Four Seasons Tower @ CSC | 1 Dalton Street | Back Bay

I run by this site all the time and I still cannot believe they are going to fit a 700ft tower there. It's such a tiny little lot.
 
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What are the odds of them bulldozing that long low-rise sometime in the future? It does more to isolate/separate the area than the reflecting pool ever could.
 
DZH22 said:
What are the odds of them bulldozing that long low-rise sometime in the future? It does more to isolate/separate the area than the reflecting pool ever could.
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Never. (Hopefully)
 
I think it's largely sucessful, and just needs some slight cosmetic updates.

-Powerwash and patch the concrete. The thing is pretty badly stained and the top overhang is spalling everywhere.
-Upgrade the lighting. At night, that building could be absolutely stunning with the top overhang washed with color changing LEDs (perhaps cycled to match the Pru's color?) and some white uplighting on the colonnade. The sodium lamps they use now are godawful, no pun intended. I'd probably do a complementary treatment to the office tower.
-Banners on the Colonnade. Would add a splash of color during the day, brightening up the concrete.
-Blow up the Belvedere facade. This is the one abject failure on that building. Its just a big concrete wall with a woefully under-scaled retail space shoehorned into it. Now I'm not sure exactly how it could be redone while remaining contextual to the origional design, but I'm sure there's a way.

Other than that its fine. Honestly I think if it was redone, especially with something taller, it would ruin the CSC Plaza. As has been said a few times, it is one of the very few brutalist plazas that is enjoyable. Screw with it too much and you risk upsetting that balance.

As for the CSC plaza itself, stop parking cars on it! I've had to make deliveries to the office tower myself and it sucks to find a space or risk a ticket from double parking, but it looks SO BAD to have trucks and vans parked all around the base.
 
Will this project have a retail space element to it? I can see it being an attractive space for the high-end retail market.
 
Oakley said:
Will this project have a retail space element to it? I can see it being an attractive space for the high-end retail market.
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Only if you count these: two restaurants, two lounges, and a health club and spa.

I am not sure there is even a garage (at least on-site).
 
davem said:
I think it's largely sucessful, and just needs some slight cosmetic updates.

-Powerwash and patch the concrete. The thing is pretty badly stained and the top overhang is spalling everywhere.
-Upgrade the lighting. At night, that building could be absolutely stunning with the top overhang washed with color changing LEDs (perhaps cycled to match the Pru's color?) and some white uplighting on the colonnade. The sodium lamps they use now are godawful, no pun intended. I'd probably do a complementary treatment to the office tower.
-Banners on the Colonnade. Would add a splash of color during the day, brightening up the concrete.
-Blow up the Belvedere facade. This is the one abject failure on that building. Its just a big concrete wall with a woefully under-scaled retail space shoehorned into it. Now I'm not sure exactly how it could be redone while remaining contextual to the origional design, but I'm sure there's a way.

Other than that its fine. Honestly I think if it was redone, especially with something taller, it would ruin the CSC Plaza. As has been said a few times, it is one of the very few brutalist plazas that is enjoyable. Screw with it too much and you risk upsetting that balance.

As for the CSC plaza itself, stop parking cars on it! I've had to make deliveries to the office tower myself and it sucks to find a space or risk a ticket from double parking, but it looks SO BAD to have trucks and vans parked all around the base.
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The Christian Science Plaza is hands down the coolest architectural space in Boston, and of the best I've seen in any city. The two old churches contrast so well with the huge plaza and pool, surrounded on two and a half sides with poured concrete buildings that actually really make the project awesome. Unlike a lot of brutalist buildings that are intrinsically cool looking on paper, the buildings at the CSC are like a modern architecture incarnation of a truly grand civic space. I dont even think they need any washing or improvements, though I'm sure it might help.

Despite being excited about the new tower, I do worry (but only slightly) that it will disturb the overall feeling of place that the plaza has now. It really is one of Boston's most successful places, and a happy example of where large scale clearance of older buildings and dwellings resulted in something other than a failure.
 
FK4 said:
The Christian Science Plaza is hands down the coolest architectural space in Boston, and of the best I've seen in any city. The two old churches contrast so well with the huge plaza and pool, surrounded on two and a half sides with poured concrete buildings that actually really make the project awesome. Unlike a lot of brutalist buildings that are intrinsically cool looking on paper, the buildings at the CSC are like a modern architecture incarnation of a truly grand civic space. I dont even think they need any washing or improvements, though I'm sure it might help.

Despite being excited about the new tower, I do worry (but only slightly) that it will disturb the overall feeling of place that the plaza has now. It really is one of Boston's most successful places, and a happy example of where large scale clearance of older buildings and dwellings resulted in something other than a failure.
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It is the closest thing we have in Boston to a classic "cathedral square". The master plan works very well, and the modern buildings contrast very nicely with the two old churches.

There is a spectacular visual effect in the "colonnade building" (not the Hotel, the long low-rise in the CSC. The colonnade of arches along he reflecting pool are technically Romanesque arches (rounded tops), but because they are set on a diagonal, depending on visual perspective they look either Romanesque or Gothic (pointed top). So they match BOTH the old Mother Church (Romanesque revival architecture) and the larger newer Mother Church (Gothic revival architecture).
 
Mmm I see absolutely zero gothic influences in the newer church. That's Renaissance classicism in the vein of St Peter's Basilica. No pointy arches to be found.

the-mother-church-plaza.jpg
 
kz1000ps said:
Mmm I see absolutely zero gothic influences in the newer church. That's Renaissance classicism in the vein of St Peter's Basilica. No pointy arches to be found.

the-mother-church-plaza.jpg
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OK -- boy are you ever right. I don't know where I got the idea that there were some gothic arches in either building. I cannot find any on the exterior of either the old or new Mother Church.

Sorry!
 
JeffDowntown said:
OK -- boy are you ever right. I don't know where I got the idea that there were some gothic arches in either building. I cannot find any on the exterior of either the old or new Mother Church.

Sorry!
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Is this sarcasm? Kp is right.. Neither are Gothic in style. One is Renaissance and one is Romanesque.

cca
 
Nope. It just seems that way online.
We are so used to everyone standing their ground on something in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that a simple oops you're right and I'm wrong is now so alien to us.
 
cca said:
Is this sarcasm? Kp is right.. Neither are Gothic in style. One is Renaissance and one is Romanesque.

cca
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No sarcasm, just a genuine apology. Clearly no gothic arches are evident there.
 
Unfortunately most convos on the internet need one of these babies:

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