Somerville High School Renovation & Expansion | 81 Highland Ave | Somerville

Right on schedule, the excavators and folks in bunny suits returned around New Year’s to remove more fill. This time they have brought Hub Foundation to install a shotcrete retaining wall beneath the old high school building.
 
Excavation between the high school and GLX making good progress.

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This will be my 1 and only agreement with Billy Tauro - the enormous renovation should have included that parking garage that got VE'd out (priced at $50M, due to the dirt removal). Especially now that there is a big effort to remove parking on Highland. I'd love local teachers, but they've been priced out of Somerville at this point. Now that they've dug the yard up anyway, why not revisit?

They're actively talking about what a missed opportunity it was in the Highland rebuild meetings: https://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/Traffic Board Public Hearing 2.24.22 Submitted Materials for posting.pdf
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I don’t necessarily disagree about the parking situation for teachers and staff, but isn’t this exactly why the GLX is happening? (to reduce cars in Somerville).
 
Dr. Rosen Rosen said:
I don’t necessarily disagree about the parking situation for teachers and staff, but isn’t this exactly why the GLX is happening? (to reduce cars in Somerville).
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glad it’s not just me thinking it’s a little strange to be bemoaning lack of parking at a site literally steps away from a brand new/not yet opened T stop that specifically does away with the need for car transport to/from this spot for nearly anyone who works at Somerville hs or city hall.
 
Dr. Rosen Rosen said:
I don’t necessarily disagree about the parking situation for teachers and staff, but isn’t this exactly why the GLX is happening? (to reduce cars in Somerville).
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Unpopular opinion here but I'm surprised a 3 million dollar garage was not proposed at the old Homan's Building site. The substation could have easily been integrated; with a couple bridges across the tracks to the school as well as School street bridge is right there to walk to City Hall. I'm not familiar with neighborhood but sure there are a lot of visitors to City Hall everyday searching for parking.
 
chrisbrat said:
glad it’s not just me thinking it’s a little strange to be bemoaning lack of parking at a site literally steps away from a brand new/not yet opened T stop that specifically does away with the need for car transport to/from this spot for nearly anyone who works at Somerville hs or city hall.
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With the price of gas, I'd rather take the T any day.
 
dhawkins said:
Unpopular opinion here but I'm surprised a 3 million dollar garage was not proposed at the old Homan's Building site. The substation could have easily been integrated; with a couple bridges across the tracks to the school as well as School street bridge is right there to walk to City Hall. I'm not familiar with neighborhood but sure there are a lot of visitors to City Hall everyday searching for parking.
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I'm reminded of a presentation Jeff Speck gave regarding Gilman Square where he described its position vis-a-vis the old high school and city hall as being on the "ass-side of the building" technically speaking. This being my own neighborhood, I am glad the city is recognizing that Winter Hill has been on the literal wrong side of the tracks for too long, and is not sticking unwanted but supposedly necessary unmentionables like parking garages here.

All that being said, my humble suggestion, which is also an unpopular opinion, is that all of Somerville, Cambridge and Boston should abolish their residential parking zones and go full NYC.
 
kjdonovan said:
I'm reminded of a presentation Jeff Speck gave regarding Gilman Square where he described its position vis-a-vis the old high school and city hall as being on the "ass-side of the building" technically speaking. This being my own neighborhood, I am glad the city is recognizing that Winter Hill has been on the literal wrong side of the tracks for too long, and is not sticking unwanted but supposedly necessary unmentionables like parking garages here.

All that being said, my humble suggestion, which is also an unpopular opinion, is that all of Somerville, Cambridge and Boston should abolish their residential parking zones and go full NYC.
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It’s not an unpopular opinion -- it’s absurd in its impracticality. Somerville is the densest city in New England and most car owners don’t have off-street parking. You can’t tell the majority of the population to just get rid of one of their most valuable assets bc you have a fanciful notion of “No cars anywhere! Ta da! It’s that easy!” It’s not that easy. Maybe working towards no street parking in 20 years or something, but you can’t just “do” something like what you’re suggesting
 
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[QU XLOTE="Charlie_mta, post: 417337, member: 417"]
It's interesting to me how Belmont, a wealthy community, builds a cheap-looking new high school, while Somerville. not as wealthy as Belmont, builds a really nice high school.
[/QUOTE]
I grew up in Concord and their "new" high school is one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. This is the front entrance. Somerville has hit it out of the park compared to this.
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The residential permits are too dang cheap though. The problem is, raising the cost is a VERY regressive tax, so you need some sort of means test, and right now the parking office doesn't have that capability. Plus it would be political suicide, I'm sure.
 
Ok, pet peeve here. (Sorry it has to be on this thread, because they nailed it with this project otherwise). Why do they just continue the cladding material down the columns?? It makes it look so cheap and sort of like lego brick construction. There’s so many projects around town guilty of this (the orange Pfizer bldg in Cambridge/MIT is perhaps the biggest offender of this). Why not let the column be something else? It is something else!! What self-respecting architect designs this detail? Ok I’m done, thx.

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Gut reaction is that it's a durability thing - the alucobond paneling can actually dent pretty easily. eyeballing where they made the transition it looks like it would be above the height that any kid would be able to lean on it. Should also protect it when they snowblow/sand the area.
 
Arenacale said:
Gut reaction is that it's a durability thing - the alucobond paneling can actually dent pretty easily. eyeballing where they made the transition it looks like it would be above the height that any kid would be able to lean on it. Should also protect it when they snowblow/sand the area.
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I also actually think it looks better. Columns should have a base.
 
Equilibria said:
I also actually think it looks better. Columns should have a base.
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Let me clarify my peeve: I think the cladding should not be on any part of the column. For example, see DZH22’s last photo from Tuesday, above. The columns there are entirely a different material than the cladding. When you continue the cladding at all onto the column it becomes a Post Modern absurdity, a la Robert Venturi. I’m pretty sure the high school architects weren’t going for this kind of irony and therefore it comes across to me as amateur hour.
 
Dr. Rosen Rosen said:
Ok, pet peeve here. (Sorry it has to be on this thread, because they nailed it with this project otherwise). Why do they just continue the cladding material down the columns?? It makes it look so cheap and sort of like lego brick construction. There’s so many projects around town guilty of this (the orange Pfizer bldg in Cambridge/MIT is perhaps the biggest offender of this). Why not let the column be something else? It is something else!! What self-respecting architect designs this detail? Ok I’m done, thx.
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Looks to me like it's an architectural nod to the columns above the granite stairway on the old high school:
(photo by David Z, on Flickr)
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