Rose Kennedy Greenway

Talk about keeping Boston Suppressed. If Boston was not the beacon of education this city would have gone down the toilet a decade ago.

Harbor Towers should be knocked down, those buildings are JUNK.
 
I wouldn't go that far...Boston has thriving biotech and financial service sectors (though it's not exactly a banner-year for financial services).
 
The Biotech companies are mostly located in Cambridge next to MIT and Harvard.

Without Education Institutes, Boston would have ended up like DETRIOT. Anytype of politics involved with free capitalism usually runs the industry into the ground.

Most Politicians are looking for handouts.

(Education is Key)
 
Most developers that would plan a high rise on the greenway would know it would have to blend in to the greenway, be pedestrian friendly etc, so any design they proposed would include this or it would not get approved. No need for additional regulations!!

Agree with previous posters that you have to look at each building. Unfortunetly NIBYS fight on # of stories forces developers to building wider and up sidewalks instead of having setbacks not only at street level but on upper stories, this makes the NIMBY problem worse because everyone then gets a bad perception of what high-rises are.

A well planned high-rise could improve the greenway not detract from it.
 
If the city ever got greedy enough to displace all the colleges and universities, which unlike any other industry are unlikely to ever go out of business or relocate even in a great depression, that would be end of it all. Employers at all the high tech laboratories, defense contractors, medical facilities, and financial services are only located in and around Boston because of the proximity to new quality talent from the various schools. Too many greedy corrupt and or outright Marxist politicians (thanks for the CRA mess Barney Frank), with dead-weight cronies or utterly dependent constituents, to keep the mechanics and economics of a viable society functioning otherwise.

Term limits, replacing pensions with 401ks for public sector employees, and a drastic reduction in handing welfare out like candy to stop attracting professional tax consumers, would do wonders in cleaning up city government and reducing tax burdens on people whom actually do work.
 
TheRifleman said:
I believe the city needs more 21st Century architecture.
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OK, I'll bite: what's 21st Century architecture? (That is, besides anything at all built in the 21st Century.)

Do we sometimes build 20th Century architecture in 2008? If so, how can you tell?
 
Silvery metallic skin with lots of odd angles = 21st Century

Boxy with lots of brick/stone/glass = 20th Century

Not my personal opinion, just a guess at the prevailing wisdom.
 
Lurker said:
Too many greedy corrupt and or outright Marxist politicians (thanks for the CRA mess Barney Frank), with dead-weight cronies or utterly dependent constituents, to keep the mechanics and economics of a viable society functioning otherwise.

Term limits, replacing pensions with 401ks for public sector employees, and a drastic reduction in handing welfare out like candy to stop attracting professional tax consumers, would do wonders in cleaning up city government and reducing tax burdens on people whom actually do work.
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CRA mess? Are you talking about the current credit crisis and failure of the CDO segment of the market? I'm not familiar with the CRA acronym, but the present meltdown can be laid at the feet of unhinged, tear down the barriers free market idealogues who worship at the altar of unfettered capitalism. There's already quite a bit of revisionist history permeating the story around this disaster.
 
CRA is the Community Reinvestment Act, which has ... exactly nothing to do with the Greenway. Let's stay on topic.
 
bosma said:
Most developers that would plan a high rise on the greenway would know it would have to blend in to the greenway, be pedestrian friendly etc, so any design they proposed would include this or it would not get approved. No need for additional regulations!!

Agree with previous posters that you have to look at each building. Unfortunetly NIBYS fight on # of stories forces developers to building wider and up sidewalks instead of having setbacks not only at street level but on upper stories, this makes the NIMBY problem worse because everyone then gets a bad perception of what high-rises are.

A well planned high-rise could improve the greenway not detract from it.
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I agree 100% with your post. Then why is the Mayor trying to set regulations before anytype of proposals are presented for the Greenway?
 
There are already a lot of highrises on the Greenway. If the remaining lots were built with decent 10 or 12 story buildings that enclosed and defined the space, it could be a result in a great outdoor space. The call for low rises by the mayor has nothing to do with planning or urban design it is just political maneuvering before his next run for.....mayor.
 
Beton Brut said:
What you meant, statler?
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I knew there were counter examples when I posted that (hence the qualifier) and I figured someone would call me one it (though I assumed it would be ablarc).


I of couse was thinking 21 Century=
mays13gehry.jpg


20 Century = Manderian Oriental, W Hotel, 45 Park St, 1 Franklin, etc, etc, etc, etc.....
 
statler said:
I knew there were counter examples when I posted that (hence the qualifier) and I figured someone would call me one it (though I assumed it would be ablarc).


I of couse was thinking 21 Century=
mays13gehry.jpg


20 Century = Manderian Oriental, W Hotel, 45 Park St, 1 Franklin, etc, etc, etc, etc.....
Click to expand...
where would you put Russia wharf?
 
I for one am pretty sick of Gehry and other starchitects but damn it if I ain't looking forward to that tower. Boston should be so lucky.
 
Just to be clear I like 1 Franklin, 45 Province St & the W Hotel. But none of them really scream cutting edge like the GearyScraper. Boston could use a few of those (though not too many).
 
Building an Environment

In most good urban open spaces, towers and "object buildings" serve as punctuation, while the fabric of a relatively continuous street wall is more crucial to spatial definition. The Greenway is a special case, since the buildings are set back from the green space by the multi-lane roads, so the street wall needs to be higher than on, say, Newbury Street. Rowes Wharf, though its style is out of fashion, is an example of an effective balance between building as street wall and building as object. (The way its highest portions -- the high-rise sections on the ends -- defer to a monumental arch and dome of much smaller scale is also pretty brilliant.)

But I came here to talk about wind. The Greenway, except during parts of the summer, is a very windy place. That, when combined with shadows, gives it a prolonged cold season, and make many of its spaces less welcoming than they should be.

So for all the importance of the visual impact of new buildings, the habitability of the Greenway may hinge just as much on their environmental impact. We now have good technology for modeling wind impacts, and I hope that wind studies are included in the BRA's planning.
 
not every building can be cutting edge though....for every gehry tower you have a ton of Russia Wharfs and W Hotels in NYC....
those new buildings are all nice and Boston should be glad they are being built
on the other hand we do need or two new iconic buildings height or no height
our problems if I am to guess are location, desire and finance....
boston has the developers that want to build nice sleak modern buildings but not the ones that want to build something truly cutting edge or iconic

the aquarium garage is obviously a great spot for something grand (though not tall :)) and there are a lot of other spots that would be great but are occupied by gigantic boxy outdated towers
 
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