Cosakita18
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I would assume they're getting ready to submit submit site plans for Phases (or "blocks" as they call them) 2-3.
Portland Foreside | 58 Fore Street | Portland
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TC_zoid
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They should put some effort into looking for a prominent tech company to lease office space in the yet to be developed phases, in addition to the housing and hotel plans. I can't imagine why a tech company with a progressive social mindset (youth) would not want to locate in this area. I've been traveling a lot for work around the country and for the most part, it's depressing. Portland is so close to Boston with its tech and educational offerings, and my God, simply look at the recreational options with Southern Maine.
portlandneedsnewarena
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I totally agree. Disappointing! What could have been in that prime location. Scale of 1 to 10 I'd give it a 3.
Seriously....I've seen better looking state office buildings.
The architect who I am not sure, but believe was Perkins and Will of Boston, should be totally embarrassed by this monstrosity. There is nothing about this black box that inspires. There was no attempt to make the building mesh with its environment and it is incredibly sad that the waterfront is now stuck with this place. The city is complicit in this as well as they have failed over and over to apply decent design standards i.e. the green glob on Anderson street. The city is also incapable of displaying a minimal standard of good urban design. So many of the streets in this area have become tunnels with no connection to the natural world.
LOL "the green glob on Anderson Street" – are you talking about Bayside Anchor, the winner of multiple national design competitions and an AIA citation?
aianewengland.org
I agree that the Fore Street view of this building (pictured in the photos above) isn't flattering, but there's another building scheduled to be built on that lawn, so it's not designed to be viewed from that angle. It's also using much, much higher quality materials than most of the other new buildings going up in this neighborhood.
IMHO this looks a lot better and calmer than the Covetrus office building going up just down the street, which is a hot mess mashup of cheap-looking brick and glass.
Bayside Anchor Apartments | Kaplan Thompson Architects – New England Architecture Awards
CITATION – RESIDENTIALBayside Anchor Apartments, Portland, ME Kaplan Thompson Architects, Portland, ME Jeff Stevensen Photography
aianewengland.org
I agree that the Fore Street view of this building (pictured in the photos above) isn't flattering, but there's another building scheduled to be built on that lawn, so it's not designed to be viewed from that angle. It's also using much, much higher quality materials than most of the other new buildings going up in this neighborhood.
IMHO this looks a lot better and calmer than the Covetrus office building going up just down the street, which is a hot mess mashup of cheap-looking brick and glass.
DanielPWM19
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Looks like they took an old mill, painted it flat black, and called it good. Why???
matt.greeson
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I'm so surprised I'm the only one who seems to like this building. I'm a comparatively recent transplant but I really like the contrast of this simple modern with Portland's existing architecture. And it is clearly high quality materials and well laid out. I give it an 8/10.
markhb
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It's like the State Office Building and the old Unum HO-1 had a baby.
You know what bugs me even more than the building? The exterior/street lighting in this whole area. This isn't limited to 58 Fore projects either - but I do genuinely hate the lighting around Sun Life and Building 12. There are two different horrible lights here - the ones around the exterior dining (the placement of these is confusing) and the street lights. Speaking of the street lights, what's with the vertical piece stick above the lamp? Bad design, it looks unfinished, like they forgot a piece.
Thames then has these "rustic" style lights with large round bulbs - in person the lantern/bulb parts looks too large, out of proportion with the vertical support. They look goofy in my opinion. (You can see the switch to the new lights on the other side of Freedom Way; you can also barely see they've added a light pole with three lights at the HVAC shed in front of Building 12 to illuminate the Portland Co sign... and the shed itself?)
Right at the road leading to the Sail Maine parking lot the lights on Thames change. They now have a much smaller lantern and a square bulb. I won't even mention all the different ways these are attached to the ground.
Thames switches back to the larger lantern/round bulb at Hancock and there may be some more square bulbs lurking around. Not pictured, but Freedom Way (you know, the private road) has a completely different type of streetlight - a teardrop. The whole area feels like a complete jumble. End rant.
Thames then has these "rustic" style lights with large round bulbs - in person the lantern/bulb parts looks too large, out of proportion with the vertical support. They look goofy in my opinion. (You can see the switch to the new lights on the other side of Freedom Way; you can also barely see they've added a light pole with three lights at the HVAC shed in front of Building 12 to illuminate the Portland Co sign... and the shed itself?)
Right at the road leading to the Sail Maine parking lot the lights on Thames change. They now have a much smaller lantern and a square bulb. I won't even mention all the different ways these are attached to the ground.
Thames switches back to the larger lantern/round bulb at Hancock and there may be some more square bulbs lurking around. Not pictured, but Freedom Way (you know, the private road) has a completely different type of streetlight - a teardrop. The whole area feels like a complete jumble. End rant.
i think it’s a well conceived design and executed with quality and agree that it stands out so much now because it lacks the context of the full-block build-out.
it is 10X better than half the crap people don’t even criticize on this blog. For some reason this one gets folks talking — and that’s not a bad thing, that’s what art does.
“An armchair critic is a person who knows or pretends to know a lot about something in theory rather than practice.”
TC_zoid
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Accurate, though someone who builds something is not always, or often, more qualified in knowledge than one who hasn't. I knew a man who built an addition to his house, on his own, and did not use a measuring tape or level. It was habitable, but that was all. I think that this new building will one day be considered an eyesore on the waterfront, like the Univ. of Maine Law Building is on the campus and neighborhood. At completion it's relatively okay, but down the road...