The Hub on Causeway (née TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Uninspired and Inoffensive are too low a bar for me for a building that sits in the location that this does, and is going to have a civic life more than most buildings do. Hate is now what I have for it. Sadness is the emotion for a project that has so much opportunity and so much potential.

sniff.

cca
 
Ok, thanks all, so it does seem to be largely a function of the site and the expectations for such a prominent location.

For me such mediocrity generally doesn't stir up much emotion one way or the other. I get how the office tower is polarizing, but the residential component is just so bland, and that seems to be its only crime. I reserve my spite for more egregious offenses, like 45 Province thrusting up its middle finger to all of the Common, Back Bay, and Charles River basin forever. There really aren't too many buildings that I outright detest.
 
Poolio said:
....I get how the office tower is polarizing, but the residential component is just so bland, and that seems to be its only crime......
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The residential tower could have easily gone over 600' and was a dark-horse contender to unseat the Hancock. The arbitrary cut, plus all the towers in that area being right around the same height really rubbed me the wrong way. Also, the lame design for the office tower would have been mitigated a bit if the residential towered over it like it was supposed to.

In the end I expect to both mildly like it and strongly lament what should have been.
 
DZH22 said:
The residential tower could have easily gone over 600' and was a dark-horse contender to unseat the Hancock. The arbitrary cut, plus all the towers in that area being right around the same height really rubbed me the wrong way. Also, the lame design for the office tower would have been mitigated a bit if the residential towered over it like it was supposed to.

In the end I expect to both mildly like it and strongly lament what should have been.
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Taller does not make ugly better. Just taller and ugly.

cca
 
cca said:
Taller does not make ugly better. Just taller and ugly.

cca
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Taller improves proportions, which is part of a structure's overall aesthetic. Also, if the office tower is considered uglier, it would stand out less if it were the (much) shorter building like originally planned.
 
DZH22 said:
Taller improves proportions, which is part of a structure's overall aesthetic. Also, if the office tower is considered uglier, it would stand out less if it were the (much) shorter building like originally planned.
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I agree that taller would definitely improve the AR and help the design overall. However, my contention is that its only a solution if the building's (ugly) facade design does not call attention to itself. If it does, improvements to AR won't really help much. In fact, it may just make it more of an eyesore due to the prominence of the structure.

I wish they would just nix the office tower altogether. I think the way the tower is designed, it is really going to loom over causeway street. The residential tower looms a bit since it's (slightly) cantilevered over Causeway, but at least it's oriented such that the long axis of the structure is perpendicular to the street. The hotel portion is set back as well, so there is more a defined break between hotel and "podium". The office tower is wider than the residential, and is even wider where it meets the podium, so really from what I can tell there won't be much from a massing perspective to distinguish the base of the tower from the podium. Maybe the class curtain wall will help. Those apologetic cut outs at the tower base won't.

As it stands now, I go back and forth on whether I like the massing without the office tower. With the office tower, I don't have high hopes. I know the facade design (including the podium) won't help. The whole project is just a one seaport square on steroids (with a much better pedestrian experience). We will see how things go.
 
Judging by the photos, is it safe to say that the residential tower only has about 10-15 floors to go? If so, yikes, stump central.

Sad how this development from street level to the top of the podium is a big upgrade for the area and everything else "above the tree line" is so bad.

Oh, as an aside - CCA, your eloquence in writing is fantastic. I you ever write a book, I am buying.
 
Czervik.Construction said:
Judging by the photos, is it safe to say that the residential tower only has about 10-15 floors to go? If so, yikes, stump central.

Sad how this development from street level to the top of the podium is a big upgrade for the area and everything else "above the tree line" is so bad.

Oh, as an aside - CCA, your eloquence in writing is fantastic. I you ever write a book, I am buying.
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I think it has another 20 or so. It's a pretty tall tower.
 
BeeLine said:
https://flic.kr/p/28Ni9tp
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In the not-too-distant future, about the (496') resident tower,

who will be the first to post something like....

everyone said:
I hate the ugly background building.... but I'm very pleased with how the residential tower is turning out. Being so slender, from this angle, it really shows off its height. The cladding is good. Dare i say it has exceeded my expectations. Who saw this coming?
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:)
 
Czervik.Construction said:
Judging by the photos, is it safe to say that the residential tower only has about 10-15 floors to go? If so, yikes, stump central.

Sad how this development from street level to the top of the podium is a big upgrade for the area and everything else "above the tree line" is so bad.

Oh, as an aside - CCA, your eloquence in writing is fantastic. I you ever write a book, I am buying.
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Thanks friend. My wife is a published author. I am just a schmuck at a keyboard next to her. BUT ... she can't design herself out of a paper bag ... so I have that on her. :)

cca
 
What pisses me off about it is that they already had a perfectly fine design with the spire. That looked compleeeeetely fine but they just haaaad to go back and fuck with it. Why? Just leave it the hell alone and build it. Thats what pisses me off. They come up with something perfectly fine, not amazing but it was good, tease you for a bit, then out of nowhere just jack it all up and come back with something terrible, for no reason too just because. There was no reason to change it, but they still did, thats annoying as hell. I wasnt even mad about the very ugly residential because it was going to be overshadowed by a nice glass tower with one of the very few spires that would have been on the skyline. Now its 2 turds with the nst in a clump of turds as the gateway to Boston. Sweeeet. Oh well bulfinch triangle is still a win with the podium and lovejoy wharf so whatever its just Boston doing Boston things.
 
Good captures. The first pic in particular shows how enormous this is starting to feel from the immediate area.
 
odurandina said:
has the resident tower has slowed up or paused altogether?
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Have you not been in the area lately? It's clearly been getting bigger. It's quite visible from around the Greenway and North End.
 
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