SBWTC /South Boston Waterfront Transportation Center | Seaport

Not so bad. It kind of has the look of a minimalist Donald Judd box.
 
Today’s garages look better than ever, the Harbor Garage could be dressed up similarly. The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy could hold a competition to brighten the facade of the Harbor Garage with graphics and non-blinking lights (this is Boston, not Vegas). The Greenway Conservancy is an art advocate and has done a great job with art installation. The garage is not on their property but is adjacent to it. Instead of having lights just at ground level, such as the light blades, this graphic/art installation would have a greater height and be more visible, a more conspicuous attraction. Cooperation with the garage property owner is necessary or maybe he could do it himself.

Of course, the elephant in the room is Chiofaro’s 60 story commercial Goliath that build-at-all-costs critics say is better than an 8 story garage blocking the waterfront. Keep the garage and build a modest-sized (this is Boston, not Hong Kong), more appropriate waterfront building in a tourist-dominated part of the waterfront.

Wanted to talk specifically about garages with Beeline’s pictures but had to veer to the last, most prominent old garage remaining in downtown.

Queue the harangues. 3...2...1...
 
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The ped walkway roof looks pretty sloppy. Doesnt line up with Omni at all either. Whats the purpose of this?
 
Now thats a lot of construction going on. I love how many things are going on at different elevations with some buildings making street connections at both elevations others not and a busy atmosphere in general with some bridges added in there too. Makes it interesting. The parcel with the ventilation building on it is actually a developable parcel so I wonder if there they will try to also bring it up to street level with Summer st. and WTC ave, covering the ramps below, building a building on the small plot of land, and maybe even bringing it all the way up to the building that is going to be built on the plot next to it between Congress and WTC ave. That would be cool to cover up all that mess and really complete WTC ave. If you look down on google maps the plot next to the ventilation building is almost big enough to hold a building of Yotel size. Thats not bad. They could also have a substantial amount of retail if they bring it up Summer st.

That plot on Congress/WTC in the center of the bottom picture is pretty much a regular sized lot so that should be a normal sized tower for the seaport.

That triangle plot next to that Id like to see get developed too. The parcels here are so many unique shapes that it should lead to a lot of interesting buildings. They could follow the plot shape here and make a triangle shaped building, or they could make the building a T shape which would fit in there pretty well, or just a square/rectangular shaped building that would be a lot smaller but with a triangle retail podium at ground level. Either way its not as small as it looks next to the bigger plots and this is definitely a big enough lot to put something of a good enough size on it. It will be smaller than some buildings around it so it will probably have a pretty good height/width ratio making it look taller than it really is and actually look like a real tower instead of a rubix cube. The shape should be closer to what most real skyscrapers look like even though its not that tall so kind of like 88 Ames st. in
Cambridge.


BeeLine said:
West plaza.

SW corner

NW corner/MBTA station
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I'm going to be optimistic and assume trees going in means I get my sidewalk back soon. Also why is the tunnel closed?

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That façade is so painfully half-assed. It looks incoherent and unfinished.
 
jass said:
Worst building in Boston ever. Almost ruined the entire trip.
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EVER is a bit strong, but not far enough from the truth to defend it in any way. You can thank Massport.
 
jass said:
Worst building in Boston ever. Almost ruined the entire trip.
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Really? Worse than all the other parking garages that don't have fins and that won't be fully blocked from view on two sides? Lots of those around.
 
I'm going to assume that was sarcasm, because if it wasn't, there are issues that go beyond a parking garage.
 
jass said:
Worst building in Boston ever. Almost ruined the entire trip.
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Happy 4000th post, jass!

I'm compelled to remind people that SBWTC is mostly decked over an interstate highway. Given that (nearly) every other city in the world would squander the opportunity to develop the air rights over their highways, I actually admire the utility and efficiency of this development.
 
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