Photo of the Day, Boston Style: Part XVIII (2024)

[bigpicture7]

So long ago there's 2 dead car brands in the same shot!

Now that you mention it, "car brand deaths" (CBDs) is actually a pretty good unit of time to benchmark project timelines around here.

Let's see -
Plymouth: RIP 2001
Oldsmobile: RIP 2004
Pontiac: RIP 2010
Saturn: RIP 2010
Mercury: RIP 2011
Saab: RIP 2016
Scion: RIP 2016
So, since the turn of the century in the U.S. market, a major brand dies, on average, every 2.1 years.

Going by aB thread activity duration (which we all know reflects the official start/end of projects):
The Speediest Imaginable Project = 1 CBD
Lab building at 30 Hampshire ~2 years = 1 CBD
Ragon Institute Cambridge ~3.5 years = 1.7 CBDs
1001 Boylston (Car Gurus/Citizen M) ~6 years = 2.9 CBDs
The Alcott ~11 years = 5.2 CBDs
115 Winthrop Square Tower ~14 years = 6.7 CBDs
South Station Tower = disqualified since it's so old its start clearly occurred decades before aB existed

 

[RandomWalk]

Some things never change, like the last candy factory in Cambridge:

2004

2024

 

[#bancars]

The Pru has some fun (and impressive!) skeleton decorations at the moment:

 

[ritchiew]

 

[Charlie_mta]

View attachment 56729

Wow. Where is that?

 

[Java King]

Wow. Where is that?

Deer Island Sewage Treatment Plant adjacent to Winthrop.

 

[BeeLine]

As of 10/12 on a beautiful Autumn day.

 

[#bancars]

The Porter Square pigeon flock often likes to roost on top of the Target, making for a funny visual.

 

[Charlie_mta]

It's a "Target" in more ways than one! ^

 

[DZH22]

10/15 From Lynn

IMG_0311 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0329 by David Z, on Flickr

 

[stefal]

(not Boston but close enough....) Mt Auburn, a little past peak:

 

[DZH22]

10/30 From Woburn

IMG_0739 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0765 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0854 by David Z, on Flickr

 

[atlantaden]

Flew into Logan for a family gathering in VT. Took a few pics as we traveled north.

 

[kz1000ps]

 

[DZH22]

11/13 From Melrose

IMG_0194 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0275 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0276 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0319 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0377 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0384 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0392 by David Z, on Flickr

 

[stick n move]

Ive always loved the way this school looked. This is how brutalism could have actually worked imo. Raw concrete but with more classical design elements like proportionality, symmetry, order, beauty…etc.

Some more good examples include:

centre plaza

Link

The john regenstein library in chicago

Link

National theatre okinawa japan

Link

Arthur erickson building vancouver

Link

Anyang cultural museum, anyang, henan china

Link

Dc metro

Link

 

[chrisbrat]

Some of those are excellent examples of well executed brutalist design. Center Plaza, however...

 

[Charlie_mta]

Some of those are excellent examples of well executed brutalist design. Center Plaza, however...

Center Plaza looks good in that particular photo because it's surrounded by buildings. Half the problem with the GC buildings in general is that they sit stark and isolated amidst empty plazas. If they were on normal built-up city blocks, they would fare a lot better.

 

[stick n move]

Yea I agree center plaza is only bad in the context its in directly across from the dead, lifeless, and utterly soul sucking city hall plaza. If it were lifted from boston and dropped on a random curve in a european city center street-wall it would fit in perfectly fine.

 

[kz1000ps]

Ive always loved the way this school looked. This is how brutalism could have actually worked imo. Raw concrete but with more classical design elements like proportionality, symmetry, order, beauty…etc.

100%. On top of everything you said, I love how it plays with the sunlight and makes for patterns on top of patterns. It catches my eye every time I go by.

Plus, who among us isn't instantly seduced by this shot? You can almost reach out and touch the utopianism promised by the modernists!

And here's one more shot, taken yesterday morning