Dreamproject

[kennedy]

So, put yourself in the shoes of a super loaded developer/hynotist. You convince the BRA/Menino/NIMBYs to give you the go ahead on one project, anywhere in Boston. Unlimited funding, no rules except that it is limited to one area. I won't say parcel, b/c SBW is more than one parcel. So is FP. Have fun.

(Vanshnookenraggen, I couldn't really decide between here and the General one. I figure more people read the New Development section, but if you feel the unnerving desire to move it, feel free.)

 

[BarbaricManchurian]

My idea is that I would build the Dainty Dot tower based on a similar tower in NYC where they gutted the old building and used it for an amazing foyer for the ultramodern tower above (it's an eco tower, it was in TIME magazine a few years ago, don't know the name). Make it at least 1,500 ft tall and you have a landmark. And it won't be out of scale since it won't have a big base and use an existing building. Also, I'll use the greenway frontage of the building to open up some sidewalk cafes / cool boutiques to add some life to the Chinatown portion of the Greenway.

 

[JimboJones]

Dreams

This one's easy.

I'd get Boston out of the public housing business. Expand the Section 8 program, gradually move everyone out of BHA housing and integrate them into the community.

Then, tear all the projects down.

Hope VI, but much more dramatic.

Starting with Cathedral Housing ...

 

[Beton Brut]

Re: Dreams

This one's easy.

I'd get Boston out of the public housing business.

It's a fine idea, but I don't think it would be easy at all.

Expand the Section 8 program, gradually move everyone out of BHA housing and integrate them into the community.

Then, tear all the projects down.

How may years would gradually translate to?

I agree that the concept of public housing (in and beyond Boston) is all to often nothing more than a violent file-cabinet where cities store their poorest citizens. Who instills the sense of social responsibility? Or collective ownership? Or the desire for progress? Not the BHA.

It isn't where you live -- it's how you choose to conduct your life. Public housing should be a safe environment for families who can't afford better, but it shouldn't be so "attractive" that anyone would want to live there for decades.

The question we ought to be finding answers to is: How do we create better opportunities for financial literacy and home ownership for the working poor?

 

[TheBostonBoy]

Kennedy, I am glad you started this thread, I have thought of tons of "Dreamprojects" for Boston, but most of them are way to crazy to do.
(You would have to be fucking LOADED with money to do this lol)

Well here are some:

1. OK, if Boston is running out of land to build on, why not create some more land? Well where you might say, well Boston is mainly landfills, so let's do it again. Expand Boston further into the water with huge amounts of sand, and whatever else it takes to make land in the Charles River and Boston Harbor.
But, for my major landfill project, I would make a mid size island (about the size of 3-5 Fenway Parks put together) in the middle of the harbor. I would extend the tunnel to my island. OK, now for the development on the island. I would build a large complex, kinda like a mini city within a city, with huge buildings and one main 1000-1500 footer in the middle. The island would be composed of 5-10 buildings, 3/4's of which would all be over 500 ft tall, and of course with the main 1000 footer in the middle. It would have access by train and car, through tunnels. It would be amazing, like the gateway to Boston through the Harbor. I would try to make it in a spot of the harbor, where it would not block the skyline of downtown Boston. I don't know, I just think it would look amazing.

2. Ok, one of my other ideas is more feasible lol. Well like most everyone here, I love the Back Bay, and I think it represents Boston beautifully with the HT and The Pru looming in the skyline there. But I have always hated the empty spaces there. The empty space is the space between downtown and the Hancock Tower. It goes from tall, to mid size/low rise, then to tall again. I want this filled, because it would for me, make the city look more complete. It would look great if they just built some 500+ footers in between the space so it would be a nice transition. But none of these could be taller than 700 ft. And for the second space, I am talking about in between the HT and the Pru. It isn't a big space, but there is still that space where the buildings are tall, then they go smaller, then back to tall. As i said before, I would fill in that space with some 400-600 footers. And then finally after the Pru there are like no more 400+ buildings. I would put a few 300-400 footers in this area in the Fens and whatnot. Anyways, just imagine what I have said, and then with Trans National Place built too, this would look amazing. You would have three iconic tall skyscrapers in a kinda even space between each other. It would go down like a staircase in a way. You would have downtown with TNP as the top of it all, then going down a bit to the HT to 790 ft, then just a little bit more to The Pru with 740 ft. I just think that it would look amazing, and it would make Boston look that much bigger and even more of the big city it is, with so many skyscrapers. Also, it would be a smack in the face to Boston NIMBY's. SICK

I know this is pretty crazy....but ya, anyways can anyone maybe make a rendering of this, facing from the North looking at the skyline with Cambridge in front and whatnot? That would look amazing, and I really want to see what my dream could look like.

3. Another one would just be to build taller around the area and improve Boston's skyline. It seems like the southern parts of Boston are weak in the high rise section, so I would build some 30-40 storie buildings in the South End and whatnot, and I would also build up in Fenway and Longwood.


My ideas are mainly in the area of adding tall buildings to parts of Boston. IMO Boston is lacking in that area, and has the potential to have many more tall buildings (just those effing NIMBY's wont piss off) and I would love more.

 

[Meadowhawk]

My dream project would be to build casinos and resorts on most of the islands in Boston Harbor. At night they would all be illuminated by kleig lights. Water shuttles would run all night long from various locations which would be easily accessible for the general population. A portion of the proceeds would go to city projects. The first project being the construction of the horticultural botanical gardens on the greenway, or as I like to refer to it as, Atlantic Avenue.

 

[whighlander]

This is such a good topic -- it just needed reactivation

So go to it:

My own humble offering: The Hub of the Universe Center {HUC} -- of course

When I was an undergrad at MIT {1970?s} we decide to extend the Oliver Wendell Holmes remark about the Mass State House as being considered the Hub of the Solar System - -see the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table -- that led to the nickname of the "the Hub" for Boston

Obviously the extension is to the whole Universe -- so we decided that if Boston in general was the Hub of the Universe -- then the Big Dome {aka Building 10} -- must be the Center of the Universe {or COU} -- we figured the Soviets had an ICBM targeted on the COU as well {this was after all during one of the hottest phases of the ?Cold War?}. Sometime later -- some measurements of the microwave Cosmic Background Radiation {remnant of the Big Bang} that had been assumed to be uniform ? in fact showed that there appeared to be a principle direction to the Universe ? and it was from the COU toward the ?Citgo Sign? in Kenmore Square.

Thus I figured that the ideal project for Boston / Cambridge would be to build the HUC {Hub of the Universe Center} and make it the world?s most significant single building.

When I started -- I envisioned a very tall structure composed of two intersecting St. Louise Gateway-like arches {stainless steel exposed framing with glass walls}. Where the arches intersected there would be a sky-base with a slender central tower sprouting from it. each of the 4 legs of the arches would itself be a Pru-scale tower and the central tower would also be Pru-scale

I'd targeted a total height of 500m. I envisioned that the HUC needed to be located on top of and in the midst of the largest concentration of T-lines in Boston. The obvious location is City Hall Plaza {Orange-Blue {State), Blue-Green {Gov't Center}, Orange-Green {Haymarket}}. Since this project would take close to a decade to construct and would cost several B$ -- I'd include an extended infrastructural component as part of the project -- to tie Red-Blue {Charles} and extend the DTX Orange Line subway platforms via a pedestrian tunnel along Washington Street to the Orange Line at State -- all of the pedestrian interconnects bringing people to / from the HUC would feature moving sidewalks. The entire root system would be designed to feed people in/out of the HUC?s 2 story underground to 3 story above base that would feature retail and commercial small offices providing residents and visitors with 24x365 services. The legs would offer a mix of office and residence and small hotels. The top tower would be mostly office with a very exclusive large Hotel at the very top. At several intermediate levels slender rings would tie the four legs together to provide easy access to the various functions. The entire complex would be supplied with a personal passenger rail system {driven by linear induction motor} that could carry a small number of people vertically or horizontally to many drop/pick points throughout the structure.

This thread is once again open to further fantastic ideas!!

Westy

 

[aquaman]

If I was feeding my ego, I'd want to design the entire SBW (interesting mixes of residential, retail, office, cultural, tourist amenities, etc.), but if I was to get one project done that would actually be great for the city, it would be the inner urban T ring running a giant loop from JFK/UMass over to Forest Hills, then up to Longwood, Central Square, Sullivan or Bunker Hill and the Airport. I would also construct it 4 sets of tracks wide so it could stay open 24/7 and offer express trains during daytime hours. Not glam, but it would improve the city's infrastructure so much.

 

[theculprit]

would definately be a Megaplex type stadium, however the football field and baseball field would not be overlapping, making it a HUGE complex somewhere near the waterfront in south boston. and right next to it would be Sky City.

 

[unterbau]

I gotta go with aquaman here and agree that Boston could really use an overhauled/expanded subway/rail system - and that's something that nobody seems to be willing to pay for or allow being built in their towns.

 

[nico]

Would it make sense north of Boston to run this urban ring roughly along Rt. 16 ? There are tracks along Rt. 16 in Revere and Everett (underserved areas) going to Wellington through Chelsea. You could run the ring straight from the blue line (airport connection) to Wellington or to the old Rt.99 path to Sullivan.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

It would and wouldn't, depending on how you look at it. The rail in question runs through mostly industrial areas and when it runs through Chelsea it is pretty tight, which would require land taking. I think it is a great idea for the long term, especially for any hope of turning the stretch of Rt 16 in Everett into something other than an eye sore. From a transportation standpoint, however, it would only really help people coming from the northeast going to Logan as all other would just take the T downtown and switch the the Blue Line. This being the case, it would make more sense financially to construct the Red-Blue connector.

 

[rayray07]

I would like a small theme park enclosed in a glass sturcture close to the water on the South Boston Waterfront! The reason it should be enclosed is so it could be used all year 'round. We all know how boston gets in the winter! The roof should be retractable for the summertime months. It should have a unique Boston feel and atmosphere. Also, it should have a roller coaster or two. I think this would be a great attraction for children and adults alike and also attract people to the SBW!

Also I love Meadowhawk's idea! I been thinking of someting like that for Boston for years now.

 

[itchy]

Here's my top 5 dream projects for the night -- subject to change upon further thought:

1. Filling in the parking lots that seem to cover half of Boston. The infills could range from Boston-style brick townhouses to sleeker glass structures like the Apple store to colorful, simple Scandinavian apartments. Nothing big, boxy and obtuse. Putting a few (thin!) skyscrapers like Calatrava's proposal for the South Street Seaport area or Nouvel's MoMA tower would be great. Make the infills unabashedly modern rather than fake their connection to their older neighbors. People prefer a foil to a fake any day. And to make sure the resultant decreased dependence on cars is acceptable, improve the subway system and extend it further into the suburbs.

2. Utilize the Harbor and Islands. Something like the proposed Brooklyn Bridge Park or East River Park would be great for Fort Point Channel, the so-called "Seaport District" or the North End or Charlestown. It'd also be nice if East Boston began to feel like part of Boston. As it is, the whole "water" aspect of Boston is sort of an afterthought.

3. Create an ecologically friendly development zone of high-density, green housing and hybrid bus transport. Hell, even Shanghai's doing it! Land in South Bay, near the Herald plant, in South Boston, Charlestown, Somerville, Everett or any one of the many other parking lot-infested, underused areas could be dramatically made over from wasteland to ecozone. NorthPoint seems to have a hint of this but 1. doesn't go far enough and 2. doesn't seem to be getting off the ground.

4. A first-class history museum that *unlike the proposed Boston Museum* takes colonial/Revolutionary history into account. It's sad the city is still lacking this, given that its colonial history is one of the biggest draws of Boston for tourists. There is no shame in blatantly lifting ideas from Jamestown's new archaeology-focused Archaearium, one of the best museums I've been to anywhere, or even the modest but fascinating and well-designed city history museum in Tallinn, Estonia.

5. Make Boston fun! The city's so damn cold and grey that it's hard enough to persuade college grads to stay on. Once Tommy's out -- or maybe if he undergoes some deep transformation -- the city should stop taking itself so seriously and have some fun. Allow local schoolchildren, students and starving artists to paint murals on bare walls. Put up illuminated advertisements (even video) inside the tunnels of the Red Line to ease the bleakness of the T. In the vein of the Duck Boats, allow more private entrepreneurs to set up streetcars if the city's too cheap to do it. Install some zany public lights displays and signs. Commission interactive public sculpture a la Millennium Park.

Beyond that, create a 24-hour nightlife zone if the city's still too prude to abolish its curfews -- maybe there would even be sidewalk cafes there, God forbid. How about some more public performers or food vendors along the Greenway and elsewhere? What about a sandy beach zone with paddleboat and kayak launches on the Charles in the summer, or restaurants similar to those along Berlin's Spree River on the Fort Point Channel? Everyone in the city would benefit greatly if it were more colorful and whimsical. It seems that at some point of the Bush presidency, Europe became more fun and America more stodgy; Boston should start a "pro-fun" American Revolution...

Also, given the extent to which Boston does have a lot of young, international residents, make them feel more welcome. Increase multi-lingual signs (not even necessarily in Spanish; put up some signs with Cambodian or even Danish, on a lark -- it'll thrill whatever Danes are around). Hang different countries' flags from lightpoles and encourage Irish pub owners to "adopt" a second nationality. Nobody ever said cosmopolitanism was bad. Except the Soviets.

 

[itchy]

6. (I said the above^ were subject to change!) A REAL skyscraper spine over the Mass Pike. No Rt.-128 boxes, as on Parcel 7. Thank you, Ma'am.

 

[pelhamhall]

My dream project would be to bring the Greenway to life with one commercial structure on each block, "adopted" by the business. One block could have a cafe, one would have an indoor/outdoor beer garden, one would have a performing arts center, one would have a museum, one would have a family restaurant, one (near Fan. Hall) would have a nightclub... not large buildings, but unique buildings with uses that the diverse public would use. I went to the IMAX/acquarium last night and the blocks are just so dead and so sad. I was thinking that the IMAX would have been cooler if it was actually on the Greenway itself... I would want to see development on every single open block, taking about 25-40% of each plot, leaving the rest "open"

 

[statler]

^^ A beer garden would be perfect for that plaza on Dewey Sq. Maybe with a 'temporary' glass shelter that can be assembled in the winter?
What do other beer gardens due in the winter?

 

[pelhamhall]

I have only been to Munich in the summer, but the beer gardens in the public parks are so exciting and lively all the time. The cafe around the Esplanade/Hatch Shell appropriates that feeling slightly, but imagine if it was landscaped more beautifully and the tables and cafe were integrated into the area better. Of course the culture of alcohol is quite different there than here - I'll just leave it at that.

How about a beer garden around the vent stack in front of the Fed? Couldn't the cladding be removed from the vent stack, replaced with a black, heat absorbing stone and use the car/traffic heat from below to slightly warm the area, covered by glass? Is that crazy? I like the idea (if feasible) of using the heat in the tunnel to warm a public space above (without the CO fumes of course)

 

[statler]

^^No, no, the CO fumes add to the 'buzz'!

 

[cool36]

would definately be a Megaplex type stadium, however the football field and baseball field would not be overlapping, making it a HUGE complex somewhere near the waterfront in south boston. and right next to it would be Sky City.

Yes Boston really needs a Sports Complex in South Boston with a transportation center. They should keep the TD Banknorth and fenway park. The sports complex should use the baseball and basketball for the Olympics and the all star games and special events. But for football and soccer this should be the new home for the pats and the New England Revolution. Not Foxboro because we don't need stadiums away from Boston. Boston really needs more major venues and concert halls.