Redesign Government Center

Re: Government Center

I hate City Hall Plaza / Gov't Center architecture as much as anyone but I do agree with Ross that there needs to be a focus on helping the neighborhoods. Moving City Hall is the kind of mess that will take years to sort out, in the meantime, there's lots of places that need good development and it can get started in short order.

As far as I can tell, Walsh is only interested in development insofar as it will make union jobs. If that happens to correspond to good urbanism, it's just coincidental.
 
Re: Government Center

Demolition of City Hall would be as reactionary and primitive as was the destruction of Penn Station. It's only real crime is that it isn't conventionally "pretty". An enlightened administration would know this and intelligently renovate it to function better or repurpose it to something else altogether, certainly not willfully destroy it.
 
Re: Government Center

It's a horrible city hall, but a creative, sculptural and oft-emulated architectural treasure. I've been advocating re-use as a museum but really anything that gets city hall out but gets something else in would be fine with me. Bonus points for developing as much of the existing plaza as feasibly possible.
 
Re: Government Center

It is so easy to build out the plaza base and Congress Street base of City Hall. With a little imagination, you could really turn it into an amazing and transparent civic experience. This exercise has been done and proven by architects and MArch thesis students alike. Saying "tear the thing down" is a juvenile knee-jerk reaction and would be much easier said than done. The amount of time and resources that destruction would take would just be an epic waste. The thing is solid concrete. Demo would be ridiculously noisy and messy. Let's work with the incredible architectural sculpture that we have and not erase the past.
 
Re: Government Center

When you pass into Government Center you do enter a New Boston, a Boston of isolated, soul-crushing buildings of mammoth scale and forbidding architecture (I understand this was not the point- but it very rarely is.), separated by wide barren streets. In the end I would not at all mourn this structure, and would see it's demolition as a positive symbol. (Well, that is, if anything worthwhile replaced it)

More practically, I think any proposal to get rid of City Hall Plaza, if it actually seemed to gain speed, would probably see a lot of opposition from the various users of the plaza, and if you keep the plaza you're kind of stuck with everything else- and I have similar doubts about housing the city offices in private office space... Whatever building it's in, City Hall should at least be noteworthy enough that it can be clearly recognized.
 
Re: Government Center

Boston should have a public plaza at City Hall. It should not be the City Hall Plaza we have now and doesn't have to be the same size or shape, but cities do require public spaces and city hall is a good place for one.
 
Re: Government Center

Why not just erect a new city hall somewhere on the plaza and then tear down the old one?
 
Re: Government Center

I guess I like the idea of the city owning its headquarters b/c I think ownership makes more sense. But, then again, I'm a real estate agent who owns my own home.
 
Re: Government Center

JohnAKeith said:
I guess I like the idea of the city owning its headquarters b/c I think ownership makes more sense. But, then again, I'm a real estate agent who owns my own home.
Click to expand...

I would hope that you like the idea because you think it makes more sense.

Would be nice to have some kind of development on the brick nothingness that is the plaza, anything would be better than whats there now. Doesn't have to be super fancy, but they can make a lot of improvements without tearing down city hall.
 
Re: Government Center

I lean towards the City owning its City Hall because I think the building should be a physical representation of the City. For all its warts, City Hall is a symbol of Boston. I don't think it should be torn down, but the plaza should absolutely be reworked.
 
Re: Government Center

The architecture firm ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge has real skill for the renovation of Brutalist structures into more aesthetically pleasing and functionally useful buildings. They designed the recent expansion of the Tufts Medical School building at Kneeland and Washington Streets

Perhaps they should be given a crack at City Hall?
 
Re: Government Center

This thread hasn't been posted on in a while but Marty Walsh brought up the City Hall and Government Center Garage today and he wants the community's ideas as well. The push seems legitimate this time.
"An informational meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. March 25
in Room 608 at City Hall. Walsh also asked residents to submit ideas
via Twitter to @Marty_Walsh and @NotifyBoston using #CityHallPlaza.

The city would like to receive ideas by May 4. Walsh said he hoped something could be in place by 2016 after the completion of the
MBTA’s new Government Center T stop ."
Click to expand...

Just thought I'd bring this up.

Full story here: http://www.bostonglobe.com/2015/03/09/mayor-walsh-wants-few-good-ideas-tranform-city-hall-plaza/nRmJ5VaDsS9ZlqXFEHLusN/story.html
 
Re: Government Center

How many times has a Mayor said we need to reimagine City Hall Plaza? Ad what has ever come out of it besides some renderings?
 
Re: Government Center

The City Archives Tumblr posted several unselected plans for Government Center today for "inspiration":

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Re: Government Center

That top one is pretty cool but it looks like what got built was clearly the best design. The last two especially look like something from the suburbs of Washington DC.
 
Re: Government Center

That confirms it: aliens had landed and mind-controlled every 1950s and 1960s architect.

That must be what they're hiding at Area 51.
 
Re: Government Center

First one would've been nice if it were an all glass façade but there still should be a tower to its left
 
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