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Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Back in the day:

VV11829.jpg


I'll buy a round for anyone who can come up with renderings Josep Llu?s Sert's unbuilt scheme from the 60s to replace South Station entirely with a long, low concrete mega-structure (think NYC's Port Authority) as an inter-modal transit hub.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Talk about dodging a bullet, that would have been a fucking disaster. Pardon my language, but the situation required an f-bomb.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Wow, what a great photo. Love the old school train shed and of course the el. What neighborhood is that in the background? I don't remember South Boston being so high...

I still can't believe we lost this at North Station:

norstatn.jpg
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Wow, that's the first time I've ever seen that. That's horrible we lost such a gem.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Ron Newman said:
South Station (Amtrak/commuter rail) was restored in the late 1980s; the new bus station came soon thereafter in the 90s. The bus station has become so popular that it is now full, and needs to be expanded. That expansion was supposed to be part of the South Station Tower project.
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Thats correct, thw tower would expand the bus station, and the new bedford line would add 3 tracks
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

I've never seen that either. It must be from the North Station that preceded the Old Garden, which means it was demolished in 1928 or earlier.

That hill in the background of the old South Station photo would be Telegraph Hill in Southie.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

If the South Station tower is built, where exactly will it be? Will people still be outside when they enter/exit trains or will they be under the tower?

Also:
5302005North_Terminal_Station_1899a.jpg
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Imagine the amazing building they could have built on top of that? The grand entrance really is awesome.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Wow. That is [was] nice. And would have made on heck of an entrance to a well-designed tower behind/above it.

Maybe 100 years from now people will look back at the precast junk that seems to dominate the construction landscape of late and be equally impressed as we look fondly back on structures such as these recently-posted pictures . . . Though I would be very surprised if any such lauding will take place.

I wonder what the difference is . . . I presume that the materials used 100 years ago and the designs that they were used in were selected with a similar eye on the economics of building big buildings, right? I know times have changed and what was inexpensive then may not be now (material-wise) but good designs should be able transcend flucuations in materials-du-jour . . .

In bringing my whole question/point full circle, the fact that design is less an objective an more a subjective matter may offer something of an explanation, I guess . . .

I welcome the insight of the numerous minds greater than my own on this.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Justin7 said:
If the South Station tower is built, where exactly will it be? Will people still be outside when they enter/exit trains or will they be under the tower?

The new tower will stand over the exisiting plaza behind headhouse. Platforms will be covered by an expanded bus depot. Future expansion will add hotel/residential/office components along Atlantic Ave., standing over the bus depot.

Actually, several major subcontracts were bid and awarded just over a year ago, contingent upon MBTA/AMTRAK/FD cooperation/approval of construction logistics, schedules, etc. Financing was supposed to have been waiting in the wings for these negotiations to reach a conclusion. Obviously, no progress was ever made, and everything ground to a halt.

The tower design, from a structural point of view, is interesting, and if built will be magnificent to see constructed. Only the core of the building rises from deep below the plaza, up to 11-stories above the plaza before the entire footprint of the tower cantilevers out and rises 39-stories higher.
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Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Welcome nbama. Thanks for the info.

Do you know anything about the logistics of how the waiting room area would be handled during construction? Seems like a nightmare to me.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

headhouse building remains untouched. Getting to/from trains during construction is one of the major issues, and a great deal of time and effort is being spent making sure this is handled with care.

There will be temporary barricades which direct pedestrians safely through to operating tracks. If I remember correctly, a maximum of two tracks are closed at any time during construction.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Justin7 said:
If the South Station tower is built, where exactly will it be? Will people still be outside when they enter/exit trains or will they be under the tower?
Click to expand...
These diagrams from earlier postings should explain a lot. I would guess that they are still pretty relevant.

http://www.archboston.org/community/showpost.php?p=43109&postcount=303
http://www.archboston.org/community/showpost.php?p=27011&postcount=134

I read once that South Station was once the busiest train station in the US and North Station was the second.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Boston was the leader in many things. Busiest port, first black army, American revolution, change. It is the complete opposite today.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Now we lead the nation in most creative ways to complain about new development. I wonder if another complaint will involve shadows on the harbor and how it could negatively affect the Fenway Flounder.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Beton Brut said:
I'll buy a round for anyone who can come up with renderings Josep Llu?s Sert's unbuilt scheme from the 60s to replace South Station entirely with a long, low concrete mega-structure (think NYC's Port Authority) as an inter-modal transit hub.
Click to expand...

Since it's a shitty picture you only need to buy me shitty beer.

3256107285_7a418c7d10.jpg


The thing in the back was a stadium proposed by the BRA over the South Bay interchange.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

Nice one Van! Where did you find this? Looks like a cell-phone pic from a book...

Keep this coupon: it entitles you to one of these.
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

No shit...

The book is reviewed in this month's ArchRecord.

I'll be damned if I know what the title means...
 
Re: South Station Tower - Full Steam Ahead!

It's also in the BPL's Fine Art collection...in library use only.

The title is from a 2003 exhibition at Harvard's GSD.
 
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