MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. and Mass. Ave | Back Bay

Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

That is a pretty conservative design but given the history of the site it's probably what most of the proposals will look like. Better than what's there.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Its grossly out of scale
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

jass said:
Its grossly out of scale
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Grossly out of scale with what? It matches what was torn down and/or the height of the Gehry addition.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

The only 'gap in urbanity' I see in the picture is that small plaza on the north side of Boylston, halfway between Mass. Ave. and Hereford. One purpose of that is probably to provide an entrance to the Hynes T station. (Which badly needs an elevator -- perhaps that can be another result of this project?)
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

I'm with jass. The shadows cast on the historic Turnpike (a renown example of mid-late 1960s highway engineering) will be devastating to its unique, concrete charm. And just imagine all the traffic this will bring to the sedate, pastoral intersection of Boylston and Mass Ave.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Icon Architecture (who did that rendering) is also doing the Avenir and did Maverick Landing in Eastie. Their work isn't the most cutting edge but I do like it.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Ron Newman said:
The only 'gap in urbanity' I see in the picture is that small plaza on the north side of Boylston, halfway between Mass. Ave. and Hereford. One purpose of that is probably to provide an entrance to the Hynes T station. (Which badly needs an elevator -- perhaps that can be another result of this project?)
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South side of Boylston, just west of Hynes will remain uncovered, the render shows that. Right now, the short stretch of turnpike between Mass Ave and the Hynes is really deadening, so IMO even a small part uncovered will still have much negative effect.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Very tame indeed but not unexpected from the likes of Trinity. Thanks for Avenir(I think) but now it's time to go back to making Franklin Field look (slightly) prettier. I would count on Carpenter and Weiner at least to have something worth looking at in the cards.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

bbfen said:
Grossly out of scale with what? It matches what was torn down and/or the height of the Gehry addition.
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Currently the tallest structures in this area is the elegant steel fencing protecting pedestrians from the historic turnpike that czsz describes. By going well above the what has been the established highest point for decades, the architects are disrespecting the neighborhood. The wind and shadows caused by this project, and the loss of sunlight to the cars on the pike is disastrous.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

jass said:
Its grossly out of scale
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Mass Ave. in the immediate vicinity already consists of three to ten story buildings, and further down by Huntington they get into the teens. So how are the proposed ten to thirteen story buildings that far out of the ballpark? And did you suffer an aneurysm when Boylston Square was proposed?

My thoughts are that the rendering does no favor to the buildings -- they look fussy and bloated. Granted this is more a massing study than anything else, but you think they could've made the subjects a bit less uncouth. The stepping up in height towards the intersection makes sense, although I hope some architectural features will be added to emphasize that corner's importance as a major crossroads -- anything from a simple chamfered corner on up to a cupola, clock tower, or mini-spire. I know the cupola/clock tower ideas are pie-in-the-sky, but whatever.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Doh... I shoulda refreshed the half-hour-old page before I posted. Apologies to facetious jass.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

When I saw that rendering, I threw up in my mouth a little. It reminds me of the apartments along Revere Beach. Good for the area or not, this is the first development I've seen that I truly hate (unless they change the design).
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

I think the Heights of these buildings are fine, though I don't like the form of the right-most building at all. After a second-look I definitely think analogous building I see in that picture for the ones on Mass Ave is "Tremont-on-the-Common."

Also, taking directly from Jimbo: "Meanwhile, the neighborhood has submitted its own proposal, for two three-decker homes with no parking, across all four parcels."
 
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Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Two three decker homes? Way too much density in an already dense community. In fact, this thing should be 100% park to relieve the neighbors' lack of nearby open space - though it should also have a school and a grocery store. Oh, but of course the developers should still pay for the deck. How dare they greedily demand public handouts?
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

No, the highway should remain exposed lest the UFPs kill all those unsuspecting hipsters on lower Newbury and chain-smoking students at Berklee. It's all about seeing the grit of the transportation infrastructure and feeling edgy crossing over or driving under the crumbling state bridges.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Before we spend too much time blasting this design, this is only the first of about 4 or 5 proposals correct? Theoretically, this isn't the project with the "inside track".

Is the renovation of the Hynes T station entracne to Boylston part of this plan? If they are developing the parcel on the west side of Mass Ave it would be great if they included a T entrace on that side of with an underpass under Mass Ave.

This is boring mostly because of the flat rooflines, in an area that has lots of unique cornices and turrets.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

atlrvr said:
Before we spend too much time blasting this design, this is only the first of about 4 or 5 proposals correct? Theoretically, this isn't the project with the "inside track".

Is the renovation of the Hynes T station entracne to Boylston part of this plan? If they are developing the parcel on the west side of Mass Ave it would be great if they included a T entrace on that side of with an underpass under Mass Ave.

This is boring mostly because of the flat rooflines, in an area that has lots of unique cornices and turrets.
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It actually is on a fast track. If only Mother Mary, Martha and all the saints could help move this along!! It seems some with very specific interests have elected themselves, in the style of Eva Peron, to see a large tower developed on some portion of parcels 12 through 15. Why? Are the payoffs from air rights development too great to allow Berklee continue their ongoing tower development on owned terra firma adjacent to the pike? All is done in the guise of "protecting the best interests of the neighborhood constituency," so it must be fine----except the neighborhood doesn't realize what's happening. Have the walls tumbled down at your shock on my blind item?

And yes, reopening/redesigning the Boylston entrance and reopening the Mass Ave underpass will be mandated in any development of the respective parcels. In the massing pic published above, there is a nod to the existing footprint where the T entrance would be (in that proposal)
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Having a hearing problem, I would delight in seeing the Pike covered over completely in this area and reknitting Boylston west and east of Mass Ave. The proposal as pictured, I am sure will be tweeked considerably before final approval, but upon initial viewing, I find it fresh, practical and having at least a chance to get through the vetting process. As I've stated before in these pages, there's nothing wrong with in-fill architecture, as long as the streetscape is interesting and varied for pedestrians. Very few people are looking at skyline views of Boston all day and really don't care about the number of towers being proposed, unless they serve a specific purpose at a specific site, such as the two new ones at the Pru, both of which I would not mind being much taller.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Padre Mike said:
I find it fresh, practical and having at least a chance to get through the vetting process. As I've stated before in these pages, there's nothing wrong with in-fill architecture, as long as the streetscape is interesting and varied for pedestrians. Very few people are looking at skyline views of Boston all day and really don't care about the number of towers being proposed, unless they serve a specific purpose at a specific site, such as the two new ones at the Pru, both of which I would not mind being much taller.
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Right on, Padre. This is a keeper. We need to talk this one up.

But how about a miniature park in place of that vestigial hole the proposal leaves over the Pike? City could chip in for that.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

ablarc said:
But how about a miniature park in place of that vestigial hole the proposal leaves over the Pike? City could chip in for that.
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Paid for by "linkages" of course ;)

I agree with others that the scale is fine. I just hope that there is some architectural variety in these buildings, and some genuine detailing. This intersection pulls back together several victorian blocks. I don't mind modern interpretations, but lets not have another Church Park Apts., which would be successful by Minsk standards, but certainly fails as far as context in Boston.
 
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