the transformation
mos2.jpg


After
yawkey-gallery-charles-river-museum-of-science-1.jpg

Ce0kdhTWwAM4-1I.jpg:medium


AS the piece de resistance You can throw in some electrochromic windows and a couple of OLED ceiling pannels
 
chrisbrat said:
obviously my vision of the whole area is seen through a filter or personal bias/history, but i dunno... tossing an entire era of architecture out the window seems extremely short-sighted especially given the regrettable mistakes of the past within this very city, initiated and executed for the same reasons.
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I see your point, but this can lead to hoarding behavior: keeping everything around in case it might be useful/come back into fashion in the future. My closets are full of clothes that bear witness to the pitfalls of that strategy. :D
 
^but but cargo shorts are going to come back!! You heard it first here!
 
Its sad to see this thread bumped every day. A constant reminder of what should have been.
 
tysmith95 said:
^but but cargo shorts are going to come back!! You heard it first here!
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I think we saw the peak of slim/tight/fitted and the current trend is toward marginally roomier clothing. Think "tailored" cut instead of "slim" cut. Lapels and ties are starting to get marginally wider (maybe .25" or .5") and cuts will come along too.

Those '90s and early '00s era cargo shorts aren't coming back though. They made some sense when everyone was wearing gigantic, baggy, layered tops but otherwise they make men look bell-shaped. I could see them becoming accepted again but probably slimmer cut with trim pockets and cleaner lines.

TLDR everything comes back to some degree but with just enough changes that the ancestral version will look out of place.
 
They could come back so today's enormous smartphones can still be 'pocket sized'.
 
chrisbrat said:
i absolutely agree, but wouldn't the type of awareness you just outlined potentially save us from more "whoops" moments, a la scollay square (not comparing the quality of design/architecture of copley place to all the 19th/18th century and pre-war stuff in scollay)?

yeah, it may not be the height of fashion right this moment, but this complex is solid and very representative of a specific time -- how about maintain it (of course) and update where functionality makes it necessary to do so but leave it well enough alone?

obviously my vision of the whole area is seen through a filter or personal bias/history, but i dunno... tossing an entire era of architecture out the window seems extremely short-sighted especially given the regrettable mistakes of the past within this very city, initiated and executed for the same reasons.
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I do agree with the sentiment in general, but, Copley is still basically just a mall - malls generally evolve and change to quite tastes/styles over time.
 
bakgwailo said:
I do agree with the sentiment in general, but, Copley is still basically just a mall - malls generally evolve and change to quite tastes/styles over time.
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that's a good point. i fairly recently was at the burlington mall for the first time since i was... 10ish(?) years old and it -- particularly on the inside -- was absolutely unrecognizable.
 
Mods, how about you change the name to Copley Place Expansion | Back Bay so people don't get but hurt about the fact that the tower is not happening anytime in the near future.
 
Mike said:
all these are close to 300' and over .. (i'm assuming filenes will be)

Kensington
W hotel/ residences
Jacob Wirth's lot
Province Street
Russia Wharf
Nashua Street/North Station
Gateway Center
The Clarendon
Joslin Place
Columbus Center
Aquarium Garage
Filenes
Winthrop Square
Suffolk Dorm
South Station Tower
Blackfan
Mass Pike Tower/s

and now this one.
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I saw this post from back in 2006. By my count, 9 of the 18 listed are now complete and at least two more are being considered. Not a bad track record in my mind.
 
The Waterfall:

I posted about a year ago that this transformation was going to take 18 months. Somebody said, "I heard October". Yeah, 18 months, not October '16, but '17.

The only reason I say that is that from my understanding, (talking to the actual construction workers), is that the waterfall is coming down. Or at least those stones are. The current guys working don't really know what is going to be put in place, but they know what they are taking down/fixing.

They have started with dismantling the center court. But I would say that by October next year, that "waterfall" will be in the process of being re-purposed.

I don't know much, but I do know who ask. He said 18 months. They are right on schedule.
 
Cortes said:
The Waterfall:

I posted about a year ago that this transformation was going to take 18 months. Somebody said, "I heard October". Yeah, 18 months, not October '16, but '17.

The only reason I say that is that from my understanding, (talking to the actual construction workers), is that the waterfall is coming down. Or at least those stones are. The current guys working don't really know what is going to be put in place, but they know what they are taking down/fixing.

They have started with dismantling the center court. But I would say that by October next year, that "waterfall" will be in the process of being re-purposed.

I don't know much, but I do know who ask. He said 18 months. They are right on schedule.
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The 3 elevators are directly behind the waterfall. It would be awesome if they busted out the wall and redid the elevators as sleek glass boxes like the MIT Media Lab. It would fit the clean, modern aesthetic of the mall renovation really well. The elevators are old Westinghouses from '84 modded by Schindler (400A) in the '00s & are essentially due for a replacement anyway.
 
I have not forgiven the developer for his failure to restructure the risk and bring the Tonka trucks. An incredible project has been stolen from the people of Boston, including future jobs GONE. The nimby won this round. The time has come to move on.

We shouldn't bump the thread ever again. Shouldn't lock it. If 'CST' comes back some day, the op can put up the pnf with a cautionary note; 'The past is prologue. This one's coming back.' It will be a great day.

Until such time, nuke this colossal bust to the ether.
 
Calm down there is still a renovation happening I don't see why the conversation about that has to stop. Just stop expecting to see news on the tower part of this project because it is not happening.
 
datadyne007 said:
The 3 elevators are directly behind the waterfall. It would be awesome if they busted out the wall and redid the elevators as sleek glass boxes like the MIT Media Lab. It would fit the clean, modern aesthetic of the mall renovation really well. The elevators are old Westinghouses from '84 modded by Schindler (400A) in the '00s & are essentially due for a replacement anyway.
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I worked in the Copley Place Towers until recently.
They have replaced most of the elevators that go up to the office floors.
Before I left Copley, I was told that Simon was in the process of adding a direct elevator from the garage to the skylobby through "Tower 3". If you go into the garage you will see ongoing construction on all floors.

I do hope that they replace the Mall elevators. Those things frequently breakdown, not to mention their 80's look is horrible.
 
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