Hall of Shame (CHOOSE 3)

[vanshnookenraggen]

Interesting, all three winners are transportation related.

 

[blade_bltz]

Ugh, Darth Vader lives another day.

I don't quite understand the hate for the South Bay interchange, unless it's proxy hate for the Big Dig. I mean, it'll eventually get built upon, right?

 

[czsz]

Are you serious? Boston can't even get its act together to build over a sunken highway that threads relatively narrowly through dense urban neighborhoods. How's it going to build over an elevated interchange without the equivalent of another Big Dig's worth of money and effort to bury it and/or deck the whole thing over?

 

[blade_bltz]

No, I was referring to that proposal we saw on this site a few years ago, Gateway Center or something like that? Obviously the highways themselves won't get built over, but all those flat empty parcels should...which should have the effect of blocking the ugly views.

 

[Ron Newman]

As much as I might have wanted to vote for Storrow Drive, the photo used here makes it actually look quite attractive.

 

[statler]

I agree it looks nice in that photo but I don't think we were supposed to vote on the photo but on the thing itself, which, everyone who has ever visited that part of town knows, is abysmal.

 

[Ron Newman]

For next year I'd like to nominate Church Park Apartments, across Mass. Ave. from the Christian Science Center. It walls off the East Fenway neighborhood from Mass. Ave. Even though it's lined with ground-floor retail, the storefronts and especially their signs are set back so far from the street, under a concrete overhang, that they are hard to see (and thus hard to keep filled).

Does anyone here remember why the Sheraton-Boston got nominated for this category? It is not outstanding architecture but it fits pretty well into the Prudential Center.

 

[statler]

I wonder if the Harbor Garage would has won if there wasn't a proposal to replace it that was being held up by the city?

This feels more political than aesthetic.

 

[found5dollar]

^ the same thing happened with the Congress Street Garage.

I think just big garages that are being talked about that year get voted in.

 

[datadyne007]

For next year I'd like to nominate Church Park Apartments, across Mass. Ave. from the Christian Science Center. It walls off the East Fenway neighborhood from Mass. Ave. Even though it's lined with ground-floor retail, the storefronts and especially their signs are set back so far from the street, under a concrete overhang, that they are hard to see (and thus hard to keep filled).

Does anyone here remember why the Sheraton-Boston got nominated for this category? It is not outstanding architecture but it fits pretty well into the Prudential Center.

Totally agree on Church Park. Also, I was wondering about the Sheraton too. Who even nom'd it and for what reason? There's no reason it should have even been included. It's already known I feel the same about Copley Place too.

I wonder if the Harbor Garage would has won if there wasn't a proposal to replace it that was being held up by the city?

This feels more political than aesthetic.

Each time a proposal to replace a garage gets made, we realize how detrimental the garages are to the urban fabric. I love Chiaforo's red X too.

 

[Ron Newman]

I didn't vote for Copley Place this round, but the problem with that development is that it utterly fails to relate to the surrounding streets, especially Huntington Avenue. They even fenced off part of the sidewalk when building it. To see how it mars Copley Square, all you have to do is compare it to the building that it replaced:

 

[TheRifleman]

Each time a proposal to replace a garage gets made, we realize how detrimental the garages are to the urban fabric. I love Chiaforo's red X too.

Congress and Harbor Garage have to go. The BRA should be promoting development on these two sights.

 

[czsz]

^^ To be fair that photo of what previously stood where Copley Place now is leaves a lot to the imagination in terms of how the old building interacted with the street, though I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Frankly, I'm surprised NOBODY is running around Boston screaming "TURN THE STORROW INTO ADDITIONAL ESPLANADE GREEN SPACE!!!1!!11one"

Burying the damn thing would probably provide open/green space equal to the RFKG and City Hall Plaza combined... and then some.

itsuckssobad.whydoesithavetoexist.D:

 

[Ron Newman]

There was talk of burying a few blocks of Storrow near the Hatch Shell, back when the existing tunnel structure appeared on the verge of imminent collapse. Then the state made an interim repair and kicked that problem down the road for a few years. I'm not sure when it gets revisited again -- probably not until the Longfellow project is finished.

 

[czsz]

There's been talk of turning it into a more traffic-controlled "parkway" with traffic lights and nicer landscaping.