introducing... Seaport Place

pelhamhall

pelhamhall

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I just got a package from the developers of the former World Trade Center complex buildings - they've re-branded and re-launched as "Seaport Place"

The office towers are renamed ?Seaport East? and ?Seaport West? - Boring name, but understated and conservative like the developer.

Surprising features about the complex:
- Office tenants get to order room service to their offices ? whenever! They get hotel services from the office towers (I think this is incredibly cool and can?t believe it?s not done elsewhere)
- 15 on-site shops, 7 on-site restaurants
- Almost 20 restaurants within just ONE block of the campus (the campus itself is four blocks).
- All the buildings are connected through skywalks or underground passages
- Boston?s first commercial green roof
- On-site MBTA Silver Line station and on-site water taxi dock
- New England?s second largest parking lot (Prudential is #1 biggest)
- Entrance/exit to BOTH I-90 and I-93 are immediately at the edge of the campus
- Full-block footprints allow retail shops to abut the street

http://www.SeaportPlaceBoston.com

For everyone?s bitching about the horribleness of the Seaport District, I ask of you this? is Seaport Place the best example of this new urbanism manifest in Boston today? I'm not asking if it's great architecture, I'm asking if it is our best example of the "walkable, full-lot building footprint, retail shops with awnings, entrances and signage at pedestrian level, all built directly on a transit hub" style of architecture that we think we want to see?

Or does the stubbiness of the FAA-chopped buildings inherently doom these buildings - and all buildings forever in this district?

Curious for thoughts. I am working on an unrelated project in the Seaport and laugh how buildings like Park Lane are "on paper" everything we say want on this board, and then in reality... the execution is crap.

One of my best friends worked on this branding exercise, he sent me the pics - taken by John Horner, a very awesome and brilliant architectural photographer:

HORNER_KHJ_09072_133-72.jpg


HORNER_KHJ_09072_025.jpg


SeaportWest.jpg


SeaportPlace.jpg


HORNER_KHJ_09072_278-72.jpg
 
Thanks for the nice pictures! (but I would have gone with Fresh Fish City, with Dorsal Fin and Pectoral Fin.)
 
Having walked around the Seaport numerous times I can say that these buildings are quite nice to walk around. They really are the only life in the area. The stuff built since is, IMO, worse both in design and in how it addresses the street level experience. When the Seaport fully builds out I think these buildings will be more central to people's experience in the area then we would think now.

That isn't to say they are prefect. The area still has all the flavor downtown Los Angeles. The area needs more variety and building as many midrise office/condo towers is a terrible idea.
 
Interesting

A 2,300 space undergroung garage! That must be the largest underground garage in Boston.

The Green Roof/garden looks good.

According to website only 1 whole floor is available so they must be doing good
 
I don't understand the street plan in the area.

Can someone please explain why WTC Avenue is elevated over Congress Street?

And for that matter, why is Summer Street elevated over A Street? And also over Haul Road, which becomes Boston Wharf Road?

WTC Avenue, especially, seems to cut off pedestrian connections and street life.
 
This used to be an area dominated by freight railroad tracks and sidings, serving the piers. Some of the streets were built on former railroad rights-of-way, I think.
 
Ron Newman said:
This used to be an area dominated by freight railroad tracks and sidings, serving the piers. Some of the streets were built on former railroad rights-of-way, I think.
Click to expand...

History become ironic when you consider the failure to serve this area with any form of rail transportation.
 
There is lots of weirdness to the layout in the area. I don't understand why the highrises face their narrow end to the water; I'd think they'd want to maximize the number of offices with views of the water.
With Seaport Blvd exposed to the water on one side, Congress St becomes the natural candidate for the "Main St" of the area, a long street lined on both sides with street walls. But all the buildings have their service entrances on Congress St, destroying the hope of a real pedestrian friendly street (the fence running through the middle of Congress St doesn't help). They all face onto the stubby Seaport Ln and B St. Instead all the buildings should have been turned to have their broad sides facing the water, with a service alley running behind them, and another row of higher buildings on Congress St. This would maximize views of the water, conceal the service alley, and provide a streetscape on Congress St.
I'm fine with the park on D St, but why is there another park right on the other side of the street? One would have been sufficient. The parks are quite nice by the way with nice landscaping and sculptural features.
 
The map in the "Our Neighborhood" section is pretty laughable. "Hey look guys! The Seaports all built out!"

All joking aside, I'm not a hater of this development. I just think it's hard to tell what the final product will be like when we're really only about 20% of the way there.
 
Congress Street has a wonderful streetwall from the bridge through Boston Wharf/Haul Road. Then it enters wasteland. The warehouses along the first stretch should be the model for the streetwall down - and I agree that the strange orientation of these seaport buildings complicates the streetscape there.
 
Have they been renamed? I was there yesterday and the sign said "WTC East"
 
Shepard said:
I don't understand the street plan in the area.
Click to expand...

As Ron said it is due to all the old rail yards in the area so many roads were elevated to travel above the tracks. Personally I love it as it gives the area a really distinct feel.
 
Is the remaining track along the Bypass Road still in use? I notice it parallels Summer Street near the BCEC and ends at the Drydock...
 
Shepard said:
Is the remaining track along the Bypass Road still in use? I notice it parallels Summer Street near the BCEC and ends at the Drydock...
Click to expand...

The pavement has "railway xing" signs that are fairly recent, so Id guess it's at least possible to use it.
 
^look more closely; it's no lie.

The funny thing is that every building shown in that graphic actually exists today. The discrepancies between the graphic and the photo are caused by:

a) the photo is at least 2-3 years old. Note that the Renaissance Hotel is not even "out of the ground"

b) the graphic/cartoon conveniently reduces the vast open space between Congress and Summer to an innocuous median strip; the same magic was applied to the formerly-known-as-McCourt parcels.

...creative license to the max.
 
I love the artwork - but it's such a stretch! Or a squeeze... or a nip/tuck, or a... lie. At least they did it in cartoon style, whereas Fan Pier uses photo-realistic trickery to manipulate the distance to downtown - that's a much more devious fraud because you assume it's real! A cartoon, by definition, says "this is whimsical and fantastical"

I checked out the artist that made that map, she has some neat architectural cut-out drawings and maps (looks to be mostly England) her website is http://katherinebaxter.com/
 
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