One Greenway (Parcel 24) | 0 Kneeland Street | Chinatown

Re: Parcel 24

That's a very, very good point - all construction should be halted near roadways and train tracks. The toxins are killing our children! We will all die!

Also, all construction should be halted near our precious Greenway and all construction should be stopped that might put a shadow on the Common or Garden.

And while we're at it, all construction should be halted on the waterfront so that the people of Boston can enjoy the waterfront and not just fat-cat condo-owners.

We should also halt all construction that is near a historic building or a neighborhood where people live too.

Then we should complain that there is no affordable housing.

And while we're at it, we can complain about companies like Fidelity and their pesky habit of building facilities in other states that take jobs away from Boston.
 
Re: Parcel 24

from the article:
"I think that with this project, history will not have to repeat itself and the street will go back to being what it once was?

hmm. Isn't that, "history repeating itself?"
 
Re: Parcel 24

From today:

Friday, August 22, 2008

Chinatown?s Parcel 24 to connect past with future

Boston Business Journal - by Michelle Hillman Boston Business Journal

The developers of a 325-unit residential project are moving forward with plans bring back neighborhood uses lost nearly 40 years ago when the Central Artery tore through Chinatown.

The project, known simply as Parcel 24, is being proposed by the Asian Community Development Corporation and New Boston Fund Inc. It?s one of the few residential projects moving ahead during a time of market turmoil.

Developers that have been unable to secure financing for large construction projects have been forced to put plans on hold, and residential construction in Boston has all but ceased.

Jeremy Liu, executive director of the Asian CDC, said the project is not as exposed to market conditions because half of the units are designated as affordable. In addition to the 325 units ? 70 of which are to be rentals ? the 20-story tower will contain 5,500 square feet of commercial space and 6,000 square feet set aside for community uses. The project contains 10,000 square feet of open space and has a parking garage for 175 cars.

?We think it?s a great project,? Liu said. ?If you look carefully at the market you will see select developments that are still going forward.?

Liu said the Parcel 24 was not in the same situation as other large construction projects sidelined when the national credit crunch reduced the amount of debt available to developers. Parcel 24 is eligible for tax credits due to the affordable component.

Liu and New Boston Fund earlier this month filed a ?Draft Project Impact Report? with the Boston Redevelopment Authority that updated the design for the project?s central open space. The project still needs to be approved by the BRA. Liu expects the permitting could be completed by the fall.

John Palmieri, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, said he believes the project will benefit the neighborhood. He said adding affordable housing to Chinatown is an important part of redeveloping the site. While Parcel 24 is in the permitting stage now, Palmieri said it will be tough to predict what the market will look like in two years when the project will likely be under construction.

The Asian CDC and New Boston Fund originally responded to a request for proposals from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority in 2005.

The team was designated by the Turnpike Authority the in 2006. The parcel of land the project will be constructed on is owned by the Turnpike. The land was taken by eminent domain and used by the Turnpike to construct the Central Artery. The completion of the Big Dig removed the ramp and enabled the block to be redeveloped. Previously, Parcel 24 was home to an immigrant community of more than 300 residents and a number of retail shops.

Michelle Hillman can be reached at mhillman@bizjournals.com.
Click to expand...

LINK
 
Re: Parcel 24

Dear god.... so much text. So here are the good bits.
p2401vn8.jpg


p2410qf5.jpg


p2414tp5.jpg


p2415xv5.jpg


p2416bf5.jpg


p2417lp3.jpg


p2418ul3.jpg


p2419jk0.jpg


p2420sx0.jpg


p2421jk8.jpg


p2422ck4.jpg


p2423co6.jpg


p2427ev6.jpg


p2426tb6.jpg


p2424ic3.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: Parcel 24

Didn't we just build a slightly less ambitious version this project at 1330 Boylston Street?

I don't think this is a bad project per se, but can we please try something other than another collage of disparate, unresolved facade materials? It looks like the architectural equivalent of an extortion letter.
 
Re: Parcel 24

Thanks for posting the renderings for us. I hope the housing helps.
 
Re: Parcel 24

Beton Brut said:
Didn't we just build a slightly less ambitious version this project at 1330 Boylston Street?

I don't think this is a bad project per se, but can we please try something other than another collage of disparate, unresolved facade materials? It looks like the architectural equivalent of an extortion letter.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. I also feel it's time to put that plastic paneling to bed. It's way over-used at this point. Every new project in Boston features it somewhere.
 
Re: Parcel 24

Fifth-rate amateur design.

Blame the process, blame the community. Blame the architects' abdication of design professionalism. Blame 779 pages of blather masquerading as wisdom and insight.
 
Re: Parcel 24

Sorry to sound redundant, but this is frustrating - it seems like this is the standard design for many new residential projects. I feel like I would be more receptive to this design if it hadn't been done multiple times before. The gradually stepping down of the original proposal was far superior, IMO, and that design wasn't even that groundbreaking.
 
Re: Parcel 24

Look at its effect at streetlevel: repetitive, bland, vacuous. Wrong as only non-professionals can get it with their complete lack of understanding. They'll like it, however; after all, it's theirs.
 
Re: Parcel 24

Agreed. Disappointing to say the least. It looks way too institutional as well. It looks like a hospital complex, and one in Burlington, at that. The lower portion looks like a puny, unwanted growth.
 
Re: Parcel 24

Beton Brut said:
Didn't we just build a slightly less ambitious version this project at 1330 Boylston Street?

I don't think this is a bad project per se, but can we please try something other than another collage of disparate, unresolved facade materials? It looks like the architectural equivalent of an extortion letter.
Click to expand...


Did anyone see the feature in the Globe a few weeks back about the BRA's new head planner? I don't remember precisely, but the article said that he had a hand in every project that's been built in the last 10 years (and by extension currently being built).

I remember thinking that that was alot of power to have concentrated with one person; do you think that the similiarities between this massing and 1330 Boylston are a direct result of one person's predilection for particular design moves...?
 
Re: Parcel 24

I don't see why we are directing venom toward the neighborhood and the "non-professionals." After all, "non-professionals" don't do 3-D renderings, and it's not like anyone in Chinatown said, "hey, why don't you guys throw up another variation on the 1330 Bolyston-Merano-One Charles-Avenir theme, perhaps capturing some of the essense of that wonderfully sterile new housing project that Northeastern is building."

No, this one's on Goody Clancy, no doubt with a soupcon or two of BRA input. And there's no point picking specifically on Goody Clancy, since the many clones of this building, some slightly better, some slightly worse, have many different architects.

Indeed, it's usually at this stage in a thread when someone says, "looks like Sert" in response to "looks like s*&t." If we could be honest, we'd concede most of Sert looks like s$#t, but that's against the current design orthodoxy.

So I'm going to go full John Silber-meets-Tom Wolfe philistine here and peg the blame on the current vacuity of the architectural profession as a whole. It's the post-PoMo "professionals" who have this inexplicable fascination with Lego block massing made easy with precast materials. Alas, these "professionals" don't seem to care or understand streetscape any better than their modernist and PoMo predecessors. The current generation of architects has had an unprecedented amount of formal "professional" training. Shoot, even the lead hack at the BRA has far more "professional" training in architecture than Charles Bullfinch ever did. I say, bring back the "non-professionals." There's got to be a kid in Chinatown with a knack for sketching who has a feel for the vibrancy of the neighborhood but thinks Sert is a breath freshener. I say, find him and hand him a charcoal pencil. At least then we MIGHT get something different - and if the result still disappoints, THEN we could blame the neighborhood "non professionals" in good conscience.
 
Re: Parcel 24

The problem isn't in the massing or the styling of the buildings; the problem's in the programming, which is ignorant and unprofessional. Those are decisions that can be made by an architect but usually aren't.

You could say that this project was doomed before it achieved physical form. We concentrate too much on form in this forum; the most important decisions on a building in an urban context are usually made before it achieves tangible form.
 
Re: Parcel 24

What do you mean by 'programming'? I thought this was a residential project, not an entertainment or retail venue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top