Northeastern University Multipurpose Athletic Facility | 262 St. Botolph Street | Fenway

[Bananarama]

Such an uninspired design. This should be a great opportunity for some grand super-structure like other arena complexes utilize. Instead they're getting an '80s office complex blended with some trendy rounded corners and a gray palette (in brick, that might as well be metal panel) to match NE's other recent additions. Glad to see the critical comments from the committee architects. This is a big miss by P&W imo

 

[stick n move]

Y

 

[BronsonShore]

God, I hate everything about this. Odd, old little gems like Matthews are what give cities magic.

 

[BeeLine]

Sorry but I like it. The Matthews was a dump. If this was directly on Huntington Ave. I would agree it’s not an appropriate design, but it’s basically on an alley butted up against a bunch of railroad tracks . I think it will be a great addition to the university.

 

[FahrradFahren]

I think there's architectural cues you could pull from the 1910-1930 style of arena (it would look pretty cool). Without knowing the details of the structural engineering, I think it probably should be possible to build around the existing arena - take the pitched roof off, put a steel frame around it to support your other athletic uses above, and renovate the bowl. That way you can say you kept the historic arena while still serving your need for a multipurpose complex.

I would love to see an attempt at this. I'm getting really tired of the "we're respecting the architectural history of the area by using brick!" attitude.
I feel like I rarely see large buildings proposed in Boston lately that take any more inspiration from the past than the cladding material. (Some smaller projects, like The Whitney Hotel and the proposed 264 Washington Street in Brookline have tried much harder to fit into their neighborhoods.)

If the existing arena is really so structurally deficient that it needs to be removed so be it, but the new building could still be designed with inspiration from the original Boston Arena. I can understand an aversion to historical revival architecture if you're low on funds, but for Northeastern I just don't get it.

 

[Equilibria]

Huntington News article:

Northeastern reveals updates to Multipurpose Athletic Facility project, but faces concerns of unwelcoming appearance - The Huntington News

Northeastern University presented updates to the 262 St. Botolph Street Multipurpose Athletic Facility to the Boston Civic Design Commission — Design Committee B for review and public testimony Oct. 22. The project is intended to replace the 114-year-old Matthews Arena as a priority of...

huntnewsnu.com

Oct 22 BPDA Presentation:

20241022 262 ST BOTOLPH NU MULTIPURPOSE FACILITY BCDC FINAL PRESENTATION.pdf | Powered by Box

bpda.app.box.com

Rawn and Hacin nailed it. Silver brick is just a terrible idea for this location and climate, especially applied to a building with a curving facade, which just enhances the feeling that they wish they could do metal.

They also have pictures in the presentation of the University of Iowa precedent, and jeepers do those panel boundaries look bad. That's one of the worst-looking brick facades I've ever seen... I can't imagine how someone could draw inspiration from it, except for the idea that metal paneling would look better.

The BCDC needs to tell them to start over, ideally with a plan to save the current arena bowl in some way.