Don't feel so bad...

J

Joe_Schmoe

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There is much criticism on this board of the buildings that are built in Boston. Here is a thread for awful buildings in other cities to show that other places put up buildings just as or even more despiriting than Boston. Here is a rendering I recently came across in NYC:
nyc1.jpg


It is right next to a real city block:

nyc2.jpg


Probably next for the chopping block. Sigh.
 
I've been saying this for years. Get out of Boston for once before you start bemoaning every single development (which isn't to say some in Boston aren't god awful.)
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
I've been saying this for years. Get out of Boston for once before you start bemoaning every single development (which isn't to say some in Boston aren't god awful.)
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Yes but in other cities, not every development deserves to bemoaned. In Boston, yeah pretty much everything.
 
Plus the planning of Boston is also shit. NYC might be authorizing cheap crap condos on every corner, but it's building High Lines rather than Seaport Districts or RKGs. The cumulative effect of bad planning and shitty architecture = Boston becoming more boring and aesthetically deficient than other cities that only have one of those problems or neither.
 
Ron Newman said:
When will this building be finished?
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It opened in 2004. I'm intrigued by it, though its construction managers may deserve a cell in HMP Edinburgh.

In spite of the public fleecing worthy of the Big Dig, the building is a heady brew that owes something to James Stirling, Renzo Piano, Alvar Aalto, and even Gehry, in one of his more humane moods.
 
Every year, I look at developments of cities like San Francisco and Philadelphia and wonder why we can't be more like them. Yes, Philadelphia's population has been unstable in recent years but they are trying to bring businesses and people into the city by building residential and commercial high-rises. Boston? Yeah we will be lucky to ever see anything built with 100+ residential units here or a commercial building with enough floor space to help depress the cost per square fotage.
 
I was thinking he has some background with being an electrician and has a thing for modern switches:

Rocker%20Light%20Switches.jpg
 
Hey, don't judge. I'm sure there are plenty of people who want to live in Miami but hate sunshine.
 
Mike said:
Waterfront Square, Philadelphia:

8_11011.jpg
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I actually wouldn't mind buildings like this if it can bring hundreds of affordable housing (i.e. not condos) into the city(but not too many). I think buildings like these (like those commieblocks in NYC) gives the city a gritty character and creates density.
 
^ I agree in theory, as long as they could actually be built that cheaply. But go to near-downtown neighborhoods of Canadian cities (there are whole districts in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) and they sometimes come off a bit too drab as an ensemble piece.
 
No matter how many times it is refuted in experience, towers in the park just will not die.
 
That's because, aside from cities and neighborhoods where space is in serious demand, "light and air" is marketable. So even when developers want to maximize their profits by building tall, it enters into their calculus.

Maybe it also has to do with the expectations of people moving back to the city from the suburbs. Maybe it also has to do with the need to provide an extra amenity (view) to draw them away from their suburban conveniences.

Anyway, there's a reason you see towers in the park going up in Philly but not Manhattan.
 
KentXie said:
I actually wouldn't mind buildings like this if it can bring hundreds of affordable housing (i.e. not condos) into the city(but not too many). I think buildings like these (like those commieblocks in NYC) gives the city a gritty character and creates density.
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Introducing hundreds of low cost non ownership units in hi-rise buildings is a recipe for disaster. Your 'gritty character' is someone's police report. Why must everyone in this country think of cities as having to be dirty, gritty, edgy, to be 'urban'? Cities can be dense, interesting, CLEAN, and safe at the same time without being lacking in character.
 
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