Liberty Mutual Tower | 157 Berkeley Street | Back Bay

[BostonUrbEx]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

The precast mines are next to the Alucobond fields.

I can't stop laughing. :'D Perhaps a sign I should get some sleep.

This will be nominated comment of the year for the 2012 archBoston awards.

 

[joebos]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Cladding might be precast limestone panels. The only difference between that and typical concrete is the composition of the aggregate.

How can it be stone AND precast? Are you saying that it uses crushed limestone as part of the concrete? I guess that would explain the stone company's involvement in the project.

 

[stellarfun]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Why would you pay for real limestone 20 stories up?

The stone carvers will be busy for a decade at a cost of $20 million or so repairing earthquake damage to the National Cathedral, almost all the damage was to decorative stone. And $15 million to repair the cracks in the Washington Monument. So the real stuff has its cost.

 

[elleipsis]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

This building is indeed "stone and precast".

The stone is sourced (by Bybee) from the same mine as the limestone on the original Liberty building. The difference is that instead of being carved and laid up on site, it's sent to Artex Systems in Canada where it becomes an inlay face material
in a precast concrete panel.

Other common inlay materials for precast are brick and granite. Generally the material cost is not what makes these things expensive, it's the labor associated with installation. With the inlay panel approach you can install it 300SF at a time.

So yes, as far as the crane operator is concerned, it's precast.

 

[SeamusMcFly]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

On the crown. I hope those inlaid areas light up. I assume this is mechincal penthouse and would expect louvers here. If these don't light up, they should be louvers that match the color of the glass for continuity. Otherwise they offer almost nothing to the finished product.

The cornice is simple, but welcome. Why no finish at the top of the major setback?

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

This building is indeed "stone and precast".

The stone is sourced (by Bybee) from the same mine as the limestone on the original Liberty building. The difference is that instead of being carved and laid up on site, it's sent to Artex Systems in Canada where it becomes an inlay face material
in a precast concrete panel.

Other common inlay materials for precast are brick and granite. Generally the material cost is not what makes these things expensive, it's the labor associated with installation. With the inlay panel approach you can install it 300SF at a time.

So yes, as far as the crane operator is concerned, it's precast.

Thanks elleipsis. Out of curiosity, how thick do the inlaid pieces typically end up? Is it the same amount of stone as if you were installing a non-precast limestone facade?

 

[elleipsis]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

This photo shows the edge condition:

I would say this piece looks unusually thick. I suspect the less complicated (flat) panels have pieces somewhere around 1" to 3". A "real" load-bearing limestone building would be hard to come by today. Think pyramids of Egypt.

.. and I should add that so far I think this looks like a nicely executed example of the approach. Liberty Mutual can certainly afford it.

 

[Boston02124]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

down a crane

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I would say this piece looks unusually thick. I suspect the less complicated (flat) panels have pieces somewhere around 1" to 3". A "real" load-bearing limestone building would be hard to come by today. Think pyramids of Egypt.

I didn't really mean load-bearing. I meant instances when the facade is not in-laid in precast concrete sections. Aren't their instances where granite paneling (for example) is hung with anchor bolts drilled/epoxied into the granite?

 

[TheRifleman]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

When you see the pictures up-close the development looks good. When you see the backbay skyline pictures.......it seems they do no justice, but make it look like a big block of concrete with windows.

 

[czsz]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I glimpsed it from the South End the other day and it looked like an unfinished pile of very raw, nasty concrete. I wonder if there's to be some kind of final coating applied?

 

[Downburst]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Based on the last few photos, my opinion is that they should have lowered and widened the very slight setback there now 6 or 7 floors, so the project would resemble a stumpier Trump Tower in Chicago. Throw on a few extra floors- maybe a hundred feet worth- and this building starts to look a little bit less like a "big block of concrete with windows".

That way it could at least look a bit better from afar like it does from up close.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I think the name Fat Iron should stick.

 

[TheRifleman]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

The Windows are just too small. Looking at the development in those pics it looks like a prison.

Cell Block A--is being built in the Backbay. It looks a bit brutalist style...

I thought this development would be fine, I'm having doubts on this one and how it will eventually look in the city skyline.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Those windows are definitely not small. They are quite large.

 

[gooseberry]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

The way it blocks out the old Hancock from much of the South End is a bummer. Oh well.

 

[kz1000ps]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Sigh, why is actuarial architecture so joyless? (err don't answer that). The more cladding goes up on this thing the less I like it.

 

[kz1000ps]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Yesterday.....I left the ISO up way too high from the previous night and more or less ruined these shots....oh well:

Compare the above to this shot from two months ago:

Peek-a-boo:

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Wowza! Some *amazing* photos here! Some pretty cool shots with the Hancock in them too, she blends right into the blue sky.

 

[tmac9wr]

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

yea great shots KZ! The Hancock looks amazing in some of those shots.