East Boston Infill and Small Developments

CSTH said:
^wooooooooofffff
Click to expand...

WTF does woof mean when you say it in regards to a building? Woof for me is what a gay man say to another furry muscular gay man that he wants to fuck.
 
LOL. Ok didn't know that meaning. I'm now officially an old man.

What i meant was - this is wicked ugly. Like a dog.
 
Gotcha. There are many very cute dogs though, so not sure woof makes sense for a building, ugly or not. :p
 
awood91 said:
Woof for me is what a gay man say to another furry muscular gay man that he wants to fuck.
Click to expand...

Wait, if I woof at another guy (rarely happens outside of a gay venue), it's just a compliment, like, you're hot. If I'm with my partner or a friend and one of us woofs, the other will look around and say, who you woofing at? Same as when two straight dudes see a sexy girl...one might say to the other, damn, she's hot, or fuck. that's nice. A woof, to me is nothing more than a compliment whether the other guy hears it or not. And lots of gay guys don't even use the term.
 
atlantaden said:
Wait, if I woof at another guy (rarely happens outside of a gay venue), it's just a compliment, like, you're hot. If I'm with my partner or a friend and one of us woofs, the other will look around and say, who you woofing at? Same as when two straight dudes see a sexy girl...one might say to the other, damn, she's hot, or fuck. that's nice. A woof, to me is nothing more than a compliment whether the other guy hears it or not. And lots of gay guys don't even use the term.
Click to expand...

Sure, yeah it can be just a compliment meaning you are sexy, and not necessarily a hard come on.
 
I'm less offended by this than most of what's being vomited onto every buildable lot in East Boston, but it's far from ideal. The way the mansard meets the brick below has the aura of cost-cutting. And the "police-barricade" style balcony railings just look cheap.

BeeLine said:
https://flic.kr/p/26WavKF

I invite you to consider the irony of this architectural flourish when the attorney who represents this project has sought approval to demolish a pair of original brick bowfront townhouses (circa 1870) three blocks away.

https://flic.kr/p/26WawzM
Click to expand...

Thanks as always for the pics, BeeLine!
 
Developer wants to replace market and laundromat with five-story building in East Boston

Developer Joseph Nogueira of Woburn has filed plans with the BPDA to replace a one-story building housing the Maverick Street Market and the Swish & Swash Laundromat on Maverick Street across from Frankfort Street with a five-story building with 55 residential units - and room for the market and the laundromat to move back into.
Click to expand...

https://www.universalhub.com/2018/developer-could-replace-market-and-laundromat-five
 
Reviews are rather divergent, based on the neighborhood's "open discussion" page on Facebook. The scale and height are not problematic, but the design has all the charm of a refrigerator box. Total rubbish.
 
Beton Brut said:
Reviews are rather divergent, based on the neighborhood's "open discussion" page on Facebook. The scale and height are not problematic, but the design has all the charm of a refrigerator box. Total rubbish.
Click to expand...

The East Boston Open Discussion page on FB is more toxic than the contaminated Monsanto soil remediated at the Encore casino site. I'd take the Maverick redevelopment's charm of a refrigerator box over the current strip mall's charm of a strip mall.
 
dshoost88 said:
The East Boston Open Discussion page on FB is more toxic than the contaminated Monsanto soil remediated at the Encore casino site.
Click to expand...

I agree.
giphy.gif


dshoost88 said:
I'd take the Maverick redevelopment's charm of a refrigerator box over the current strip mall's charm of a strip mall.
Click to expand...

Is it wrong to expect better design? Shouldn't new construction elevate the surrounding built environment?
 
BeeLine said:
https://flic.kr/p/LaSVif

https://flic.kr/p/26WawzM
Click to expand...


In the grand scheme of East Boston garbetry this is perfectly fine. They still REFUSE to put retail on the ground floor of these new buildings for some reason though. Were building a west end part 2. on the waterfront in 2018..... Were watching it happen this time in real time with our own eyes. The only difference is this time theyre not destroying an entire old build neighborhood to do it, but at the end of the day the result is the exact same. This could have been a crown jewel of the city. A hidden gem across the harbor that when people found out about it it would be a cool little fun place off of the beaten path to go to with an incredible view of the city and away from most of the tourists.

I wonder what the plan is here. If you could sit down and ask these developers why they purposely skipped over something that is blaaaatently obvious that it should be built here what would their reasoning be? I swear the people who make it as architects these days are the ones that are the worst at architecture. Something weird is going on in that community for real. Like when its the general consensus and blatantly obvious to every single joe schmo on planet earth what should be here and they do the exact opposite of that then what is the friggin plan... The thing is though you want it to look good to the Joe Schmoe, hes the one thats going to be using these places. Tailor it to the people who are actually going to use these spaces. Don't create it as something just to make a quick buck off that now your just gonna throw at the bottom of your portfolio. Thats some bulllllshit. Especially when its a waterfront property shouldn't you be trying to get better every time? I know if I was designing these things Id have some pride and be trying to get better on every single development. I wouldn't just get complacent and whip something together to get a check and then bury it immediately after. People are going to wonder who the hell made this shit and thats when they'll find out.

You may not be doing a good job if your leaving out all of the most basic needs and wants of the people in the area. This building above is soooooooo obvious where they should have put the store fronts that its almost like theyre saying fuuuuuuck you. Theres literally a whole street wall where it should go. Instead of doing what your supposed to do instead its 3 different types of windows that dont line up at all and they just go up and down from ground level for no reason, then theres an overhang with a blank brick wall and doors for noooo reason. Then to top it off theres just blank brick walls in the spaces that are left........ WHYYYYY? They did a good job of putting everything but.... but why? Wtf is the point of that? They literally tried as hard as they possibly could to make it anything but retail. Thats a slap in the face to the whole neighborhood. That last pic would be the entrance into the condo's and on the other side would be store fronts, its obvious, it makes sense, it would look good. It would have came out (pretty good) looking, but also would add functionally to the neighborhood. East Boston needs street level retail, its not just a bonus its needed here. In some situations its just something you throw in to add a little bit more function to the form, but in East Boston they need as much as they can get because its mostly a residential neighborhood right now. Marginal street could have been a harbor-side retail corridor with skyline views between every block. It would have been amazing. Instead its a gated community..... wtf.


This one below somehow somebody went against the grain and threw some in, theyre probably already fired.
IMG_5110 by David Couhig, on Flickr


I made the mistake of thinking Clippership Wharf was going to be amazing.... by the waterfront renders. Instead of a gated community that they really dont want you in.

Clippership-Wharf-Rendering-1440x650.jpeg


Rendering-of-the-Clippership-Wharf.jpg


4_ClippershipWharf.jpg
 
Last edited:
stick n move said:
I swear the people who make it as architects these days are the ones that are the worst at architecture. Something weird is going on in that community for real.
Click to expand...

Be very careful who you are pointing the finger at. Just like any other markets, the designers follow their clients needs and designers that refuse to stoop to the developers lack of vision go out of business because there is no other business for designers right now but to work for developers. An architect is not someone who sits in a room and draws stuff and then points at a site and tells someone to build it. An architect is a designer. A designer who is handed a set of criteria. 100% of the time any architect worth their licence will try to have discussions with the client about things that are believed to be important. Like, street presence, richness of experience (blah blah blah). Right now the housing boom is pushing the developers to build at the lowest common denominator and thus the criteria for a successful project for the client does not have to have those things that you are VERY RIGHT for critiquing. Lack of scale, lack of delight, lack of social interaction. I am just asking that you not call out one part of a very complex system of choices and say "what is happening with THAT community". This community still designs to the criteria given, tries to educate our clients as to what is responsible design, and in general just tries to stay afloat from month to month. (I am not kidding)

cca
 
Very nicely summarized.

I'll add that we are seeing a lot of the same architects over and over again in these neighborhoods. I suspect a lot of them are working on a razor thin margin to get the jobs. And they just can't put any work into the projects--so everything is a bit cookie cutter.

If architects were paid any kind of reasonable wage we might see better work but we live in a world where architects were sued for collusion decades ago and the AIA hasn't figured out how to make up for that.


cca said:
Be very careful who you are pointing the finger at. Just like any other markets, the designers follow their clients needs and designers that refuse to stoop to the developers lack of vision go out of business because there is no other business for designers right now but to work for developers. An architect is not someone who sits in a room and draws stuff and then points at a site and tells someone to build it. An architect is a designer. A designer who is handed a set of criteria. 100% of the time any architect worth their licence will try to have discussions with the client about things that are believed to be important. Like, street presence, richness of experience (blah blah blah). Right now the housing boom is pushing the developers to build at the lowest common denominator and thus the criteria for a successful project for the client does not have to have those things that you are VERY RIGHT for critiquing. Lack of scale, lack of delight, lack of social interaction. I am just asking that you not call out one part of a very complex system of choices and say "what is happening with THAT community". This community still designs to the criteria given, tries to educate our clients as to what is responsible design, and in general just tries to stay afloat from month to month. (I am not kidding)

cca
Click to expand...
 
estyle said:
Very nicely summarized.

I'll add that we are seeing a lot of the same architects over and over again in these neighborhoods. I suspect a lot of them are working on a razor thin margin to get the jobs. And they just can't put any work into the projects--so everything is a bit cookie cutter.

If architects were paid any kind of reasonable wage we might see better work but we live in a world where architects were sued for collusion decades ago and the AIA hasn't figured out how to make up for that.
Click to expand...

Yup ... the government hoping to save money on fees for large infrastructure projects sued the AIA for price fixing ...which has caused the profession to eat itself. Capitalism should have sorted it out (at its most pure form) but what we have now is a bunch of firms under-performing to stay alive. Thanks Reagan.

cca
 
cca said:
Be very careful who you are pointing the finger at. Just like any other markets, the designers follow their clients needs and designers that refuse to stoop to the developers lack of vision go out of business because there is no other business for designers right now but to work for developers. An architect is not someone who sits in a room and draws stuff and then points at a site and tells someone to build it. An architect is a designer. A designer who is handed a set of criteria. 100% of the time any architect worth their licence will try to have discussions with the client about things that are believed to be important. Like, street presence, richness of experience (blah blah blah). Right now the housing boom is pushing the developers to build at the lowest common denominator and thus the criteria for a successful project for the client does not have to have those things that you are VERY RIGHT for critiquing. Lack of scale, lack of delight, lack of social interaction. I am just asking that you not call out one part of a very complex system of choices and say "what is happening with THAT community". This community still designs to the criteria given, tries to educate our clients as to what is responsible design, and in general just tries to stay afloat from month to month. (I am not kidding)

cca
Click to expand...

Nicely put. It's a sad reality that developers can get away with low bar design and low quality execution in this environment. There are some developers who give a damn, but seemingly fewer and farther between than the ones who don't. In the end, buyers have to pay a lot more if they're looking for the high quality stuff.
 
To the full blown architects in here, a question: is it possible that 3d printing could make elaborate and beautiful facades an affordable option in the near future? I've had this thought a few times and have been curious about whether it will bring back attractive buildings with intricate details.
 
Sure ... its not at scale yet. It is still small in scale and expensive at that but the industry is really pushing this idea and trying to get 3d printing up to the house scale at the moment. It is the moonshot idea in the industry right now. I will add that with any material or technique, its what the thought behind it that is the real value. If you 3d print stupid or ugly, guess what you will get?

cca
 
stick n move said:
I made the mistake of thinking Clippership Wharf was going to be amazing.... by the waterfront renders. Instead of a gated community that they really dont want you in.

Clippership-Wharf-Rendering-1440x650.jpeg


Rendering-of-the-Clippership-Wharf.jpg
Click to expand...

I don't understand why you'd say this, the renderings make it look very accessible along with having some sort of harborwalk here as well. Also looks like a restaurant is in the ground floor of the building closest to the harbor. Is none of that happening?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top