South End BCA Plaza Re-Do

Re: South End plaza re-do

Sorry I'll retake those pictures.
 
Re: South End plaza re-do

The BCA's site has the winning design up. There are also even larger renderings and info about the other entries.

http://www.bcaonline.org/ said:
Patterhn design, Tony Patterson and Eric Hoffman, together with Richard Burck Associates, Inc. have been selected as the winning team in the Boston Center for the Arts inside: out design competition. Their winning entry, softscape, creates a textural landscape for the artistic energy of the BCA, a platform for gathering, performance, and excitement.
As the BCA moves forward to create an architecturally distinctive public space that creatively connects the arts to community, its goal over the next 3-6 months is to refine the winning entry to a final schematic design with community and City input. The core design team will include finalist architects Eric Hoffman and Tony Patterson of patterhn design and noted landscape architects Richard Burck and Lisa Giersbach of Richard Burck Associates. In addition, an artist (TBD) with significant public and environmental arts experience will be selected to participate in the design refinement process. In this phase of the BCA?s environmental design initiative, Steven Cecil of the Cecil Group will serve as Coordinator of the design team, the permitting and approval process, and community participation.

Thank you for coming to learn about inside: out, the competition that presents a unique opportunity to be part of the transformation of the public spaces at the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA). In response to the competition launched in the beginning of this year, we received many creative solutions from across the United States. Students, artists, landscape architects, architects, and designers all enthusiastically responded to our call for entries with an outpouring of energy and great design.
The jury selected the winning scheme from the five outstanding finalist?s submissions. To learn more about the winning entry as well as the other finalists, please visit our online gallery.
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final_boards_2b.jpg



final_boards_2c.jpg



final_boards_2d.jpg
 
Looks like the boards with lots of flash beat out anything of substance. I seriously doubt any of the proposed spaces will ever work as planned; and to me this project looks like a serious waste of money.
 
Looks nice, although the shadows cast by this building may be a cause for concern.
 
This is among the sillier things I have ever seen proposed.

I don't think the plaza as it stands today is so bad -- but this will surely make it worse. I don't know any place in a city, outside of a harborwalk, where a wooden sidewalk makes sense.

How did this happen?
 
Still clear as mud. What is clear is that these people have no understanding of urban reality. Hope this isn't built.

Brick plaza is fine. Put in some French park chairs, some tables and a cafe serving from the building:

PICT0063.JPG


The rest is hooey.
 
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I agree that this design is a bit needlessly convoluted. Maybe they can turn those undulating mounds of turf into a mogul run during the winter.

The renderings show a new tower built over the existing BCA building. Is this something that's actually on the boards?

bca_model_day_large.jpg
 
briv said:
The renderings show a new tower built over the existing BCA building. Is this something that's actually on the boards?
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If it is, then here are the contents of this tower: two fire stairs and an elevator.

Oh ... and two wheelchair-accessible toilets per floor.
 
The whole idea is dumbass. Instead give Aquitaine and Hammersley's exclusive outdoor cafe rights to the whole plaza in exchange for price capped cheaper drinks.
 
Isn't one of the purposes of this project to provide space for an outdoor stage? The current plaza doesn't have one.
 
^ Then by all means build a stage, and cover it with a tensile structure for seasonal outdoor activities.

The rest of this plan is astonishingly ill-conceived. Wood sidewalks? In Boston? How do you shovel it without ruining it?
 
Very disappointing. The only reason anyone in Boston -- or in any temperate-climate city in the world -- would use an outdoor plaza like this is if there are tables for cafes or bars. Some Diller Scofidio + Renfro-style outdoor lawn patch is about as necessary as a beard on a woman.

As for the outdoor stage, that's a fair enough idea but I'm with Beton Brut re. the tensile structure.
 
Why the hell are you guys so down on this? I can't believe the cynicism...it's really depressing hearing it on this board of all places!

What's wrong with trying out a different kind of urban space? Not everything has to be Parisian. It seems like whenever something slightly different and creative gets proposed people shoot it down immediately.

I'm sorry to say this, but you're proving just how provincial this town can be.
 
^ Some paths that are different seem bound for success; others appear doomed. Being able to tell the difference is useful.

"Let's wait till it's built before we pass judgment" is only useful if you're willing and able to absorb the cost of doing it a second time or tolerating a botched design for years.

For decades, Bostonians had to live with an ill-conceived Copley Square. And City Hall Plaza ... after more than forty years, we're still waiting for a fix. There were those who warned of both these errors, and in fairly short order they were proved right. At a cost of millions.

It's not so impossible to foresee when something won't work.
 
aws129 said:
Why the hell are you guys so down on this? I can't believe the cynicism...it's really depressing hearing it on this board of all places!
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My objection to this proposal is on the grounds of inappropriate materials for Boston's climate. The design is unnecessarily costly for the value it will return to the community through regular use.

Is it unfair to call into question a significant expenditure on amenities that can only be used for a portion of the year, using materials that won't last under the stress of a New England winter? Sounds like a waste of money; recognizing and calling attention to stupidity is not cynicism.
 
A space which, as envisioned, only works in perfect weather and will not age gracefully with our climate is a failure. This project looks like it one based on flair and not substance. A stage and some outdoor cafe type programs could be introduced into the existing plaza, at a fraction of the cost, with 3/4ths of the year functionality, and proven durability. It's not really broken, or hideous, so why waste millions to muck it up?
 
Lurker said:
It's not really broken, or hideous, so why waste millions to muck it up?
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Could it be these cultural istitutions have too much money to burn? They're doing exactly the same thing at Lincoln Center in New York: replacing good spaces that aren't broken with the artefacts of "inspired genius".
 
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