Mandarin Oriental | 776 Boylston St | Back Bay

Which begs the question -- why build with limestone if it looks like concrete? That, and it tends to dissolve in urban environments.
I went to Tufts, and I always thought the library there (before its remodel) was an ugly-ass pre-cast concrete bunker--until I noticed tiny fossils in the stone cladding.
 
I just read that page on the Mandarin site. I hope their builder is a whole lot better than their copy editor. The blurb about the hotel seems like it was written by a drunk person.
 
chumbolly said:
I just read that page on the Mandarin site. I hope their builder is a whole lot better than their copy editor. The blurb about the hotel seems like it was written by a drunk person.
Click to expand...

The whole site is like that. I e-mailed to see what I'll get back.

I wonder if it's a translation from Mandarin from the original Chinese website into English by a non-native English speaker.

If I could read Mandarin, I'd check it out ... but, no such luck.
 
Still up for debate, here's another close up of the section-in-question

img5199lg5.jpg


Meanwhile..

img5188sf9.jpg


img5189rw8.jpg
 
Its tough to say whether that's limestone or concrete.. However, as that looks to be the back of the building, if that is indeed concrete, I would be fairly confident it is only because its the back and the front and sides will be natural cut stone. It has always been the rule rather than exception, that the back, non-street facing side of buildings clad in natural stone, that the back was always finished in a much plainer, austere finish, typically plain brick. This was the case for even the most high end buildings back in the day when stone was the norm. I'm sure that is the worst case scenario here as well
 
I would say that is without a doubt concrete.
 
I think that it is concrete too. If you look at the sides of the panel, you can almost see tiny air bubbles that were trapped when the concrete was set. Unless those are tiny fossils, though I doubt it...
 
chumbolly said:
Are you sure that's not limestone? Odds are it's precast, but limestone looks very similar.
Click to expand...
When the sun shines on limestone, it glows. Concrete doesn't do that. Has anyone seen this in the sun?
 
As seen in yesterday's sun. It was sparkling, but not really glowing

img5984jt5.jpg
 
I'm going to give my two cents ....

1) If this were limestone I think the joints would be real. 2) Such a thin and long header would require a lintel for structural support. 3) Natural stone in such large pieces would be expensive and I don't think they would spend the money on the back face of the building.
 
Some of these pieces are definitely concrete. Maybe other parts of the building will be limestone, and almost certainly some will be brick.

Maybe they mean there will be some lime in the concrete and just call it limestone for lack of a better term?
 
tocoto said:
Maybe they mean there will be some lime in the concrete and just call it limestone for lack of a better term?
Click to expand...


Now that is some marketing. :wink:
 
How did we get from limestone vs. concrete to Filene's? I'd say it's concrete.
 
From the North Point thread:

econ_tim said:
The facade is going up on ArchstoneSmith. I wonder if the bricks will be the same color all the way up. It looks a little bland so far.

facade1gt1.jpg
Click to expand...

The facade is also going up on the Mandarin Oriental. It's still under wraps but from what I can make out it looks almost identical to this. Unbelievable that a luxury hotel and multimillion dollar condo building in the Back Bay would use the same bland crap as rental apartments out in no-man's land, but it sure looks that way. Mandarin could be a major disappointment. A well-designed building wrecked by cheap finishings.
 
For some reason, I have always had a bad feeling in the back of my mind about this project. In the renderings, the building actually looked really nice. However, based on some past projects and some pics of other Mandarin Oriental buildings, I have gotten the sense that they tend to cut corners when it comes to the details. While it isn't done yet, and I am still hoping that it will look better than I think it will, don't be surprised if we are all incredibly disappointed.
 
Before we all go flying off the handle, I'll just say that the brick they used looks good. It's disappointing that so little of the facade will use limestone, but oh well.. let's not write this one off completely just yet.

Taken 5/7

img8953bo7.jpg


img8955kr6.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top