Rose Kennedy Greenway

A combination of Occupy Boston and the weekly farmers' markets have put Dewey Square on the map. I don't think I even heard the place called that before these events began.
 
^^^Thanks Shepard,
I actually forgot this one especially
"1) Ramps the deaden potential uses of public space along certain stretches of the Greenway and impede pedestrians"

I think Gravedigger hit it with his blog........

But where are the solutions all I hear is the Greenway Conservancy needs more money. FOR WHAT? I wouldn't hire these people for my yard never mind this project. What is the plan? Vision? Its been almost 6 years that they have been working on the Greenway.

Maybe we need to change our thinking about the Greenway.
Forget about a park stretching through the waterfront and financial district.

How about stretch of Real Estate and start building up like a Times Square area? Any thoughts of rebranding the entire area?
#1 The Financial Waterfront
#2 The Greenway Waterfront
#3 The Boston Greenway Waterfront


The Rose Kennedy Greenway will not live up to being a spectacular park........It seems like it will be a Glorified Median Strip until something of a destination attraction will be built..TV destination area, for casting the news like the Today show in NYC
 
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^ Right, that's what I was getting at. The Greenway will never be a spectacular public space, but the dead parcels could definitely be brought to the place the North End parcels are if the Financial District itself was livened up. Put a mediocre park in a dead part of town and it will be dead too.
 
And how to liven up the Financial District? Build on the ramp parcels and you'll have fewer redundant, lifeless parks and more housing to fill those that remain!
 
I really do like the labyrinth.

Armenian-Heritage-Park-Almost-1-600x401.jpg


I like the one at BC, though it may be a different reflective experience since it's in a median strip versus on a college campus.

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The labyrinth at BC looks a thousand times better than the one in the Greenway. Something cheap about it that I can't put my finger on...
 
czsz said:
The labyrinth at BC looks a thousand times better than the one in the Greenway. Something cheap about it that I can't put my finger on...
Click to expand...

It's quite simple. They cheaped out on the design in general. It looks very rushed.

Look at how complete of an experience BC's is. Now look at the Greenway's lack of order and completeness.

Look at the way you enter the space. BC's is a clearly-defined procession along the wall. Now look at the Greenway's lack of an entry procession.
 
czsz said:
The labyrinth at BC looks a thousand times better than the one in the Greenway. Something cheap about it that I can't put my finger on...
Click to expand...

BC Labyrinth is spaced out much better and has the opposite of the Greenway.... Cemet inside-Grass outside. The Greenway Labyrinth has limited space and has cemet outside-grass inside... There is only so much that they can do with this. I personally don't think it looks that bad.

BC Labyrinth is awesome but its connected to all the grass around it. The Greenway Labyrinth does not have that choice because of the cemet.
 
Not sure what you're seeing in the pic, but it's fine in person. Try walking by it sometime. It's a good addition overall.
 
TheRifleman said:
BC Labyrinth is spaced out much better and has the opposite of the Greenway.... Cemet inside-Grass outside. The Greenway Labyrinth has limited space and has cemet outside-grass inside... There is only so much that they can do with this. I personally don't think it looks that bad.
Click to expand...

This. The surrounding brick takes away from the contrast of the grass and stone. Also the exterior "floating" stone paths that aren't attached to the labyrinth itself make it feel out of place, really only attempt to cover up the lack of space, and add distracting clutter that takes away from the clean feel.

Despite this I still like it.
 
Do people actually use these landscaped labyrinths? Aren't they supposed to be a meditative experience? I feel like they're just becoming a landscaping gimmick now.
 
Hutchison said:
This. The surrounding brick takes away from the contrast of the grass and stone. Also the exterior "floating" stone paths that aren't attached to the labyrinth itself make it feel out of place, really only attempt to cover up the lack of space, and add distracting clutter that takes away from the clean feel.

Despite this I still like it.
Click to expand...

Hutch -- the original "non-ancient" labyrinths were in Medeivil Cathedrals with the contrast just sufficient for you to grasp the theological significance
from the wiki-- " The full flowering of the medieval labyrinth came about from the twelfth through fourteenth centuries with the grand pavement labyrinths of the gothic cathedrals, notably Chartres, Reims and Amiens in northern France. These labyrinths may have originated as symbolic allusion to the Holy City; and some modern thinkers have theorized that prayers and devotions may have accompanied the perambulation of their intricate paths. "

- I think a labyrinth in the midst of the Greenway will be one of the highpoints -- it still needs a grand Sundial

from the wiki on Commonwealth Ave -- "Often compared to Georges-Eugène Haussmann's Paris boulevards, Commonwealth Avenue in Back Bay is a parkway divided at center by a wide grassy mall. This greenway, called Commonwealth Avenue Mall, is punctuated with statuary and memorials, and forms the narrowest "link" in the Emerald Necklace. It connects the Public Garden to the Fens."

and from the cityofboston website
"The Mall's 32 acres were designed in the French boulevard style by Arthur Gilman in 1856. Frederick Law Olmsted and Charles Sprague Sargent, partners in creating the Arnold Arboretum, were asked in 1880 for advice on tree planting patterns. Their suggestion was "to obtain . . . the uniformity which seems to us essential to the future beauty and dignity of the finest street in the city." removing the trees already planted and replacing them with two single rows of European elms. Fearing public outcry at losing existing trees, the City Council rejected the proposal. Still, the Mall was known for magnificent American elms, some of which survive the Dutch Elm disease that devastated the species in recent decades.

Today, sweetgum, green ash, maple, linden, zelkova, Japanese pagoda and elm define this formal avenue, along with monuments decorating its expansive central promenade. "

All the greenway needs -- people living nearby and some time for things to evolve

Riff is mostly off target!
 
What the "greenway" needs is the highway straddling it be buried underground.
 
Thank you for the historical background...I still think the brick surrounding it detracts from the visual and meditative experience.
 
So...what exactly is the connection between this cartoon of an overdriven subwoofer and Armenia?

(I know who paid for it.)
 
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