Somerville Infill and Small Developments

It's bad design yes but fortunately it's the only badly designed new building in the area which consists mostly of nice old apartment buildings and strip malls. So it's good to at least see something new going on there, however lackluster the design.
 
It isn't great, but I think the city is more flexible in Winter Hill than in Union Square.

First, there isn't strong local sentiment about the appearance of what gets built (except from me and maybe some of you).

Second, this replaces a decrepit building and a couple vacant lots, so it's better than what was there. This is never a reason for mediocrity, but it's an excuse for settling if the alternative is a no build.

Third, it faces the famously blighted Star Market lot on one side and the stained one story brick bomb shelter housing the Winter Hill Bakery and some other rodent playgrounds on another. So the developer doesn't have as much incentive for the nice finishes.

Forth, this is the first non-section 8 housing building to go up on Temple Street in about 100 years.

So... it's fine.
 
It's been my impression that the Review Board, or whoever has final signoff, has been strong arming residential developers into these kinds of cartoon historicist designs. Presumably the developers go along rather than lose time and money lobbying for something more sophisticated. Dull provincialism wins again and again.
 
Brad Plaid said:
It's been my impression that the Review Board, or whoever has final signoff, has been strong arming residential developers into these kinds of cartoon historicist designs. Presumably the developers go along rather than lose time and money lobbying for something more sophisticated. Dull provincialism wins again and again.
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That's true, in places where the mayor doesn't particularly care what happens. They're pushing for some innovative designs elsewhere (see upthread for Powder House School redev) and the Union Square stuff will be heavily vetted for new looks.

Also, they are getting better. I've been to meetings where planning board members complain about some recent projects using fake brick instead of the real thing.
 
Brad Plaid said:
It's been my impression that the Review Board, or whoever has final signoff, has been strong arming residential developers into these kinds of cartoon historicist designs. Presumably the developers go along rather than lose time and money lobbying for something more sophisticated. Dull provincialism wins again and again.
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Well what's the remedy then? And I'm not talking the conservative, boxy "could be Boston, could be Saskatoon", Lego-style developments that the major real estate investors like for the security they offer - changing those incentives is a very tall order, let's just assume this plot isn't subject to those forces (it is, but humor me).

Is the probably shoddily-executed historicism a la the initial Commonwealth Hotel facade or historicism itself? I think this is about as uninspiring ("clinical" to use your words) as it gets, but I also believe if someone were to erect a perfect facsimile of an early-1900s Beacon Ave 4-5 brick apartment building, complete with the minor architectural details it'd be similarly looked down upon - and I think that's a bad thing. I don't see provincialism as a bad thing, Boston has remarkable vernacular architecture and the building forms were built to a scale and according to urban circumstances that we're trying mightily to restore.

So this about as bland a hodge-podge as it gets, but there's far more to be gained from Boston's history than there is to be gained from forging head-on into the future with our blinders on.
 
What exactly is wrong with that? It looks better than half the decaying triple deckers in the area.
 
The relentless assault on Somerville Ave's automotive businesses continues. :) The Maaco across from A4 and Dosa n Curry may become an extension of Greentown Labs. A massive 54,000 square foot facility in a really awesome space.

Side note: In 2007 there were 15 auto-related businesses on Somerville Ave. Eight years later and we're down to 10.
Plans:http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Somerville Ave444Plans.pdf

Now
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Proposed
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Now
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Proposed
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The shell of the building in Davis Square.

Is it really cheaper to re-use the roof structure than just rebuild it?

bLmGK09.jpg
 
mdd said:
The shell of the building in Davis Square.

Is it really cheaper to re-use the roof structure than just rebuild it?
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing myself. Why not rebuild completely?
 
bigeman312 said:
I was wondering the same thing myself. Why not rebuild completely?
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I'm guessing its a weird financial / legality -- a bit like the famous single standing pier left of the Old John Hynes Veterans Memorial Auditorium*1 -- the Legislature's work that created the newly minted Boston Convention & Parking Authority [not sure if the title is correct] -- expressly forbid demolition of the old building for the "Renovations"

So in addition to hiring Bill Clinton [or his surrogate] to parse the text of the act*2 and hiring Kallmann, McKinnell & Wood [aka Boston of the "I'm the Mayah of the Shhhhhhhittty" Hall] they also found one vertical column that could be retained -- otherwise no way to spend the money

Notes: with my highlight in bold
*1 the raison d'etre of the name Auditorium Green Line Station and once known as the War Memorial Auditorium [circa 1965 when it opened]
* 2
ACTS, 1982. - Chap. 190.
Chap. 190. AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE CITY OF BOSTON
FUNDING LOAN ACT OF NINETEEN HUNDRED
AND EIGHTY-TWO AND THE MASSACHUSETTS
CONVENTION CENTER AUTHORITY.
...Most importantly, there is presently located within the city of Boston a facility, known as the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Auditorium, which, with appropriate reconstruction, expansion and remodeling , would be amply suited to accommodate major national and international conventions.

There is satisfactory evidence that expansion of that existing facility is the most cost effective means of developing a major convention center within the commonwealth.

Moreover, the existing facility is located in an area which is both likely to
attract and to be able to accommodate major national and international conventions*3
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*3 of course this conclusion was completely reversed when the legislation creating the BCEC was enacted and they decided that the South Boston waterfront was the only place to build the new facility
 
Seriously, this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen in Davis Square. It's nothing but roof, the second floor, and a bunch of structural supports.

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Z_pAB327Y2YwUGaVye15JdgR4IdhOnr4aMeHCUKYVTUc=w1165-h874-no
 
Buildings at these parcels at 508 Somerville Ave are now demolished.
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What's going in:
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mdd said:
The shell of the building in Davis Square.
Is it really cheaper to re-use the roof structure than just rebuild it?
bLmGK09.jpg
Click to expand...

The project is 240 Elm St. This is all I found on the Somerville City site.
My interpretation: all the bracing replaces walls they hadn't intended to demolish.

Civil/Construction guys check me on this, but this emergency closure/demolition almost reads like they did not originally intend to need to take down the masonry wall but during the course of the project they nibbled at fixes and then it all turned out to be worse than they thought and they took it all down.
In the course of work to repair the parapet wall and façade of the building, a structural engineer from the firm Roome & Guarracino LLC, hired by the building's owner, determined that "along [the Elm Street] wall, between the steel beam bearing piers, the masonry has been taken down below the roof framing level and no longer engages the wall with the roof diaphragm." This unstable wall condition creates the risk that the front exterior wall could collapse onto the street and sidewalk below, the engineer concluded. The engineer also advised the building owner that masonry was being removed from the building's façade on the Elm Street side of the building without shoring installed, and that the sidewalk should be closed during the installation of required shoring. - See more at: http://www.somervillema.gov/alerts/elm-st-closure-dover-st-russell-st#sthash.sOGrqwkG.dpuf
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kjdonovan said:
Buildings at these parcels at 508 Somerville Ave are now demolished.
xmTcb0q.png



What's going in:
iejUvQQ.png
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There it is, that's decent infill. Threedecker density that fits the Somerville environment and has...street-level retail...and throwback cornice ornamentation.

More gaps filled like this.
 
CantabAmager said:
There it is, that's decent infill. Threedecker density that fits the Somerville environment and has...street-level retail...and throwback cornice ornamentation.

More gaps filled like this.
Click to expand...

While I like the density and the retail and the fact they are building to the sidewalk I don't like the faux historic styling at all. What is it about all these gaps that get built with stuff that looks dated by 100 years as soon as it's finished?
 
I'm with CantabAmager. The faux-historic is fine with me. I read the proposal as contextual, dense, urban, and mixed-use. I love that it is replacing an auto-centric relic.
 
Nothing will significantly change until the current planning and development team (and mayor) are gone and replaced by more open minded design progressives. While there may be some improvement here and there, the pace is glacial. Somerville deserves better than fake.
 
There's nothing about that design that's "Historic", other than that it uses contextual materials and massing. The cornise is very modern compared to what an actual Historic pattern would be, as are the store fronts.

Just because it doesn't subscribe to the cult of modernism doesn't mean it's fauxstoric. (Unlike, say, that fake saltbox by the service plaza near Sturbridge village).
 
Modernists are only happy if the design is a concrete boot stamping on a human face forever.
 
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