kz's Photos from Various Skyscrapers

kz great pictures!!! Also your latest pictures are quite stunning....the first one is my favorite. You don't get that view anymore, since Hancock Tower is no longer used for observation, and when you're in the Pru the Hancock Tower blocks out a whole section you can't see, but you captured it perfectly so kudos! Also you need to tell us what your job is some day! Cause whatever it is, I think i want it, especially since you get to travel around Boston and get amazing views of the city. :D
 
Dude, for the last time go back to page 1 of this very thread to learn what my job is. I've already pointed you in that direction once or twice before.. it's not like it's some big huge secret.

And about the view being similar to that from the 'Cock, I like this view better, because you're at a height where you still feel like you're connected to and a part of the city, whereas when you're 780-ish feet up, your view is most certainly commanding, but at the same time you feel a bit detached from it all. From here you can still feel the hustle and bustle out on the streets.
 
First of all, I apologize, yes I see you are a US ground guy...my b. I was too busy enjoying the amazing pictures to read any of it, and also when I saw that that, I thought it was a joke, because it seemed like you gave into easily

And ya, it is better being in buildings closer to the ground, that still have a good view though.
 
czsz said:
Post Office Square perfect? It's bereft with problems. The traffic sewers on either side. The ridiculous pastoralist landscaping, which attempts to create an "escape" for the city in far too small a space (squares of this size should embrace urban bustle, not fence, or in this case, shrub it out). The lack of reason for anyone to be there save a lunching office worker on a sunny day. The consequent lack of diversity among those populating it, and its deadness any other time of day - and in cooler seasons. The monotony (if well-framing) of the architecture, particularly at sidewalk level. I wonder how long until its primary function (bag lunch garden for cube farmers) is supplanted by the infamous Greenway, the limitations of which are not too dissimilar.

Copley is fully enclosed and already has its campanile - Hancock. The architecture is better, the uses more diverse, and the foot traffic more regular, to boot. It actually feels like a hub. POSq (perhaps I should abbreviate it POX) feels like an afterthought...which it is.
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Poking the holy cow, eh? My man.

I might buy some of your arguments, but they seem to me to apply to any small urban park. Is Place des Vosges 'bereft' with problems, all fenced-in, filled with old ladies, its sidewalks swallowed in the dark repetitive colonade?

(squares of this size should embrace urban bustle, not fence, or in this case, shrub it out).
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'Should's' are hard enough to justify in ethics, let alone architecture (but then again, maybe both are just matters of taste...) Is there no room in the city for both (a little bit of) pasture, and pavement? Should the Dilberts go hungry? Not every clearing needs to be a representative zoo; though anecdotal evidence counts for little, I remember once seeing in POS a Muslim performing his sajda in the grass, while the rest of its denizens were lunching away.

POS is excellent urban punctuation; the only problem may be that it's about as much as Boston needs. Though no match for Copley, it's a fine ensemble piece, perhaps all the better for lack of prima donnas. Surroundings aside, the quality of design of the open space in Copley is infinitely inferior to that of POS. If it really has a problem, it's not so much that it's shrubbed in, as that it's moated along its longer sides by the two garage ramps. This in effect prevents access to the park for 2/3 of its length. At least the garage pays for the impeccable upkeep.

But now that you started the horticultural iconoclasm, I can't resist a bit of one-upmanship. I hate the stretch of Charles St. between the two parks. How'bout hacking off a strip from both and putting up buildings along Charles St, scaled to the Beacon Hill part of the street. Put a little roundabout with an obelisk in the middle, with gaps in the street wall maintaining the connection between the parks.

justin
 
justin said:
But now that you started the horticultural iconoclasm, I can't resist a bit of one-upmanship. I hate the stretch of Charles St. between the two parks. How'bout hacking off a strip from both and putting up buildings along Charles St, scaled to the Beacon Hill part of the street. Put a little roundabout with an obelisk in the middle, with gaps in the street wall maintaining the connection between the parks.
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A bold idea that'll never happen.

When you need so many people to agree for anything to get built, the boldest ideas get nixed automatically.
 
I like the idea of building along Charles St, thought being a fan of French urban design my approach would be a little different. Leave the Public Garden side alone (except maybe widening the sidewalk). Put two Mandarin or Rowes Wharf type buildings on the Common side, on either side of the axis from the PG. Make the the facades asymetrical mirror images so each reads as half of one building sliced down the middle and pulled apart. Put a semicircular plaza between them with a fountain in the middle, and put the obelisk in the fountain. Half of Columbus Circle would be a good model. Close one lane of Charles and put a sidewalk in front of the buildings. Keep the promenade that Connects the corners of the park at Charles and Boylston, shifting it and the baseball field if necessary. A quick crude illustration of the idea:
CharlestStDev1.jpg
 
^That's actually very close to what I had in mind, except that there'd be a mirror image of those buildings on the Garden side, the obelisk would be in the middle of Charles St, at the intersection with the park axis, and the two buildings on either side would embrace part of the semi-circle, forming a circular square with openings at the four compass points, two for Charles St. and two as gateways for the parks.

justin
 
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