Liberty Mutual Tower | 157 Berkeley Street | Back Bay

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

AdamBC said:
datadyne007 said:
I'm just concerned about climate control... If the bridge really is going to be a glass box, that thing could reach well over 100 degrees even on a 80 degree day.
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Wouldn't that encourage people to cross at street level, thereby increasing street-level activity?
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Lol, I suppose you could stretch it that way, but it would mark a huge failure in the architectural design of it. I'm sure they have some kind of shading system that will get put on it... maybe some kind of metal grate ceiling or something.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

FSUViking said:
I take it you haven't seen many skybridges. I grew up in Minneapolis. We have the largest and longest skybridge system in the world. They even have their own app!
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Well no, I haven't but I wasn't talking about a sky bridge system, just a singular sky bridge. This one is going to be beautiful, and of the 50 or 60 I've seen, it will be the nicest bridge (note, no s).
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I like the way this building stands over a couple of the Bay Village streets, although I guess it blocks the Hancock in the first one. (Photoshoppy lighting, sorry — it wasn't the best time of day from this direction!)

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And one of these for good measure.
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Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Pauvre Bay Village. The Hancock view placed those streets in Boston. With this thing looming instead, it feels like its streets have moved to Hartford.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

The Hancock is not Boston's only defining symbol. There are nuances in those pictures that will always place Bay Village in Boston, Hancock or not.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Yeah, I just meant from a skyline/landmark POV.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I think Bay Villagers would be surprised to learn that the only thing placing their lovely neighborhood in Boston and not Hartford was their skyline view of the Hancock.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

The Bay Village's view of the Back Bay skyline has been obliterated by this fatty. This is yet another great illustration of why tall and slim is better than wide and stumpy.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

The loss of the view has little to do with the height or massing of the new building and everything to do with the decision to align the building along a cross street.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Riiiight. Being nearly 300' wide had nothing to do with it.

This is about twice as wide as the Pru, by the way.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I agree that the view is ruined by the 300 ft street-wall, but you only notice it because that street-wall is on a crossroad that makes it blocks views of the Hancock. Clearly standing in Statler Park the building doesn't look nearly as fat and if the hieght of the building had been aligned along Stuart St. instead of Columbus Ave., I doubt it would have had anywhere near the same impact on Bay Village views of Back Bay.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

There are some parts of NYC where you totally can't see the Empire State Building.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

It would have been better if it had been more like the park square building or park plaza.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I like this a lot because the art deco era was pretty much missed in Boston so this is a welcomed addition to the skyline to give it that good mix of old and new like New York and Chicago has.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I really don't see the art-deco in this. It is far more brutalist than anything else. I don't think even the architects themselves realized how brutalist the finished product would look.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I agree with stick...when it's done I think this will feel very deco.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

sidewalks said:
I agree with stick...when it's done I think this will feel very deco.
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I think a lot will depend on the crown. If it comes out the way I've imagined, then it would probably fit within the deco style.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

It looks art deco in the sense that it sort of echos the old Hancock a bit. Not a by the book take, but definitely borrowing. I like it so far.
 
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