Lyrik Back Bay | 1001 Boylston Street (Parcel 12) | Back Bay

If I recall correctly, Parcel 11 is basically unbuildable, right? Because of the northern exposure of Fenway Studios? The state should pay to deck over the Pike there, make the garden under glass that we never got on the Greenway.
 
king_vibe said:
If I recall correctly, Parcel 11 is basically unbuildable, right? Because of the northern exposure of Fenway Studios? The state should pay to deck over the Pike there, make the garden under glass that we never got on the Greenway.
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Is Parcel 11 essentially Charlesgate to this ? I guess if the Fenway proposal goes through that would be the last big gap on this side. Hope with the Ink Block (NY Streets?) running out of room now maybe they will start to push air rights on the other side? One could only dream, I guess.
 
2/11 Core popping up from Brookline. I'm also 99% sure it's already making an impact from the river. The 1% uncertainty is that I just saw it at night and not during the day to confirm. Given the size of the core a week ago it's safe to think that it's well above the rowhouses.

IMG_8234 by David Z, on Flickr
 
king_vibe said:
If I recall correctly, Parcel 11 is basically unbuildable, right? Because of the northern exposure of Fenway Studios? The state should pay to deck over the Pike there, make the garden under glass that we never got on the Greenway.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the City's 2000 Turnpike Report said that air rights should never be granted for Parcel 11, unfortunately. Linked is a snippet of Page 68.


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king_vibe said:
If I recall correctly, Parcel 11 is basically unbuildable, right? Because of the northern exposure of Fenway Studios? The state should pay to deck over the Pike there, make the garden under glass that we never got on the Greenway.
Click to expand...

I love this idea, and started thinking of ways you could create at least a contiguous decked park connecting to both sides of Charlesgate, but looking at the grade of the Back Bay/Pike/CR/Newbury&Ipswitch/Fenway stretch here, it seems like it may be difficult (impossible?) to build even a flat deck here for a park that provides enough clearance for vehicles and still doesn't block the light from the studio. It would have to be the height of the Bowker overpass, right?

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You would need to get creative with the design. The south side could be cut diagnol from the Bowker to the P12 on ramp.
 
It really doesn't help that the Pike and Worcester Line here and west is more or less "at street grade". Parcel 12 seems to be basically where it starts dropping into it's trench. Maybe you could do something more easily if you drop the Pike further down?

That said, a careful reading doesn't suggest no development at all; rather no development that would impact their natural northern exposure. I would tentatively posit (not being an architect) that given that the 6-7 story buildings / garage across the pike aren't impactful you could probably work out something like a landscaper in the form of a low faceted wedge. - I played around in SketchUp and something in this "sky exposure plane/" envelope to borrow a NYC term would probably work if one pretends that Pike clearances don't exist.

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Stlin said:
could probably work out something like a landscaper in the form of a low faceted wedge.
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The cost to develop the parcel for profit-generating reasons probably cannot be recouped with the height restriction there. Decking the Pike is ridiculously expensive and you need to be able to get a certain square footage to make it work.

Some kind of green space here is probably the best use.
 
Stlin said:
It really doesn't help that the Pike and Worcester Line here and west is more or less "at street grade". Parcel 12 seems to be basically where it starts dropping into it's trench. Maybe you could do something more easily if you drop the Pike further down?

That said, a careful reading doesn't suggest no development at all; rather no development that would impact their natural northern exposure. I would tentatively posit (not being an architect) that given that the 6-7 story buildings / garage across the pike aren't impactful you could probably work out something like a landscaper in the form of a low faceted wedge. - I played around in SketchUp and something in this "sky exposure plane/" envelope to borrow a NYC term would probably work if one pretends that Pike clearances don't exist.

View attachment 21571View attachment 21572
Click to expand...
That and maybe allow something similar in dimensions to what was on the south side of Newbury St before the Pike was built. The economics of decking may not allow that though.
 
Stlin said:
It really doesn't help that the Pike and Worcester Line here and west is more or less "at street grade". Parcel 12 seems to be basically where it starts dropping into it's trench. Maybe you could do something more easily if you drop the Pike further down?

That said, a careful reading doesn't suggest no development at all; rather no development that would impact their natural northern exposure. I would tentatively posit (not being an architect) that given that the 6-7 story buildings / garage across the pike aren't impactful you could probably work out something like a landscaper in the form of a low faceted wedge. - I played around in SketchUp and something in this "sky exposure plane/" envelope to borrow a NYC term would probably work if one pretends that Pike clearances don't exist.

View attachment 21571View attachment 21572
Click to expand...

Very cool visualization.

Looks like minimum highway clearance height is 16' and the average building story is about 14'. Instead of your wedge, I'm conceptualizing frontloading the development as close to Newbury as possible. Let's say you could steal the Pike-adjacent parking lane from Newbury directly across from 429 Newbury (crimson roof H in your render). If you could fit a legal at-grade lobby and stairs/elevators in that very narrow stretch, you could maybe get away with that plus 6 additional stories right on Newbury. Then you could build over ~60' of the Westbound Pike with just those 6 upper stories, which is comparable to width a "leg of the H". If you drop down immediately to a surface park over the Eastbound Pike, and perhaps taper to a total of 5 upper stories directly across from the studios (facing the garage and Harvard Club parking lot on Newbury), you MIGHT be able to avoid blocking their light.

The question is, even if you take into account the intangible public good caused by decking the Pike and creating a new park linking Mass Ave to Charlesgate, would that hypothetical development including 5-6 stories ~60' wide in the Back Bay make the cost of the deck worth it?
 
MjolnirMan said:
Very cool visualization.

Looks like minimum highway clearance height is 16' and the average building story is about 14'. Instead of your wedge, I'm conceptualizing frontloading the development as close to Newbury as possible. Let's say you could steal the Pike-adjacent parking lane from Newbury directly across from 429 Newbury (crimson roof H in your render). If you could fit a legal at-grade lobby and stairs/elevators in that very narrow stretch, you could maybe get away with that plus 6 additional stories right on Newbury. Then you could build over ~60' of the Westbound Pike with just those 6 upper stories, which is comparable to width a "leg of the H". If you drop down immediately to a surface park over the Eastbound Pike, and perhaps taper to a total of 5 upper stories directly across from the studios (facing the garage and Harvard Club parking lot on Newbury), you MIGHT be able to avoid blocking their light.

The question is, even if you take into account the intangible public good caused by decking the Pike and creating a new park linking Mass Ave to Charlesgate, would that hypothetical development including 5-6 stories ~60' wide in the Back Bay make the cost of the deck worth it?
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Rethought and expanded the area I modeled to include Parcel 12. *IF* you can get away with the 7ft of Newbury parking lane as a fire escape, and deal with having the on ramp, something like this is basically the only rectilinear shape I could make that wouldn't block the light. Though a quick flip through the parcel 12 PIR suggests that shadows cast by buildings to the north aren't as much of a concern compared to easterly. If it works out, I don't see why it couldn't extend to the full width of the westbound side. If I were to build it, I would probably incorporate a garage redev, and foot bridge over. and that blob on the parcel 12 end would be the main entrance and floor area, accessed via parcel 12's concourse. Hopefully, that's enough floorplan area to be able to justify the deck. That depends on how much though they're depending on the gap between towers for light in the first place
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There was a brief discussion about Bowker/Charlesgate in the Kenmore/WHOOP thread & in addition to demolishing the central overpass to daylight the park again, I feel like you could easily expand the pedestrian sidings adjacent to both the east and west ramps over the Pike/rail. (The eastern such connector could integrate to a Parcel 11 linear park.)
 
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