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

Insomnia last night had me realizing I have never seen a full map of all of the air rights parcels drawn out. After a bit of sleuthing I found this 2000 document from when they drewout all of the parecls and numbered them. the first full map denoting each parcel is on pg 14 followed by breakdowns of each section starting on pg 23.

I figured some others on this form would be interested in this.

http://www.nabbonline.com/files/Turnpike_Air_Rights_Civic_Vision.pdf

Very cool hope I live to see it...(im 35)
 
Lol. I went to a lot of the meetings that resulted in that lovely PDF. Nice ideas, but unlikely to be very relevant with the current mayor and the BPDA. I'm sure they'd want to do a new study rather than follow a 20-year-old report.

It's a lot like the Seaport Public Realm Plan (a contemporary to the pike report), which had no teeth and therefore we are not getting built what was planned.

When they don't make these plans part of the zoning for the city, they're just a lot of meetings resulting in nice ideas that go nowhere.
 
Lol. I went to a lot of the meetings that resulted in that lovely PDF. Nice ideas, but unlikely to be very relevant with the current mayor and the BPDA. I'm sure they'd want to do a new study rather than follow a 20-year-old report.

It's a lot like the Seaport Public Realm Plan (a contemporary to the pike report), which had no teeth and therefore we are not getting built what was planned.

When they don't make these plans part of the zoning for the city, they're just a lot of meetings resulting in nice ideas that go nowhere.

Right, it's actual rezoning processes that matter.
 
i must remain reluctantly optimistic. They upzoned the Harbor Garage, Garden Garage and possibly the Pierce? Three..... nevermind: last night i arrived on a flight to San Franciso; we are terrible.
 
I'm 67 and I'm still waiting for the Blue Line extension to Lynn that was proposed in the 1960's! I don't think I'll make it.

I have more faith in the private sector than I do with public sector transit projects. If Boston real estate continues growing like it has, i'd be surprised if pike air rights parcels aren't built on.

Other than pike air rights, there's also the possibility of air rights over North Station tracks.
 

The large gaps in the Back Bay grid at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street make travelling along these streets very unpleasant. An unsightly bus shelter at the 400- foot gap along Massachusetts Avenue provides inadequate protection from wind, noise, and exhaust fumes. Boylston Street, with a mix of large- and small-scale buildings, is the commercial spine of the Back Bay. The gap created by the Prudential Center, the Hynes Convention Center, and the Turnpike has created a long inactive zone along the streets and has isolated the block of small commercial stores west of Massachusetts Avenue.

Even early 2000s Boston knew how miserable it was.
 
Lol. I went to a lot of the meetings that resulted in that lovely PDF. Nice ideas, but unlikely to be very relevant with the current mayor and the BPDA. I'm sure they'd want to do a new study rather than follow a 20-year-old report.

It's a lot like the Seaport Public Realm Plan (a contemporary to the pike report), which had no teeth and therefore we are not getting built what was planned.

When they don't make these plans part of the zoning for the city, they're just a lot of meetings resulting in nice ideas that go nowhere.

The one concrete thing that did come out of this process was dividing the air rights into parcels. Those numbers are still used today and are what I was interested in.
 
BCDC Presentation: http://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/ae1752c8-bcd0-4911-99d9-82d0b6351fcd

I can’t detect any differences other than the extremely subtle change to the massing.

Compare slides 10 and 18 of that presentation. Yes, there have been some slight changes to the massings, but also:
  • The color is gone from both towers(!)
  • The "flying buttress"-like stilts under the plaza are gone and replaced with generic horizontal trusses
  • The undulating "wave" form of the plaza over the pike is diminished

Here were my first two reactions when this design was released a few months ago:
Absolutely. I love the prominent stilts. I love the color.
Also:
Along with the undulating glass on the plaza, this creates an almost "city gate" like those of yore. It'd be easy to put a building here that just "backs up" to the highway; this design does not do that.

Other than the plaza itself, they've removed the project's best design elements.

At first I thought the new white buildings were just massing models, but no, they're full renders. The updates are just the original design, stripped of color and personality. Who on earth would think this is better?

Ugh.
 
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Oh geez, did they really remove the colors? The bold coloring was the best part!
 
The pike entrance is changed but definitely isnt value engineered. Look at the terraced landscaping on the right with the red brick background color and diagonal wood cross bracing then that flowing landscaping on the left. Those other columns were never going to stay they were decorative.



 
The green is gone?!? This project went from awesome to slightly above mediocre.
 
God, that update is terrible. The green was epic.
Nimby Tom Menino would have been all over this.
i'm wondering if Boston has the best BCDC it can have.
659' to 496' at Hub on Causeway LOSE
750' to 601' at GCG LOSE
Winthrop Square Twin Towers WIN
31' off the East Tower at Winthrop Square. LOSE
627' down to 544' (83' shaved off) at 1000 Boylston LOSE
91' off both Tremont Crossing, leaving the City w/ 2 turds LOSE
BU Computer Science Bldg LOSE
Kenmore North LOSE
Dock Square LOSE
Losing the Green trim off these LOSE
oh, and just once i want the BCDC to ask a developer
Ladies and gentlemen, CAN YOU PLEASE BUILD THAT TALLER?
on another topic, what is the time table on the VIOLA?
 
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God, that update is terrible. The green was epic.
Nimby Tom Menino would have been all over this.
i'm wondering if Boston has the best BCDC it can have.
659' to 496' at Hub on Causeway LOSE
750' to 601' at GCG LOSE
Winthrop Square Twin Towers WIN
31' off the East Tower at Winthrop Square. LOSE
627' down to 544' (83' shaved off) at 1000 Boylston LOSE
91' off both Tremont Crossing, leaving the City w/ 2 turds LOSE
BU Computer Science Bldg LOSE
Kenmore North LOSE
Dock Square LOSE
Losing the Green trim off these LOSE
oh, and just once i want the BCDC to ask a developer
Ladies and gentlemen, CAN YOU PLEASE BUILD THAT TALLER?
on another topic, what is the time table on the VIOLA?
I need some cheese with this...
 
The green is gone?!? This project went from awesome to slightly above mediocre.

I believe those are massing models. That's the section of the presentation they're in, and earlier in the presentation the renders are still green and brown.

...it's confusing.
 

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