Renovations to BPL's Johnson Wing | Back Bay

found5dollar said:
I took a class on Theater Architecture in grad school and all the architecture kids were also taking a class called "Humanizing Brutalism" at the same time. I imagine this is what that class was all about. Taking a hulking old building that one can not relate to, and pulling it back down to human scale with smart interventions.
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I would LOVE for City Hall to get similar humanising treatment. Transit advocacy work has had me visiting frequently lately and I'll admit to falling in love with the core aesthetic of the building. Today, it really does feel like how the Johnson Wing felt like before this work started — ageing public spaces straining to serve modern needs.

This renovation gives me hope for City Hall and Government Center Plaza. At the very least, City Hall Plaza and the space between City Hall and 1 Washington should be de-brickified and get something similar to the sidewalk treatment going on here.

The renovations to this wing are really pulling on my civic pride heartstrings.
 
found5dollar said:
I took a class on Theater Architecture in grad school and all the architecture kids were also taking a class called "Humanizing Brutalism" at the same time. I imagine this is what that class was all about. Taking a hulking old building that one can not relate to, and pulling it back down to human scale with smart interventions.
Click to expand...

Found -- All they need do is read Paladio or 2nd hand you can read
The Perfect House: A Journey with Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio
Paperback – September 9, 2003
by Witold Rybczynski (Author)
$14.99 new on AMAZON

The Four Books on Architecture Paperback – September 9, 2002
by Andrea Palladio (Author), Richard Schofield (Translator), Robert Tavernor (Translator)
Hardcover from $11.20
14 Used from $11.20
5 New from $350.61
Paperback $21.79
41 Used from $8.11
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Palladio: The Complete Buildings by Thomas Pape
Hardcover $14.99

By Rob Hardy HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER on October 7, 2002
Who is the greatest architect who ever lived? It's an impossible question, of course. Perhaps one that might get closer to a real answer is, Who is the most influential architect who ever lived? Witold Rybczynski has an answer, and it is a convincing one: Palladio. In _The Perfect House: A Journey with the Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio_ (Scribner), Rybczynski looks at the villas Palladio produced around the mainland of Venice in the sixteenth century, not as historic monuments but as useful and beautifully architectured homes. He places Palladio firmly within his times, but drawing on the classical architecture of Rome and drawn on by Inigo Jones, Thomas Jefferson, and countless others. It is hard to disagree with Rybczynski's conclusion about Palladio's influence, and after this book, a reader is likely to see Palladian themes not only in grand homes, but in diminished form in modern suburban ones as well.

Palladio was merely the son of a miller or maker of millstones; the historical record is not clear. He was trained as a stonemason, and early showed enough talent that Count Giangiorgio Trissino, of an old Vicenza family, noticed his ability. This was his introduction to higher things, especially his ticket to Rome, where the ancient buildings proved a continuing inspiration for his villas. He designed about thirty of them, several of which never were started and if started were not completed; clients of architects then and now faced over-optimism and reversals of fortune. Seventeen survive, some in excellent preservation and some a bit seedy. They are Palladio's main legacy, and remain beautiful and durable; most are still lived in. Rybczynski gives a wonderful introduction to the tools at Palladio's disposal - pediments, porches, entablatures, apses, and more.Read more ›
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we can send probes to the outer edge of the Solar System and pack a billion transitsors on a finger nail sized piece of silicon -- and they couldn't even imagine these

But as to art and architecture -- it is OK to admit that just like the Renaisaance in Art was way better that most of the stuff in the past 100 years -- well the same is true in Architecture
 
This is just so much better than it was before. Well done.
 
Snagged some pics last Saturday while I was there watching the pride parade:













 
Passed by this the other day and let me just say this is perfection. I was blown away. The type of smart enhancement to what we already have does wonders.
 
Heh, so you actually can go in there and walk around despite it not officially reopening until July 9? I wasn't sure if the doors were unlocked or not.
 
datadyne007 said:
Heh, so you actually can go in there and walk around despite it not officially reopening until July 9? I wasn't sure if the doors were unlocked or not.
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They have definately been doing a big of a soft opening, I walked past there at night on the 10th and there was some sort of party on the first floor.
 
Looks even better in person. Spectacular space now + streetscape. Much brighter, cleaner and those huge trees outside look unreal.
 
There's an entrance open on Exeter Street and a long corridor of those movable dividers (visible at right in the last photo of my set) and translucent tarps that guide you from that entrance to the grand staircase at the centre of the Johnson Building. So you can't exactly wander freely around the parts yet to be opened.

They've kept an entrance consistently open in the Johnson Building since the third floor is still in use (where I watched the pride parade from).
 
Opening july 9

https://www.boston.com/culture/lifestyle/2016/06/21/bpls-copley-location-will-finally-debut-renovations-july?s_campaign=bcom%3Asocialflow%3Afacebook

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This is a render it actually came out much better.
 
Wow! Such a freaking improvement!! One of the best architectural upgrades to any building I've ever seen! Won't be surprised to see the architects win a few awards on this one!
 
When I drove by this you mostly see the amazing new ground floor and the trees block the huge amounts of concrete above. Looked great.
 
I cannot stop singing praises for this renewed modern civic gem. It warms my heart and makes me proud for this city.
 
Same. Even tho brutalism hit us too hard(i think this example is brutalist) its honestly a huge part of Boston. I definitely think certain pieces need to be demolished but a few with a good retrofit will be good. I dont particulary like the style, but if updated tastefully, i think itll we be good to keep some of the character.

Kind of like the pru. Its not the greatest looking tower, but its Boston, and it has a great old school appeal to it and uniqueness that I like. I hope it never gets a glass reclad.
 
CSTH said:
Awesome. Next stop, City Hall...
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Definitely. This gives people a local, best case of how some of our modern buildings can be refit. Thoughtful use of color, textures, and lighting can do wonders for previously moribund spaces. Another good example for the Brutalist haters is the Carney Library at UMass-Dartmouth.

http://www.aia.org/practicing/awards/2015/library-awards/claire-carney-library/

http://www.american-architects.com/en/projects/project-review-detail/41359_claire_t_carney_library
 
Bos77 said:
Another good example for the Brutalist haters is the Carney Library at UMass-Dartmouth.
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But that doesn't really address the problem. While it's heartening that Brutalist buildings can be made somewhat attractive, that only works as long as the concrete is clean, the glass is clean, the walls are freshly-painted, etc.

Other architectural styles improve with age. Boston College doesn't need to clean and fully refurbish its (non-O'Neill) library for people to find it attractive again. The McKim Building doesn't need to be overhauled for it to be beloved. Brutalist buildings can be restored and rethought, but is that something you need to do every 10 years? 20? All public spaces need to be restored from time-to-time, but only Brutalist ones seem to be actively repellent until you do it.
 
Bos77 said:
Definitely. This gives people a local, best case of how some of our modern buildings can be refit. Thoughtful use of color, textures, and lighting can do wonders for previously moribund spaces. Another good example for the Brutalist haters is the Carney Library at UMass-Dartmouth.

http://www.aia.org/practicing/awards/2015/library-awards/claire-carney-library/

http://www.american-architects.com/en/projects/project-review-detail/41359_claire_t_carney_library
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I also like the way the Tufts Dental School building was reimagined, vertically expanded.

http://dental.tufts.edu/about/vertical-expansion/

Brutalism buildings can be saved!
 
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