State Street HQ | One Congress | Bulfinch Crossing | West End

[stick n move]

^ yup, only the back side will be left as is. One side will be covered entirely by the office tower, the other side has both residentials with a small piece of cladded garage between with retail and condos, the front is shown here with retail and condos, and in the back the very center of the garage will be visible but both towers knock out big chunks of the sides of the rear as well.

Heres a render showing the front and office tower side

This shows the res side

And heres the rear showing the only visible portion of the old garage which will be left. Mind you the office portion of the garage will be knocked down for the court yard as well so a bit less than shown here.

 

[DZH22]

There's about 7.5 floors worth to the top of the office crown above the top of the residential crown. So we are really supposed to believe that 7.5 office floors is only like 60' higher? It wouldn't surprise me if the 601' figure is to the shorter piece, but it's just odd that we can't find a true height for this one. (well actually it's not so odd considering it's Boston and we can't find a true height for ANYTHING cough 1 Dalton cough)

 

[odurandina]

Blowing the image up to several thousand pixels, renders 1.1935 for the office/residential indicating a range of ~647~652'. There have been at least a dozen renders, and they all show the same height difference of about 103' with a margin of error of ~3'.

The FAA height indicates 601'.
54' vs 103'
What gives? It's a gd conspiracy.

.....it's just odd that we can't find a true height for this one. (well actually it's not so odd considering it's Boston and we can't find a true height for ANYTHING cough *One Dalton, Exchange Place cough)

for purposes of being factual, with just a touch of satire, i
f.i.f.y.

 

[citydweller]

even bearing in mind the "fat" sides (unfortunate), one congress is so far and away the most daring, interesting high-rise project in boston in my lifetime. fingers crossed there are no last-minute, 11th-hour "tweaks" that change this in any appreciable way. if only winthrop's design had been so bold.

I completely agree. The moment I saw the first rendering, I thought this has the potential to be the new icon in the Boston skyline. I will be following this one with great interest.

 

[odurandina]

^^ok,
it will have its slender side from two vantage points of the skyline,
and justifiably, play "well."
But, i always thought of it as a round Dewey Square.
i think it is going to look quite massive at ground level on its wide side–in the way that Dewey Square does on its wide side (when you are standing nearby).
A bit of a novelty, it reminds me of the Continental Ctr tower, South St Seaport, NYC.
Its about the same height, and has 43 floors vs 42 (NYC).
Of course, you can argue Dewey Square and Continental Ctr, built in the same year, about the same size and concept–are cousins.

 

[DZH22]

Does anybody else think that the "State Street" sign would look (substantially) better on the thin sides, between the 2 fins? They could just stack it so it looks something like this:

State
Street
​

In my opinion this is preferable to the sign on the wide sides, breaking up the clean glass look. In fact, it might actually look pretty good. The first iterations shown look TERRIBLE.

 

[BosDevelop]

I wonder why the developers have not considered a pedestrian sky bridge that connects this project's two "pieces" that are separated by Congress Street. If someone wants to go from say one of the the residential towers to the "iconic retail" they will have to cross Congress St., no? No way to connect the two pieces?

 

[kmp1284]

I wonder why the developers have not considered a pedestrian sky bridge that connects this project's two "pieces" that are separated by Congress Street. If someone wants to go from say one of the the residential towers to the "iconic retail" they will have to cross Congress St., no? No way to connect the two pieces?

God forbid someone have to go outside and walk across a street.

 

[goody]

I wonder why the developers have not considered a pedestrian sky bridge that connects this project's two "pieces" that are separated by Congress Street. If someone wants to go from say one of the the residential towers to the "iconic retail" they will have to cross Congress St., no? No way to connect the two pieces?

Two reasons. The first is cost, bridges are not cheap and what real value is that creating? Are companies going to pay more in rent for this connection? The second reason is the city who I doubt would have supported it. Sky bridges tend to suck pedestrians off the street which is the opposite of what most urban planners are trying to encourage. Also, the big urban design victory here is day-lighting Congress by removing the garage which wouldn't be nearly as effective if they replaced it with a bridge.

 

[BosDevelop]

God forbid someone have to go outside and walk across a street.

Thanks for the dumbest comment I have read all month. And that's saying a lot. I guess every pedestrian sky bridge in the world is useless, right?

 

[BosDevelop]

Two reasons. The first is cost, bridges are not cheap and what real value is that creating? Are companies going to pay more in rent for this connection? The second reason is the city who I doubt would have supported it. Sky bridges tend to suck pedestrians off the street which is the opposite of what most urban planners are trying to encourage. Also, the big urban design victory here is day-lighting Congress by removing the garage which wouldn't be nearly as effective if they replaced it a bridge.

Good point but this is an almost $2 billion development. I don't think a "Copley style" sky bridge is going to break the bank here. And I would actually think this would make the "iconic retail' more attractive to potential tenants if the thousands of residents and office workers in the development could easily access the retail. But I appreciate the thoughtful response as opposed to others who offer nothing of value in their responses beyond being an asshat.

 

[Johnnyrocket891]

This is a real looker.
I am not sold on the above garage portion in middle of the project standing on ground level.
Heres a render showing the front and office tower side

 

[DZH22]

Who exactly would a skybridge serve between the office tower and residential tower? How many people do you think would both work at State Street and live in the residential, like maybe 10 total? Then, what floor are we talking about here that would make a skybridge useful? Wouldn't it be more useful to just have the connections via the attached parking garage area? Anything above that and we are connecting a random floor of offices to a random floor of residences. That really doesn't make any sense.

 

[Czervik.Construction]

Perhaps it is trying to cash in on the High Line-esque, reclaimed space turned into gardens and skybridge hype? To your point, can't think the purpose was to make a residential and office tenant connector space.

Who exactly would a skybridge serve between the office tower and residential tower? How many people do you think would both work at State Street and live in the residential, like maybe 10 total? Then, what floor are we talking about here that would make a skybridge useful? Wouldn't it be more useful to just have the connections via the attached parking garage area? Anything above that and we are connecting a random floor of offices to a random floor of residences. That really doesn't make any sense.

 

[whighlander]

I wonder why the developers have not considered a pedestrian sky bridge that connects this project's two "pieces" that are separated by Congress Street. If someone wants to go from say one of the the residential towers to the "iconic retail" they will have to cross Congress St., no? No way to connect the two pieces?

BosDevelop -- Here's a utilitarian Skybridge recently constructed in Boston

It connects 2 buildings which together makeup the Vertex Pharma HQ and Labs in the Seaport -- note the street which is bridged is also quite narrow

 

[kmp1284]

Thanks for the dumbest comment I have read all month. And that's saying a lot. I guess every pedestrian sky bridge in the world is useless, right?

That’s not at all what I’m saying. I have no issue with them in places with prolonged periods of dangerous/extreme weather or where auto traffic cannot be sufficiently tamed to allow pedestrian crossings but neither situation applies here.

 

[Equilibria]

That’s not at all what I’m saying. I have no issue with them in places with prolonged periods of dangerous/extreme weather or where auto traffic cannot be sufficiently tamed to allow pedestrian crossings but neither situation applies here.

You might also want them if there's a reason to want to enter each building on a higher floor (and therefore save time by not going to ground level. Hospitals meet all the requirements - they need to wheel patients and carts of stuff, often between higher floors. These retail locations will all be entered at ground level, so I don't really see the need for a skybridge that would take people off the streetscape and still require going downstairs at the other end.

 

[stefal]

BosDevelop -- Here's a utilitarian Skybridge recently constructed in Boston

It connects 2 buildings which together makeup the Vertex Pharma HQ and Labs in the Seaport -- note the street which is bridged is also quite narrow

That connects labs and offices; it serves a utilitarian purpose. A sky bridge at One Congress would connect offices with condos or retail, and that would serve very little utilitarian purpose.

 

[BosDevelop]

Maybe I am reading the diagram on the previous page wrong but it looked to me like some sort of connection could be made between what I would call the main part of the development (office tower, 2 residential towers etc.) and the other portion on the other side of Congress that has all the retail and whatever the "Net Zero Public Square" is. I can't see how giving residents and workers an easy connection to the "iconic" retail and hotel would be a bad thing given one of the busiest streets in town is dividing this development down the middle.

 

[Equilibria]

Maybe I am reading the diagram on the previous page wrong but it looked to me like some sort of connection could be made between what I would call the main part of the development (office tower, 2 residential towers etc.) and the other portion on the other side of Congress that has all the retail and whatever the "Net Zero Public Square" is. I can't see how giving residents and workers an easy connection to the "iconic" retail and hotel would be a bad thing given one of the busiest streets in town is dividing this development down the middle.

Because if they're up there, they're not down here helping to enliven the street the development is designed to enliven.